Where Is Our Treasure?

Psalm 49

Perhaps you’ve seen a cartoon drawing of a hearse with a trailer hitched to its back, containing the deceased person’s belongings.  It is meant as a humorous joke, since one would never really see that, and no one can take their worldly belongings with them after they die.  One of the themes of today’s psalm is that pursuing after wealth and belongings in life is a futile pursuit, as it means nothing in the end.

We see this all the time, and maybe if we’re honest, we also fall into the trap of wanting more, more, more.  People want bigger and better this and that. We want the latest phones, computer software and games, better cars, bigger houses, latest fashions to wear, etc.  Many people are in a mad pursuit to climb the corporate ladder. They have to get the best position in the company, one that pays the top salary, even if such a pursuit will damage, or even cost them their family.  What good is all of this? We see it today, and our psalmist saw it in his day, and he made several important observations.

For one, our psalmist saw that both the rich and the poor die alike.  No one escapes from death. All of one’s wealth and possessions cannot keep the rich man from dying, just like the poor man, and everything the rich man spent his life pursuing is then left to others (vs.  10). Death is the great equalizer, to the rich and famous, and to the poor, the unknown, and despised. Oh, the rich may get to have a fancy funeral, and a magnificent tombstone, monument, or mausoleum, but will he be bragging in the afterlife of what a stunning mausoleum he has?  As we all know, the psalmist reminds us that we cannot take our riches and possessions with us after we die (vs. 16-17).

Another observation the psalmist makes is that all the wealth in the world cannot redeem one’s soul (vs. 7-8, 15).  In the ancient world sometimes people were sold as slaves because of a large, unpaid debt. In order to be set free a large amount of money had to be paid - a ransom paid in order to be redeemed.  No one can escape the first death, physical death, no matter how rich one is. Also, money cannot spare someone the second death of hell. Trusting in worldly possessions is futile. We cannot take those possessions with us when we die, and they cannot buy the forgiveness of our sins.  Only by putting one’s faith and trust in Jesus can we be spared that second death. He paid the only possible payment - His Blood on the cross. Jesus paid that ransom price for us in His Blood so we could be set free from slavery to sin (Mark 10:45; Ephesians 1:7; Hebrews 9:12). Only God can redeem a soul.  We cannot buy our way into heaven.

What Jesus said in the Gospels is so very true - What does it profit a man if he gains the whole world, but loses his soul?  (Mark 8:36). The rich fool of the parable in Luke 12:13-21 learned this. All the money in the world means nothing if one dies and goes to hell.  All the time and effort that was spent accumulating that wealth was a waste when one is dead and gone, especially if one is now in hell.

Are we spending our time making investments on earth or in heaven?  The investments on earth won’t matter for eternity. What we invest in God and heaven will.  Those investments we keep forever. To have treasure in heaven we need to put our faith and trust in Jesus, obey Him, and use all we have for His kingdom.