My word for
the year 2024 requires a little explanation. Treasure; first the verb, then the
noun, and so on.
Jesus tells us to “lay up treasures in heaven, not on earth.” A perplexing command. Is he talking about a different kind of thing that is a treasure in heaven vs. a treasure on earth? Or is he talking about a different way of laying or storing up these treasures?
I sense that the command is first about rightly treasuring things before it is about the kind of things. Paul says to Timothy:
“As for the rich in this present age…they are to do good, to be rich in good works, to be generous and ready to share, thus storing up treasure for themselves as a good foundation for the future, so that they may take hold of that which is truly life.”
They are to do good. To be generous. Thus! Storing up treasure. So that! They may take hold of life. Four verbs – doing, being, storing, taking hold – ultimately leading to two nouns – treasure and life. These verbs, or imperatives in Scripture, and others, are what it means to rightly treasure, I think.
In this life, the doing is what leads to the having, making the way of treasuring the emphasis over the kind of treasures, it seems. Perhaps even the right way of treasuring brings continuity between the things or treasures of earth and the things that will also be in heaven (i.e. “the glory and honor of the nations” – Revelation 21:26), but the wrong kind of treasuring creates discontinuity and brings wrath and fury (Romans 2:6-8). So, the right kind of doing leads to the right kind of having and to the right things to have.
The goodness of God, in whom we were created for good works (Ephesians 2), blesses us with good things (James 1:17), which we are to rightly treasure and not take for granted or squander (Matthew 25 and the parable of the talents). The kingdom of heaven is said to be like a treasure hidden in a field, which we are to cover up, and then we are to sell everything we own and buy the field, presumably so that we will “have” the treasure. We are called to do so that we can have.
Ultimately, God blesses us with Himself, in Jesus, our greatest possible treasure (Philippians 3), who created us to rightly treasure the right treasures (starting with Himself, but through Him “all things” - 1 Corinthians 3:22). The preexistent and incarnate noun created us for a verb, which leads us to the noun, and so on, through this life and all eternity.
