A Devotion from Augustine of Hippo

Do not store up for yourselves treasures on earth.  —Matthew 6:19

“Man is a mere phantom as he goes to and fro: he bustles about, but only in vain; he heaps up wealth, not knowing who will get it” (Ps. 39:6).  What is more mad, more unhappy? All day long you are harassed by labor, all night agitated by fear. That your coffer may be filled with money, your soul is in a fever of anxiety.

You bustle about in vain. Suppose that all your undertakings succeed. You bustle about, not fruitlessly indeed—still in vain. You are heaping up treasure and do not know for whom you gather it. For yourself?—you, who must die so soon? For your children?—those who must die so soon? It is a great futility—ones who must soon die lay up for those who must soon die also.

Let us then give ear to Jesus Christ: “Do not store up for yourselves treasures on earth.… But store up for yourselves treasures in heaven.… For where your treasure is, there your heart will be also.” What more do you wait for?

The voice of prediction is, “Heaven and earth will pass away” (Matt. 24:35). The voice of warning is, “Do not store up for yourselves treasures on earth.” If then you believe God in his prediction, if you do not despise his warning, let what he says be done. You will not lose what you have given away but will follow what you have only sent ahead of you. What you have on earth—with anxiety—you shall possess in heaven free from care. Transport your goods, then. I am giving you counsel for keeping, not for losing. “You will have,” says he, “treasure in heaven. Then come, follow me” (Matt. 19:21), that I may bring you to your treasure.

If what we have must be transported, let us transfer it to that place from where we cannot lose it. What are the poor to whom we give but our carriers, by whom we convey our goods from earth to heaven? Give then—you are only giving to your carriers. “How,” say you, “do they carry it to heaven? For I see that they make an end of it by eating.” No doubt they carry it not by keeping it but by making it their food. Have you forgotten? “Whatever,” says Christ, “you did for one of the least of these brothers of mine, you did for me.” He has received it who gave you something to give. He has received it who, in the end, will give his own self to you.