Where Your Treasure Is

“For where your treasure is, there also will your heart be.” Luke 12:34

I sometimes watch TV shows about hoarders. They have houses full of clothes, sweaters, jackets, shoes, bags, multiple appliances, some they have never even used. There are piles on their beds, stairways, teetering cabinets. All the tables and shelves are littered with figurines, and decor collected years ago. I watch in fascination thinking I could be this person! I have a tendency to collect stuff, and I hate throwing away anything that I could reuse, or repurpose. 

Mayo Clinic describes the hoarding disorder as a persistent difficulty discarding or parting with possessions because of a perceived need to save them.

Can this disorder be rooted in childhood, with the obsession to collect Barbies or Matchbox cars? There are some who get their confidence from a pretty dress, or nice shoes. Perhaps we feel more liked or popular when we have many possessions, a big house and a fancy car. It is so sad if these material things are our treasures, because Jesus says that where our treasure is, there our heart will be also. 

What if instead of amassing things that we can never bring with us when we die, we make an effort to invest in treasure in heaven? We can think of ways to do God’s work, and love God’s people. That can be our collection. 

Saint Lawrence is one of my favorite saints. When asked by the Prefect of Rome to turn over the treasures of the Church, Lawrence went throughout the city and gathered together the poor, the lame, the blind, the sick. Then he presented them to the greedy Prefect. "Here are the Church's treasure!" he announced. The Prefect was not amused and the saint was roasted over an iron grill!

We need not follow Saint Lawrence to buy stocks in heaven, but we should remember that if we use our time, talent and money to bring people to God, we are investing in what God values most!