Heaven Holds All To Me

Good morning and welcome to Our Daily Walk.

Audio version at http://tinyurl.com/2gza6z

We’ve probably all seen the same sad scene on the television news at least once. A family is interviewed as they watch their house go up in flames. All of their earthly possessions are lost to the fire—photo albums, family heirlooms, wedding gifts, irreplaceable mementos. Then one of them will say, “Yes, we lost everything we had tonight. But we all escaped with our lives and that is what really matters. A house can be replaced, but a life cannot be.”

Isn’t it funny how we tend to treasure things so much in our lives? Yet when it really matters, we would gladly sacrifice those things in order to preserve our own life.

That sentiment is echoed in the New Testament as Jesus says the following in Matthew 6:19-21.

Do not lay up for yourselves treasures on earth, where moth and rust destroy and where thieves break in and steal; but lay up for yourselves treasures in heaven, where neither moth nor rust destroys and where thieves do not break in and steal. For where your treasure is, there your heart will be also.

The real treasure of this life isn’t our house, our bank account or our accomplishments. The real treasure is finding salvation through Jesus and knowing that we have an eternal home in heaven waiting for us.

Tillit S. Teddlie wrote the song “Heaven Holds All To Me” in 1912 at the age of 27. While walking along in Golden, Texas, near the place where he was baptized, he sat down under a large tree and began to write this song. He later took it to the local barber shop and listened as the boys there sang this song. Convinced that it was what he wanted, he then returned home and wrote the chorus. The first verse and chorus of that song are as follows.

Earth holds no treasures but perish with using,

However precious they be;

Yet there’s a country to which I am going;

Heaven holds all to me.

Heaven holds all to me,

Brighter its glory will be,

Joy without measure will be my treasure;

Heaven holds all to me.

When one can take the time to focus on what is really important, one will find that without hope of heaven, nothing else really matters. Everything in this world is temporary with the exception of our eternal spirits. Those who build buildings, bridges and roads that are built today brag of them being able to last for a hundred years or longer. Yet they will ultimately crumble and perish.

Jesus wants us to live on this earth with the assurance of a better place being reserved for us in the next life. In John 14:1-3 Jesus says the following.

Let not your heart be troubled; you believe in God, believe also in Me. In My Father's house are many mansions; if it were not so, I would have told you. I go to prepare a place for you. And if I go and prepare a place for you, I will come again and receive you to Myself; that where I am, there you may be also.

Friends, our treasures on this earth may be few or they may be many. But they will all perish. Look around you right now. What do you see?

Maybe you are in a car, or in the kitchen. Maybe you are outside on the patio enjoying a cup of coffee. Do you see things of value? Can you determine which are more valuable than others? Certainly you can.

Now, which of these things is worth your life? None of them is. You would gladly exchange your car, house, or money in order to preserve your life, and rightfully so. Which ones are worth your eternal soul?

Jesus said in Matthew 16:26, “For what profit is it to a man if he gains the whole world, and loses his own soul? Or what will a man give in exchange for his soul?”

The only things that will survive this world are the eternal spirits that God has given to us. When we understand the great value of our spirits, then we will be prioritizing our lives so as to lay up our treasures in heaven.

On Our Daily Walk today, may we thank God for the great blessings that we enjoy. May we focus on our most prized possession and then know that our soul is much more valuable. May we remember that heaven should hold all for us.

Our thought for the day: “Heaven will mean the most to those who have put the most into it.”

May God bless you on your daily walk.

© Our Daily Walk, Mike Baker, 2007. Permission is granted to copy these articles provided they are not sold and the author's name and copyright are included.