I know Jesus said we should "store up treasure in heaven," but I take this thought a step further:  surely by now a few saints have stored up some treasure in heaven.  And let's not forget the well-spring of Jesus' ransom and the inexhaustible life of the resurrection.  He is not decaying!

Add to this treasury our role as stewards of everything g-d gives us... our comforts, our children, our money and time -- all of these assets belong to g-d.  As stewards we bring forth the treasures of heaven into our world.  G-d has blessed us so we may bless others.  We are the fragrant aroma of Christ in our world.  We are heralds of hope. 

I renounce the defeatism of some followers who think we are a poor and beaten-down rag-tag of exiles and vagabonds.  We are not "just-a-passin' through".  Nor are we 'subversive'.  No, we are the breath of life, the presence of Jesus unto our world.  We are watching and following the Spirit of the Almighty.  Justice flows from heaven through us.  Well-being flows through us from heaven.  When we walk into a room, in walks Jesus. 

I believe the reason why we do not embrace this power and position is because we are not in touch with the Father.  We are building our lives by our own strength.  We let go of Jesus' hand, we took our eyes off Jesus and we not only sink into the depths, but we now attempt to hopelessly breathe like fish. Faced with failure we quit.  We wait for death, bide our time wishing to escape this world. We think of ourselves wrongly.  We fight the wrong fight.  We've replaced our ambassador's role with a moralist's role: we settle for a fight against private sins (and let's admit it: the list of sins we battle are cheap in the greater scheme - lying, lust, cheating, coveting. etc) and we call this moral fight "the presence of the kingdom of heaven."   You don't have to be a Jesus-imitator to be a moralist.

May we embrace our role as carrying the treasures of heaven into this world of ours.  Speak forgiveness and forgive for you are forgiven.  Administer justice to the greedy and power-hungry, the criminal and cruel - for we are saved by the one in whom the Father gave over the role of Judge.  "The Father judges no one, but has entrusted all judgment to the Son..." John 5:22  Sing praises, walk lightly, treat everyone to care, compassion and hospitality... for you and I are so very extremely rich.  We carry the treasures from heaven into our world.