What do we look for in life? Do we look for wealth and property? Do we look for fame and popularity? Do we look for titles and admiration from others, especially our peers? While it is true that we need to have some of these worldly things to survive, how long would we be able to cling on to such things? When we return to the Lord, would we be able to bring such worldly things with us? Of course not! Such worldly things would need to be left behind, and would no longer mean anything to us. Then what is to become of us then?
In today’s Gospel, Jesus said to his disciples, “Do not store up treasures for yourselves on earth, where moths and woodworms destroy them and thieves can break in and steal. But store up treasures for yourselves in heaven, where neither moth nor woodworms destroy them and thieves cannot break in and steal. For where your treasure is, there will your heart be also.”
The Gospel cautions us that treasures on earth are only temporary, whereas treasures in heaven are permanent. The strange thing is that some of us are making so much effort to store up that which is temporary, to the detriment of that which is permanent. Are we willing to have a change of heart, and make more effort to focus on that which is permanent, without neglecting our living needs while here on earth?