Take inventory

It was D.L. Moody who reminded us of 'heaven being a prepared place for a prepared people'. Jesus reminds us, “Don’t store up treasures here on earth, where moths eat them and rust destroys them, and where thieves break in and steal. Store your treasures in heaven, where moths and rust cannot destroy, and thieves do not break in and steal. Wherever your treasure is, there the desires of your heart will also be." (Matthew 6:19-21) Heavenly-minded individuals are living today in preparation for heaven. That may look like one thing to me and another thing to you, but the end result is what matters. Are today's actions in accord with the principles taught in scripture? Did we take time to consider others as Jesus always did? Are we leaving behind goodness and kindness wherever we journey? To prepare here, we stay focused on the actions and attitude of Christ in all we do.

Wherever your treasure is... To understand the 'where', we must first define the 'what'. In other words, if we don't know what we 'treasure', we will never really know 'where' we find our focus. Treasures are simply the things we focus on the most - the things we value the greatest. Our treasure could be things, people, dreams or aspirations, or even something we have lost along the way. If Jesus is our treasure, his principles soon become more than our 'guidance' in life - they give us focus and therefore, they give us direction. Anyone who treasures the direction God gives is soon going to realize anything apart from making Christ first in our focus is just not going to bring us as much pleasure or peace. Prepare today for the place prepared for you tomorrow - this is the principle we have to learn well while here on this earth.

How do we prepare? Take inventory. All of life's greatest 'work' begins with 'taking inventory' of what we have, where we are, and where we need to go. We don't know what we have been given in saying 'yes' to Jesus until we begin to take inventory of those things. Peace replaced worry, hope replaced despair, freedom replaced bondage, love replaced rejection. After we know what we have, we begin to focus on where we are right now. An honest appraisal of the choices we have been making, how we make those choices, and what we have been accomplishing by those choices is important. When we know what we have been given, where we are right now, we are ready for Christ to establish where he wants to take us. Just sayin!