Most spend their time working and scheming to get visible assets; money, property, stocks, bonds, etc. Yet all these things are temporal … tied to time. And because they are temporal their value is fleeting.

Some material possessions are fleeting in value because our time on earth is limited. No matter how enduring the possession, the lifetime of the possessor determines the life of its usefulness to that person. Homes and automobiles are of no value to those who have passed from this life. The other dimension to the brevity of use of earth’s trinkets is the fact that someday they will all be destroyed. In view of this truth, Peter wrote: “Seeing then that all these things shall be dissolved, what manner of persons ought ye to be in all holy conversation and godliness” (2 Peter 3:11).

But some things have lasting value.

Jesus said: “Lay not up for yourselves treasures upon earth, where moth and rust doth corrupt, and where thieves break through and steal: But lay up for yourselves treasures in heaven, where neither moth nor rust doth corrupt, and where thieves do not break through nor steal” (Matthew 6:19-20).

Faithful service for Christ may not bring earthly acclaim or material rewards, but treasures in heaven await the Christian who gives of himself in labor for his Lord. Suffering here may be difficult but it cannot be compared with the blessings awaiting those who stand true to the Saviour:

“For our light affliction, which is but for a moment, worketh for us a far more exceeding and eternal weight of glory” (2 Corinthians 4:17).