Luke 12:32-34 “Do not be afraid, little flock, for your Father has been pleased to give you the kingdom. Sell your possessions and give to the poor. Provide purses for yourselves that will not wear out, a treasure in heaven that will not be exhausted, where no thief comes near and no moth destroys. For where your treasure is, there your heart will be also.”

Where is this place Jesus is describing here? The purses we use never wear out. The treasure is never exhausted. There is no danger of thieves. There are no problems with moths.

Obviously, Jesus is looking ahead to heaven. But the investment his words suggest begins even now. When we spend our treasures on ourselves, we enjoy the fruits for a little while. It’s fun while it lasts, but eventually it all comes to an end. Homes and cars, clothes and vacations, insurance policies and retirement plans, are all “purses” of a sort.  We put our money in these bags and purses. They hold our treasure for a little while, but the day comes when they are worn out. They lose their value and our investment is gone.

Take that same investment and put it into people. Then what happens? A poor family is attracted to hear about the love of Jesus because they experienced the love of some of his followers. A child learns the whole history of God’s love for him in a Christian school or Sunday school. Someone half-way around the world hears the gospel for the first time because people in our country cared enough to send missionaries.

That family with whom we will spend eternity, who will love us, and whom we will love forever, grows like interest on our principle when we spend this way. Our own hope of bliss with God is safe, not because we make heaven more secure, nor because we created this treasure for ourselves, but because by faith this is what our hearts have come to truly desire. “Where your treasure is, there your heart will be also.”

Where we are looking makes all the difference for how we approach the coming year. Honestly, my own life is an uninspiring and puny topic. If everything revolves around me, I won’t face this year with much confidence. But look at what we have, and look at what we can do, when we are looking at our God and his kingdom. We will have nothing to fear in the coming year.