Treasures in Heaven

The Savior taught in the Sermon on the Mount, “Lay not up for yourselves treasures upon earth, where moth and rust doth corrupt, and where thieves break through and steal: But lay up for yourselves treasures in heaven, where neither moth nor rust doth corrupt, and where thieves do not break through nor steal: For where your treasure is, there will your heart be also” (Matthew 6:19-21). Those “treasures upon earth” are fairly straightforward to understand: our money, cars, homes, clothing, electronics, etc. will all be left behind when we die. We will leave all our wealth and material possessions, and so if we have spent our time solely focused on amassing them during mortality it will have all been for naught. As one of His parables questioned the rich man who died suddenly: “Thou fool, this night thy soul shall be required of thee: then whose shall those things be, which thou hast provided? So is he that layeth up treasure for himself, and is not rich toward God” (Luke 12:20-21). When asked how much wealth this or that person will leave behind at their death, the answer is the same for every person: all of it. Even if moth and rust didn’t corrupt it during mortality, or if thieves did not break through and steal it during our lives, death will indeed take it all from us.

                So, what then are the “treasures in heaven” that we should seek to amass here during mortality? What is it that we can take with us? The Prophet Joseph Smith gave one answer in these words, “Whatever principle of intelligence we attain unto in this life, it will rise with us in the resurrection. And if a person gains more knowledge and intelligence in this life through his diligence and obedience than another, he will have so much the advantage in the world to come” (Doctrine and Covenants 130:18-19). The knowledge we gain on earth, particularly knowledge of the Lord, will rise with us. Our understanding and intelligence that we develop will not disappear when we cross that great bar. The Savior compared this knowledge we should seek to the riches of the world in this injunction in another revelation: “Seek not for riches but for wisdom, and behold, the mysteries of God shall be unfolded unto you, and then shall you be made rich. Behold, he that hath eternal life is rich” (Doctrine and Covenants 6:7). As we seek for wisdom we can come to an understanding of the mysteries of God that will lead us to eternal life.

                The Prophet Joseph gave another answer to this question about the treasures in heaven we should cultivate here in mortality in this passage: “And that same sociality which exists among us here will exist among us there, only it will be coupled with eternal glory, which glory we do not now enjoy” (Doctrine and Covenants 130:2). Our relationships will endure past death, and we can enjoy the same love and friendship that we have developed in mortality in the world to come. This should encourage us to always focus more on people than possessions in the way that we spend our time. Of course the most important of those relationships are with our spouse, and the Lord declared that this relationship can indeed be a treasure laid up in heaven to never be lost: “If a man marry a wife by my word, which is my law, and by the new and everlasting covenant, and it is sealed unto them by the Holy Spirit of promise… and if ye abide in my covenant… it shall be done unto them in all things whatsoever my servant hath put upon them, in time, and through all eternity; and shall be of full force when they are out of the world” (Doctrine and Covenants 132:19). And so with that promise available to us, we should seek to lay up for ourselves that treasure, recognizing in mortality that sealing that relationship is of far more importance than any amount of wealth that we could obtain.

                Other treasures we could lay up now for the future surely include the amelioration of our talents from God, the cultivation of our faith in the Lord, and the development of Christlike attributes in our personal life. All of these things are the intangible that won’t be included in the final monetary calculation of our net worth, but they are that which will not rust. In short, we must seek to follow this simple injunction and we will indeed be laying up for ourselves great treasures in heaven of far more worth than rubies and gold: “But seek ye first the kingdom of God, and his righteousness; and all these things shall be added unto you” (Matthew 6:33).