Heaven Life
Matthew 6: the Model
(Unless noted, passages from Matthew 6, ESV)
19 “Do not lay up for yourselves treasures on earth, where moth and rust destroy and where thieves break in and steal, 20 but lay up for yourselves treasures in heaven, where neither moth nor rust destroys and where thieves do not break in and steal. 21 For where your treasure is, there your heart will be also.
Where your treasure is, your heart is. There is a principle here: Wherever you center your heart, your treasure resides and accumulates (is “laid up”). We need to keep our hearts centered on heaven. Great happiness and great power comes when we do. Great treasure of every kind on every level. But if you center your heart on the earth and its ways, your treasure will be destroyed or stolen.
How do you center your heart on heaven? Let your life be one in which you are led by the Holy Spirit, one in which the things you think and the things you do are heaven-connected things, revelation-connected things (that is, things connected to the living words of the Bible and to the words God speaks directly to your heart which will agree with the Bible). This will cause your “treasure” to be in heaven. Your treasure is the results, the crop, of your taking in the Word, your thinking God’s way, and your doing things God’s way. Again, center your life on heaven by walking in the Spirit and taking in God’s words. Doing this will give you the treasure of heavenly principles by which to happily live above the fray down here. AND it will give you the treasure of real power to fuel your life down here. Your life becomes an amazing life.
If we live in a heaven-centered way, this accumulated treasure—these blessings—are available to us by faith. They are “stored” in heaven but they are available here. But they must be drawn from heaven, not earth. Believers fail many times because they are looking in the wrong place. The key is centering our hearts on the right place—heaven. When we think kingdom principles as we follow the Spirit, we will thinking like God thinks. This thinking and living brings God’s wisdom and power, heavenly wisdom and power. Our spirits, souls, and bodies are strengthened by His words. These heavenly treasures are what we need to make it living here on earth.
We are now heavenly beings—Jesus has made us what we are. We were created to live by heavenly principles. We can’t live on earthly food alone but by heavenly food—the Word of God. With the spiritual sight God has given all believers, we need to look into heaven and live by what we see there. Our lives should be supplied of all things from heaven. Where your treasure is, your heart is. If your heart is centered on heaven, supplies for all areas of life are waiting for you there.
22 “The eye is the lamp of the body. So, if your eye is healthy, your whole body will be full of light, 23 but if your eye is bad, your whole body will be full of darkness. If then the light in you is darkness, how great is the darkness!
24 “No one can serve two masters, for either he will hate the one and love the other, or he will be devoted to the one and despise the other. You cannot serve God and money.
The principle here is this: What you look at makes all the difference. It is a “bad eye” that concentrates on the things of the world, even if they are simple, everyday things we need. A little later, Jesus tells us that if we will just go after heavenly things, the earthly things will come to us anyway. We can’t seek both at the same time. But we can have the earthly and the heavenly things we need. We simply seek the heavenly ones. The earthly ones will follow.
25 “Therefore I tell you, do not be anxious about your life, what you will eat or what you will drink, nor about your body, what you will put on. Is not life more than food, and the body more than clothing? 26 Look at the birds of the air: they neither sow nor reap nor gather into barns, and yet your heavenly Father feeds them. Are you not of more value than they?
Live free like the birds. We just look to heaven, singing, doing things heaven’s way. The heavenly and earthly supplies just come when we do that, Jesus says.
27 And which of you by being anxious can add a single hour to his span of life? 28 And why are you anxious about clothing? Consider the lilies of the field, how they grow: they neither toil nor spin, 29 yet I tell you, even Solomon in all his glory was not arrayed like one of these. 30 But if God so clothes the grass of the field, which today is alive and tomorrow is thrown into the oven, will he not much more clothe you, O you of little faith?
A huge key here: Don’t worry. Why? It chains us to the earth system which will not meet spiritual and earthly needs. It won’t add one minute or anything else to our lives. It does no good. So what we do is just concentrate on God and His heavenly things, not worrying about earthly things. This adds everything we need to our lives. It does do good. Our treasure is in heaven. So we just keep our hearts there. For where your treasure is, your heart is. Where your heart is, your treasure grows.
31 Therefore do not be anxious, saying, ‘What shall we eat?’ or ‘What shall we drink?’ or ‘What shall we wear?’ 32 For the Gentiles seek after all these things, and your heavenly Father knows that you need them all. 33 But seek first the kingdom of God and his righteousness, and all these things will be added to you.
34 “Therefore do not be anxious about tomorrow, for tomorrow will be anxious for itself. Sufficient for the day is its own trouble.
It all comes down to this: Don’t worry, seek the kingdom, God and His things, His ways. Seek first the kingdom of God and his righteousness, and all these things will be added to you.
We can be free. We can be as happy as the birds, singing, soaring free. We were never meant to carry the load. We can be like happy little children again. Jesus put it another way in another place:
28 Come to me, all who labor and are heavy laden, and I will give you rest. 29 Take my yoke upon you, and learn from me, for I am gentle and lowly in heart, and you will find rest for your souls. 30 For my yoke is easy, and my burden is light. (Matthew 11:28-30, ESV)
We see how to live the heaven life right here in Matthew 6. It is a life of freedom. It is the way Jesus lived. It is the way we were meant to live.
Don Keesee
This e-tract available on the web at http://www.heaven-life.blogspot.com/
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