Matthew 6:19-20 English Standard Version

Lay Up Treasures in Heaven

19 “Do not lay up for yourselves treasures on earth, where moth and rust destroy and where thieves break in and steal, 20 but lay up for yourselves treasures in heaven, where neither moth nor rust destroys and where thieves do not break in and steal.

Rust is only seen twice in the ESV and the KJV uses the word worm. It is not surprising to discover that the issue of rust is not often used in teaching. 

Think about farm life and relate that to an old tractor that is no longer in use. Sometimes it is sitting around as a reminder of a former life when things were different. It might be fondly remembered and not sold off for scrap metal. It might even be an antique set on display like horse or mule drawn plows are kept to remind us of a harder life. They gather rust from lack of use.

Given that we might not ever go back to that old life before Christ, that life is our witness of rust. It is what we were but has been replaced with this new creation.

At 76 I will not act like a 20 year old. Thank God for that. Not because I can’t but because that man is long gone and sitting on display in faded photos in long forgotten albums somewhere in the attic.

My daughter sent me an email with an attachment of me back when I had a head full of hair. Hair wasn’t all I was full of back then. The photo doesn’t tell the tale, but it dragged up memories long forgotten. It was my rusty tractor photo, me before I died to sin.

Being dead to sin isn’t an easy concept for some of us because sin is sin and it does not die just because we did and became this new creation in Christ. It’s the rust that gets on us if we get close enough to that old life and let it rub off on our new clothes.

Here is another piece of advice. Leave it to rust, don’t try to clean it up.