Moths and Rust

Do not store up for yourselves treasures on earth, where moth and rust destroy and where thieves break in and steal. But store 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, your heart will be also. Matthew 6:19-21

I have a moth problem. They have taken over the kitchen, and since then, the house. Everywhere I go I see them hanging in the air. They are fairly easy to kill as they move pretty slowly. But they get into everything! Every bag, box, and even basket seems to have webs and moths all over them. The panic set in when I saw them upstairs near my closets. They are even cedar-lined and have moth balls in them. The moth balls seemed to have kept the mice off the counters, but the moths are still in the cupboard even with a whole box of moth balls fumigating it! I have put all food out of plastic bags with twist ties and into air-tight containers so the food isn't ruined again.

So what's the problem?

Wool. Wool jackets and wool for crafting. They lay eggs in it and the larvae eat the wool. And that makes holes. And holey wool destroys the garment. And considering the cost of a new suit jacket, that is one expensive moth!

And if it is that hard for me to control these critters, imagine living in a culture where wool was standard fare. Once you are infested, it is hard to get rid of them. And lots of stuff is ruined. Patches would declare that you have been gotten. The eggs get into everything. I have read that you should put your wool in freezing temperatures for quite a while to kill the eggs and stop the madness. I need to try that if I keep finding them by the garments instead of just down by the kitchen.

I look around me and see the effects of time on about everything I own. Things once new and prized are now faded, torn, water-damaged, worn out, raveling, splitting and drying out. Fabric, counters and cabinets, cars, pictures, wood finishes, carpets, and skin and hair all show the ravages of time, use, and abuse. Archivists spend thousands of dollars a year preserving everything from buildings to books, pictures to textiles. This life and everything in it runs on the destruction principle. The 2^nd law of thermodynamics interpreted by the layman is that everything tends toward chaos. Things fall apart on their own, they do not build on their own. A pile of wood doesn't build a house over time, but a house left unattended will eventually become nothing more than a pile of wood, and that will even dissolve into the dirt. And if anything survives this world, it will burn at the end of the world, so nothing of this life will last. The earth itself will be replaced with all its contents.

So the things we treasure here are goners, sad but true. But we have the promise that we can take something with us...we can store up treasures in heaven. It's not all useless and futile down here, because here is the temporary and there is eternal. We are given permission, even commanded, to store up stuff for ourselves, just not here. And how do we do that?

These are spiritual gifts, treasuring Jesus above all, treasuring the lives of others and taking them with us to the best place, and treasuring our time and talents to promote the kingdom and build into the lives of others, as well as our own souls. Treasuring the Word tells us what is really valuable, and if it is valuable in the eyes of God, it should be valuable to us, too. Reading Proverbs we learn wisdom, and with that wisdom spiritual insight and practical knowledge of how to live this life. We are told that what we give God here, He will repay many-fold there. People say you can't outgive God, and then expect Him to grant us favors on this side of eternity. I'll take mine there, thank you.

How many things have I bought thinking they were valuable to me at the time, and they end up pretty much worthless. You can buy most of what I own at a garage sale pretty cheaply. But God knows what will have eternal value, that will delight my heart forever and not just until the styles change. I will trust Him to decorate my eternal home and it will be a great deal happier with it than my current remodel. I also am in the midst of chaos here as they make lights work that haven't for years, a bathroom is getting gutted that also hasn't functioned for over a decade. I can sort of envision the results, but not really. I know what I like when I see it, but knowing what is going to look good ahead of time is not my forte. I will know if I like it once it is done and it's too late to change it. But God knows the exact placement of the pictures on the wall, the style of the furniture, and the color of the carpeting in my eternal home, and that it will reflect 2 things, what I sent ahead for Him to work with, and what will delight my heart.

And if you don't know what won't be in heaven besides sin, I can think of 2 things: moths and rust.