3 Nephi 13:19-24

13:19-24 - Now we get to one of my favorite subjects, spiritual currency. Jesus teaches “Lay not up for yourselves treasures upon earth, where moth and rust doth corrupt, and thieves break through and steal; Lay up for yourselves treasures in heaven, where neither moth nor rust doth corrupt, and where thieves do not break through nor steal.” There’s a recurring theme throughout the scriptures of spiritual treasure, mansion, compensation, etc. Lots of economic concepts applied to non-economic principles. There’s so much that I want to say about this and eventually I want to write a book about spiritual currency and the principle of compensation and in fact I know that one of my best friends and I were soul sisters when she said the same exact thing. The IM quotes President Ezra Taft Benson as teaching “Our affections are often too highly placed upon the paltry perishable objects. Material treasures of earth are merely to provide us, as it were, room and board while we are here at school. It is for us to place gold, silver, houses, stocks, lands, cattle, and other earthly possessions in their proper place. Yes, this is but a place of temporary duration. We are here to learn the first lesson toward exaltation- obedience to the Lord’s gospel plan.” What an interesting analogy of “room and board,” as far as material substances go here on earth, because really, we can’t take it with us and it would seem that that would be an important distinction between what’s of value and what’s not. The IM continues by quoting Elder Dallin H. Oaks as teaching, “The Savior taught that we should not lay up treasures on earth but should lay up treasures in heaven. In light of the ultimate purpose of the great plan of happiness, I believe that the ultimate treasures on earth and in heaven are our children and our posterity.” What an interesting way to look at this. How do we lay up for ourselves family in heaven? Having children, grandchildren, loving them, teaching them, raising and assisting other people in need, and usually when the term “family” is used, in conjunction with that is the term “friends.” I think these days the term “friend” is used too widely, in this context, because I have like 450 friends on Facebook, but I don’t really know 450 people really well, I honestly wouldn’t be heartbroken if I didn’t see them in eternity, just like they wouldn’t feel that way towards me, I’m sure. But I also have “friends” who are so dear and so important to me that I truly consider them to be my family. I love them like family, I serve them like family, they serve me like family, maybe it’s because we’ve never had close family nearby but that’s just as real to me as it is to anyone else. So I guess that begs the question, how do you lay up for yourself friends and family in heaven? Service to others, love, friendship, having fun together, being there for each other, so how does that relate to the current topic? How do we gain friends and family by limiting our focus on material things? Good question, if we are focused on how to get more money, are we focused on serving others? No. When we focus on having a nicer car or a bigger house or a better purse, are we centered on ourselves or others? That’s right, we are self-centered, and we don’t progress spiritually when we are self-centered, we must be Christ-centered in order to grow closer to Him. Here on this earth we have limited resources, we only have a certain amount of time, we only have a certain amount of energy, and we only have so much attention. In the April 2014 general conference address entitled “Where Your Treasure Is” Elder Michael John U. Teh quotes President Uchtdorf as teaching “Our Heavenly Father sees our real potential. He knows things about us that we do not know ourselves. He prompts us during our lifetime to fulfill the measure of our creation, to live a good life, and to return to His presence. Why, then, do we devote so much of our time and energy to things that are so fleeting, so inconsequential, and so superficial? Do we refuse to see the folly in the pursuit of the trivial and transient?” Why do we spend so much of our limited resources on material things? I think that it’s important here to note the distinction between working and self-sufficiency and earthly treasures. We are commanded to work, to support ourselves, work is an eternal principle, but I think that it goes into our motivation, our priorities. Further in the talk Elder Teh defines “earthly treasures consists of pride, wealth, material things, power, and the honors of men.” If we look at the church leadership, all are financially independent, I believe that that is a requirement for service, and many are quite wealthy, while some are not so much, so what makes their pursuit of financial freedom different than those who the Lord is talking about? Jesus tells us the answer in verse 21 and 22, “For where your treasure is, there will your heart be also. The light of the body is the eye; if, therefore, thing eye be single, they whole body shall be full of light.” Like everything else, our treasures are not defined by our numbers, they are defined by the attention that we give to them. We are commanded to work and to support ourselves, that is a way in which we can grow closer to God, but we aren’t commanded to spend all of our time and energy working so that we can make lots of money and have a nice car to the neglect of our families and church assignments. It’s all about motivation, the wealthiest person in the world could also have the most heavenly treasures, and the poorest person in the world could have the least heavenly treasures, it’s not about numbers, it’s about where our hearts are, and what our motivations are.