Intro
I came across an article on the Bible Project on what it means to "store up treasures in Heaven" and it brought some clarity to the meaning of this teaching for me...
I've been walking with Jesus for around 2 decades now, and he's taught me a lot about life, love, and grace. I still feel the battle inside myself when faced with a decision where I can act more or less in line with Jesus' desire and will or I can make a choice that's about me... Anytime I'm able to choose the path I know is his, then praise the Lord and he's been faithful to change me more and more into his image and likeness.
TLDR - The Treasures
The article goes on to argue that the rewards we are promised in Heaven, the ones we are supposed to "store up", are the rewards of living like Jesus today.
The reward becomes greater as our will is forged to align with the Lord. As we grow in holiness, making holy decisions and living a holy life becomes the reward we store up for heaven
Reflection
The idea that the perspective of the rewards change as we change is actually not that ground breaking to me... Growth leads to perspective changes in other aspects of life.
Say for my work, as I get more experience and learn what kinds of problems tend to arise, I can appreciate troubleshooting tactics I may have not considered before, approach problems with a different point of view, etc. And it's in this growth that I can appreciate things like searching deep in logs for 1 piece of info, or deciding to re-run something that takes hours and appreciating that it's the best thing to do when I'd rather try to slam changes in that might work or might make it worse... The growth brings maturity and deeper understanding to the problems.
How about with children? As they grow and mature they learn more about the world... They appreciate things they didn't like before - like having been disciplined as a child or being taught a hard lesson that pays off down the line. Again, the growth brings a perspective change.
And so as I journey in my faith this quote from the article resonated with me
Jesus’ exhortation to store up for yourselves treasures in Heaven is an invitation to taste, right now, what life will be like in the renewed world later on.
Jesus brought Heaven back to earth, and invites his chosen people to live in Heaven today regardless of where we live on earth.
As we mature in the Lord, the things of God become more valuable to us, and these rewards not only become more apparent, but they become easier to appreciate... ie. we store them up as we experience Heaven on earth