For where your treasure is, there your heart will be also. -Matthew 6:21
When my son was about 10 years old, he and some of his buddies in the neighborhood built a fort in the woods out behind our house. Actually, it really wasn’t much of a fort… It was more like a lean-to with nothing to lean to. It was made up mostly of sticks, logs, some plywood and leaves. It was really the ugliest excuse for a fort I had ever seen. I felt sorry for those guys and their sad little fort. But, they really loved it. They decorated it with some old plastic furniture they found, and they all even took some of their own belongings out to it. They even carefully swept the leaves off the little walking trails so they could find their way through the woods.
I remember as it got dark outside on those cool fall evenings, we had to call Zac in from the woods to eat dinner and to get ready for bed. Of course, he always fought us… He and his friends were having a great time out there in the fort. But it was getting cold. And dark. Plus there were snakes and bugs.
Seriously… Think about it. Why would anyone want to be out there on a damp, chilly, dark evening when inside you have a nice hot meal, a TV, lights, and a warm bed waiting for you? Is something wrong here? Is this like us at all?
Since you have been raised to new life with Christ, set your sights on the realities of heaven, where Christ sits in the place of honor at God’s right hand. 2 Think about the things of heaven, not the things of earth. 3 For you died to this life, and your real life is hidden with Christ in God. 4 And when Christ, who is your* life, is revealed to the whole world, you will share in all his glory. -Colossians 3:1-2 NLT
What “things of earth” do we cling to? What very temporary, very shadowy things in this life have we not been willing to die to? What things do I need to let go of so that I can fully embrace all that He really has in store for me?