"Do not lay up for yourselves treasures on earth, where moth and rust consume and where thieves break in and steal, but lay up for yourselves treasures in heaven, where neither moth nor rust consumes and where thieves do not break in and steal. For where your treasure is, there will your heart be also. - Matthew 6:19-21
Jesus Christ exhorts His disciples to lay up for themselves treasure in Heaven, not on earth, that their hearts may be where their treasure is.
Every one desires to have some treasure to fall back upon in time of need, some resource in the uncertain future. We look forward, and feel the want of something on which to rely for declining years. Our Lord bids His disciples lay up such a treasure, not on earth, where it is perish able and insecure, but in Heaven, for a treasure in Heaven will avail us even on earth. God will not allow those to want who have committed their treasure to Him, and it will earn for us a rich harvest of joy and happiness to all eternity.
Men have a love of gathering together riches. They enjoy the activity of it. There is a fascination in it, and the more they have the more they desire. Jesus Christ tells His disciples that they must employ their activity in collecting treasures for Heaven, not for earth. Every act of charity, every prayer, every good thought, every battle against temptation, adds to this eternal treasure. Men who live for God will be astonished in seeing the abundance of the riches they have acquired during life, the inexhaustible wealth they will inherit in Heaven.
Our Lord gives another reason for laying up treasure in Heaven. We fix our hearts on what we value most, as our treasure grows, our love for it grows. If we desire to love the things of Heaven, we must lay up our treasure there. O death, how terrible thou art to the man who has peace in his earthly goods! and we may add, How sweet to him who has a rich treasure in Heaven!
- taken from The Ministry of Jesus Christ: Short Meditations on the Public Life of Our Lord, by Father Richard Frederick Clarke, SJ