“For where your treasure is, there will your heart be also.” –Jesus (Matt. 6:21)

Everyone is a treasure-seeker, which is why Jesus spoke so often about money and earthly wealth. In his parable of the hidden treasure in Matthew 13, Jesus describes the kingdom of heaven as a treasure. He understood the treasure-seeking nature of the human heart, but he also understood that we are prone to downsize the treasure principle he described by settling for lesser treasures in exchange for the real treasure.

In his book, The Treasure Principle, Randy Alcorn describes it this way. “Christ’s story about the treasure in the field is an object lesson concerning heavenly treasure… Jesus is appealing to what we DO value – temporary, earthly treasure – in order to make an analogy about what we SHOULD value – eternal, heavenly treasure.” C.S. Lewis said it this way, “We are half-hearted creatures, fooling about with drink and sex and ambition when infinite joy is offered us, like an ignorant child who wants to go on making mud pies in a slum because he cannot imagine what is meant by the offer of a holiday at the sea. We are too easily pleased.” Talk about downsizing the wrong treasures!

As a grandparent, I must constantly evaluate what treasures I truly hold. What is it that I truly value? I suspect if I were to ask my kids and grandkids what they think I value, I might be surprised at the number of worthless treasures they identify. What is there in the way I live my life that would convince my grandchildren that heavenly treasure is of far greater worth than earthly treasure? What about my life makes much of Christ in their eyes? Those are questions we should all be asking on a regular basis.

In the meantime, I encourage you to read Randy Alcorn’s book. Then take inventory of the things in your life that you treasure. Downsizing that removes worthless treasures from our lives is good. On the other hand, we must guard against downsizing the treasures that matter.

Super Bowl Sunday might be a good time to talk with your grandchildren about the difference between heavenly and earthly treasures. Encourage them to talk about the things they treasure most and why. Are they treasures that last, or are they like mud pies in a slum? What are things we could downsize in our lives that would put more emphasis on true treasures?

Post your comment and share some things you are doing to model downsizing the right things and displaying worthwhile treasure seeking.