My Last Year

Yesterday was my 33rd birthday.

Two things converged to provoke this post: a bible study and a text message. 

Bible Study on Mathew 6:19-21: "Do not lay up for yourselves treasures on earth, where moth and rust destroy and where thieves break in and steal, but lay up for yourselves treasures in heaven, where neither moth nor rust destroys and where thieves do not break in and steal. For where your treasure is, there your heart will be also." 

A friend of mine asked a great question: "Is this just about having a better heaven after we die? What good does that do us today?" Gotta love a question like that.

My dad sent me a text: "Happy 33. That's how old Jesus was when He was killed. Be careful this year."

Nice.

So, what if this is my last year? What would it mean for me to lay up treasure in heaven? Should I spent these last days planning the decorations for my heavenly mansion, or is Jesus talking about something else?

My guess is that when Jesus talks about heaven He's not doing so in the ways our popular conceptions might suggest. I think Jesus is looking toward the new heavens and new earth, which rather than being an escape from this world means he renewal, healing and full, God-intended glory of this world. So, to lay up treasure in this "heaven," means to invest in this world, to invest in the things that have a future in the new heavens and new earth, to invest in beauty, goodness, reconciliation and every expression of human flourishing. When Jesus says, "lay up treasures in heaven," He's telling us to live now in light of all that will be, to be salt and light, to be kingdom people, to pour our lives out for other people and for the glory of God.

So what does this mean for my last year? Well, I think it means throwing myself into something that will produce the things that will last in the new heavens and new earth, and I can think of nothing with more potential for this than the church. The church can be a generator of heavenly treasure. Imagine people coming together under a common banner of Jesus' love, with a common name as His brothers and sisters, with a common mission as partners of God living out and living into the Kingdom on earth as it is in heaven, reconciling across every dividing line under the common awareness of our new identities in Christ, moving into the city together with a common desire to be agents of goodness, beauty, healing, and justice, purposing to know and follow Jesus and to have our hearts synced with the heart of God, all in order that we might be restored to our full humanity and be a part of the restoration of all creation!

Beautiful.

So, with my last year, I intend to lay up treasure in heaven by planting The CityWell with the confident prayer that this church will be all of these things, and that long after my life on this side of the new heavens and new earth, this church will continue to generate the treasures that have a future!

Care to join me?