Let’s go shopping
I recently began to think about the words "store up" . As you may know, I began helping at a retail store in Springfield, Oregon and have already learned a lot about my community and surrounding areas by taking care of all kinds of patrons. These patrons push cart after cart of things through the store and then end up at a register. I love getting to ask the people “so what’s the basket of goodies gonna be used for”. Some have really fun ideas and some people they say they just want to stock up.
When we think about shopping or storing, it might lead us to some questions like this:
What are we storing up? and what are we not storing up? I’m gonna help us with this by taking us to a story in Genesis that surrounds a young man named Joseph. His dad, named Jacob, really loved him and gave him a one of kind, colorful coat that set him up for a life changing experience. We see this change play out with his family, in a not so good way. You see, they had an issue with Joseph, because he was dad's favorite, and this coat, well... it just took the cake, in their minds. It was another reason for them to hate him and something had to be done about it.
I'm gonna bring this story to the modern day to help us with the "store up" thought.
Dad and mom go to the store to purchase something special, for their kiddo, Joe, and then proceed to wrap it up with pretty paper. Then they want to celebrate with the family, by bringing out the gift, singing to Joe, eating cake and all the fun that goes with it. Sounds good to me! But, if you've ever been around a child who has siblings that aren't getting anything at the party, they can become very sad, possibly jealous and very self absorbed, and they miss out on the whole point of the day.... which is caring for their brother and they miss celebrating and being apart of what the new year of possibilities could be for all of them, because of the gift.
Back to Joseph -
Joseph's brothers couldn't see past their own selves and only became fixated with what they didn't have. They began storing up anger and hostility which led to them to selling their brother and then told a big lie to their father, and that was, Joseph was dead and they brought the coat smeared with animal blood to prove it. Now they began storing up lies and deceit along with what they already had in their storehouse of jealousy and comparison.
Jumping forward in the story, Joseph was in prison for a long time, but his storehouse looked much different, than his brothers. Yes, he was sad sometimes and most likely had days of disappointment, but he chose to shop differently that his brothers. What I mean by this, is that He chose not to let the circumstances of his life make him bitter or resentful. He instead chose to allow God, whom he trusted, to train him and teach him how to flourish in any situation, high or low. At one point, the Pharoah or king in this story, promoted Joseph to second in command over all of Egypt through some crazy dream stuff. You should definitely go read the story.
https://biblehub.com/topical/j/joseph_in_egypt.htm
By accepting his placement in life, Joseph was given an opportunity to help build an actual storehouse for grain, that led him to experience a great plan of helping to save his biological family and his new Egyptian family, in a time of great famine.
The practical storehouse is a good one in this story, but for us we need to transfer this to our heavenly (story) storehouse.
Matthew 6:19-21
Amplified Bible, Classic Edition
19 Do not gather and heap up and store up for yourselves treasures on earth, where moth and rust and worm consume and destroy, and where thieves break through and steal.
20 But gather and heap up and store up for yourselves treasures in heaven, where neither moth nor rust nor worm consume and destroy, and where thieves do not break through and steal;
21 For where your treasure is, there will your heart be also.
What this means for us, is that we have this treasure in our spiritual, heavenly, called life, that the Holy Spirit wants us to know about.
Our circumstances and relationships here on earth are not to be our focus, instead we are to be fixed on Jesus (the treasure) and be present with him right where we’re at. So let’s look at what might be in our cart? what have we been storing up? Love, joy, peace, patience, kindness, goodness, gentleness, faithfulness, self control? You see, these are all available and were already purchased for you and me through our Lord Jesus, who took the trip to the cross. We need only take ahold through faith, open them and celebrate through out the day, all that is in the cart.
If we have been storing up anger, hostility, resentment, bitterness, criticism, judgement, loneliness or anything else that resembles these, this is a trip that will trip you up, but fortunately for us we can exchange that cart. Those things are killers and will NOT bring us any sustaining life. I'm sure Joseph had an option to choose a cart full of all of these things I just mentioned. But, he chose to exchange it all for knowing God and his full provision, for himself, Yes! but more than that, it was for those in his sphere of influence. His father bought him a coat that led to a serious change in his life and he let that change be God’s love not his abandonment. He probably had many times where he didn’t understand this, but he walked by faith every day, trusting all the way. Not always perfect, but humble and ready to learn.
I find it so interesting that at the end of Joseph’s life, the only thing mentioned is:
Exodus 13:19 New King James Version
And Moses took the bones of Joseph with him, for he (Joseph) had placed the children of Israel under solemn oath, saying, “God will surely visit you, and you shall carry up my bones from here with you.”
Carry up my bones? Yep! He wanted them in the Promised Land. That was it. Nothing else. Just that. I think he knew all of his treasure was stored up in heaven and it was important to him to be placed in the land that was a picture of that new life.
Figuratively, the next time we go shopping, I hope this encourages us to stop, take assessment of what is in our cart and exchange anything in it that keeps us looking at things on the earth, instead of the new life in Christ.
His life cart, is full and has more than enough for us. He knows what is in store for us everyday. Let’s trust our circumstances, our lack of things and most of all our hearts to the One who has purchased us with His death, burial and resurrection and ascention and he HAS all that is needed for us today.
Stored up in His love,
Dayna
photo by: Photo by Girl with red hat on Unsplash