“Store up for yourselves treasures in heaven…. For where your treasure is, there your heart will be also.”
Matthew 6:20-21
Do you have expectations for your life? As with idols and false identities, our pasts often shape what we think the future should look like. Call it your “practical salvation.” If you grew up poor, your ideal future might look like being rich. If you grew up with divorce, it might be a good marriage.
Yet these visions of the future—our practical salvation—always fail us. First, most of us never achieve anything close to this ideal vision of the future. Second, those who do achieve something close to it are inevitably disappointed. Third, this practical salvation is not the salvation we truly need. Only the hope of heaven can sustain us in a broken world.
I served as chaplain for one young soldier who took his life, despite riding high by worldly standards—attending an elite university and enjoying life as a millionaire. Depression often follows in the wake of these false visions. Picture yourself in 20 years and compare that picture with your upbringing. Is it truly a Christ-centered hope for which you are yearning?
Yet these visions of the future—our practical salvation—always fail us. First, most of us never achieve anything close to this ideal vision of the future. Second, those who do achieve something close to it are inevitably disappointed. Third, this practical salvation is not the salvation we truly need. Only the hope of heaven can sustain us in a broken world.
I served as chaplain for one young soldier who took his life, despite riding high by worldly standards—attending an elite university and enjoying life as a millionaire. Depression often follows in the wake of these false visions. Picture yourself in 20 years and compare that picture with your upbringing. Is it truly a Christ-centered hope for which you are yearning?
Scripture Focus
Matthew 6:19-24
Insight
What have you made your practical salvation? How does it compare to the hope we have in Christ?
Bible In A Year
- Job 26-28
- Psalm 55
- Luke 18
