Jump Start # 3608

Matthew 6:20 “But store up for yourselves treasures in Heaven, where neither moth nor rust destroys, and where thieves do not break in or steal.”

This is the final installment on our recent trip to France.

One of the best places we went to on our trip to France was the famed Louvre Museum. We went earlier to a museum dedicated to impressionist art, such as Monet and Van Gogh, which was amazing to see the originals. In the massive Louvre, one finds famous Greek statues such as Venus and Nike, and the priceless Mona Lisa, as well as other da Vinci paintings. The gigantic painting of the Coronation of Napoleon, 33 feet wide and 20 feet tall, is amazing. The Louvre is huge. We were told that if a person spent one minute looking at every object in the Louvre and did that for eight hours a day, non–stop, it would take nearly a year to see everything. There is so much. Napoleon had taken many things from Egypt and they are now in the Louvre.

I have been to the Smithsonian museum in Washington. Been to the British museum in London. The Vatican museum in Rome. The Israeli museum in Jerusalem. Treasure houses of the old and important things from the past. Each museum is special and each has it’s own flavor. And, in every one, I would just love to be able to wander around, open closed doors and spend hours to myself in those places. I have been blessed to see some really incredible things from the past.

But the greatest treasure place of all is your heart. It is there that you store the most important things to you. It is there that only you can keep what is important to you. Precious memories of your little babies. Fond times with dear friends. Wonderful occasions of worship among God’s people. And, although life often separates us from those we love and death often takes them away from us, deep within our hearts they are kept as a priceless treasure.

Here are some reminders for us:

First, remembering and reflecting upon what is important to you reminds you of how blessed you are. I think that is one reason why I have filled my office with so many photos. Pictures of places I have been. Pictures of family. Pictures of those who are dear to me. I can look up from my work, look at those pictures and a certain joy and peace comes to my heart. Day to day we can forget how blessed we are. The stress of today can make us forget what we are holding within the museum of our hearts. God has been good to us.

Second, there are things that have happened that we need to toss out. There is no need to keep remembering the pain of words that hurt us. We don’t need to remember how people let us down. We don’t need to remember the sins against us. All museums face the dilemma of what to keep and what to throw away. This is not just a concern of museum curators, but something we must deal with ourselves. What to store in our hearts and what to let go, is important. Some keep the wrong things. And, because of that, they can never move on. They can’t forgive. They remain hurt. It may well be that they are holding on to the wrong things. The precious memories that are good and right will help you.

Third, spiritually, the precious memories will strengthen our faith. We in a corner, scared and unsure, we remember how the Lord helped Daniel in a lion’s den, or Peter when in prison. We remember prayers answered in the past. We recall Scriptures that teach us that the Lord is good and faithful. The Lord does not forget His promises.

In Peter’s writings he often used the thought of remembering or remembrance. Don’t forget! Don’t forget what the Lord has said. Don’t forget what the Lord has done. Don’t forget what the Lord has promised. Luke tells us that Mary, the mother of Jesus, “treasured all these things, pondering them in her heart.” She kept them in her heart. She saved them. They became a part of her internal museum.

What have you kept in your heart? What treasures have you saved within you? What spiritual gems have you held on to? It is those things that can help you journey through loneliness, disappointment and fear.

The Louvre holds a lot of treasures. But none as important as what you have kept in your heart.

Roger