Compiled By: Lisa K Gonzales
From: The Life Application Study Bible
11 “Under the system of Jewish laws, the high priest brought the blood of animals into the Holy Place as a sacrifice for sin, but the bodies of the animals were burned outside the camp. 12 So also Jesus suffered and died outside the city gates in order to make His people holy by shedding His own blood. 13 So let us go out to Him outside the camp and bear the disgrace He bore. 14 For this world is not our home; we are looking forward to our city in heaven, which is yet to come.” ~ Hebrews 13:11-14
The Jewish Christians were being ridiculed and persecuted by Jews who did not believe in Jesus the Messiah. Most of the book of Hebrews tells them how Christ is greater than the sacrificial system. Here the writer drives home the point of His lengthy argument: It may be necessary to leave the “camp” and suffer with Christ. To be “outside the camp” meant to be unclean – in the days of the Exodus, those who were ceremonially unclean had to stay outside the camp. But Jesus suffered humiliation and uncleanness outside the Jerusalem gates on their behalf. The time had come for Jewish Christians to declare their loyalty to Christ above any other loyalty, to choose to follow the Messiah whatever suffering that might entail. They needed to move outside the safe confinement of their past, their traditions, and their ceremonies to live for Christ. What holds you back from complete loyalty to Jesus Christ: Confinement to your past, traditions and ceremonies, the world, your job, possessions, family, friends….?
We should not be attached to this world or anything in it, because all that we are and have here is temporary. Only our relationship with GOD and our service to HIM will last. Do not store up your treasures here; store them in heaven where the return on your investment is lifelong. Storing treasures in heaven is not limited to tithing but is accomplished by all acts of obedience to GOD. There is a sense in which giving our money to GOD’s work is like investing in heaven. But we should seek to please GOD not only in our giving but also in fulfilling GOD’s purposes in all we do. – Jesus said: 19 “Do not store up treasures here on earth, where they can be eaten by moths and get rusty, and where thieves break in and steal. 20 Store your treasures in heaven, where they will never become moth-eaten or rusty and where they will be safe from thieves. 21 Wherever your treasure is, there your heart and thoughts will also be.” – Matthew 6:19-21 – Remember, whatever you store up, you will spend much of your time and energy thinking about.
Oh Father GOD, clear our minds of the things of this world and fill it with the things that are of service and pleasing to YOU. As we store up our treasures LORD, we want to store them in heaven because we know that wherever our treasure is, our heart and thoughts will also be. Help us to remember our time here on this earth is temporary. As Christians our eternal destiny awaits us in our city in heaven.
Photo: Rocky Mountain National Park (Estes Park, Colorado)
Photo By: Lisa K Gonzales
Click on the photo to enlarge
