"…Moth, Rust and Thieves?"

" A weekly Devotional by Gbile Akanni"

                                 

There’s need for each of us to ask ourselves, “What am I living for? What is the real treasure that I am supposed to pursue in life at my present age, how much of that treasure have I actually got?” At an age when you are supposed to be resting, what exactly have you really got in terms of treasure that last forever?

Even if one would claim that he has laid down so much, the next question would be: where are you keeping these treasures?
“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. ”
Matt. 6:19-21 KJV
For anyone to understand why Jesus authoritatively declared that we lay not up for ourselves treasures upon the earth, where moth and rust doth corrupt, one needs to examine closely what moth is and what rust is.
In economic terms, what is moth, what is rust? In terms of agricultural devastation, what is moth, what is rust? In terms of social decadence, what is moth, what is rust? What are these agents that do corrupt every treasure that is kept on earth? There’s no treasure kept here on earth that is not subject to these agents of decay – moth and rust, and thieves that breakthrough and steal.


Thieves have become a great threat that we cannot say, we don’t know about. In order to keep ourselves from thieves we have become prisoners. Every rich man is a first class prisoner in his own house. It is prisoners that are said to be behind bars, but many people today are behind the bars of burglary proof. We are kept in prison in our own houses behind iron bars because of material treasures. If you have any good electronic equipment, you will normally keep it behind bars. Go to all the beautiful houses we have now especially in developed countries, you will see burglary bars. Someone who has a very beautiful door, very beautiful carpentry edifice will still put Iron bars behind it. Some have to open three or four gates in order to enter their bedroom.

Lay not up for yourselves treasures on the earth. Every treasure laid on earth is a treasure subject to moth, to rust and to thieves. I am not just talking of termites and wood worms; but every imaginable thing that causes decay, everything that causes reduction in value, either value of life, such as diseases and accidents or value of quantity or quality is what we call moth, rust and thieves. Everything on earth is subject to them. I do not plan to put anything here on this earth; but I cannot tell you not to put anything on earth, however, let’s get to know that anything one put on earth is subject to the moth, the rust and the thieves. This answers the question of ‘whose shall those things be which thou hast provided! Moth, Rust and Thieves!