It is difficult for people to believe what our Lord teaches about laying up treasures in Heaven, and of the great difference there will be in the matter of wealth and the degrees in honor that are to exist in the life to come, just because people look upon Heaven only in the light of spiritual character, and as being so different from the things in this world, and practically most people regard the heavenly state as one of perfect equality in all things. The fact is, the Scriptures reveal that there will be far more ranks and degrees among the people in Heaven than on the earth, and that, in the point of wealth, there will be greater contrasts there than there are in the present life. He that soweth sparingly in this life will reap sparingly in Heaven, though he may be saved, and he that soweth bountifully shall reap bountifully in the future life. The Bible speaks of being rich toward God, of laying up goodly store for the time to come, of seeing to it that we get a full reward.

The great mass of Christians never get their thoughts any higher than escaping Hell and getting into Heaven. When we are divinely illuminated, we discover that there are countless degrees of rank and honor and riches and enjoyments that will exist in the heavenly kingdom, and that we are now preparing ourselves for just the place that we shall occupy in the life to come. Jesus tells us to make to ourselves friends of the mammon of unrighteousness, that when we fail on earth they may receive us into everlasting habitations. The simple meaning is — mammon was the heathen god of wealth, and we can make money our friend by giving it to God, to His poor, to missions, to carry on the Gospel, to help the afflicted, to help save souls, so that when our life fails us on earth, the dollars we have sent on ahead of us, or the souls who have been saved through our liberality, will be in Heaven to welcome us to everlasting mansions, and the size and splendor of our mansion will depend on what we have given according to ability and with the right motive.

If Christians really believed this, thousands of them would give their dollars where they now give cents. In traveling to a foreign country people often buy letters of credit on banks in London, in Egypt, or India, and when they reach those places and present their credentials to the bank, they find that the money has been sent on in advance, and is awaiting their arrival for them to use it. That is the thought of our Savior, that we are, by giving to God and His cause, to send on our money in advance to Heaven, and it will be there awaiting our arrival.

But some may say money is a material thing, and how can we send it to Heaven? I reply that we can take money and so use it as to give it a spiritual quality, and a heavenly importance, that will represent the exact proportion of wealth and honor and joy in the heavenly world that the material money can represent down here. Material things can have a spiritual importance in them, a kind of a soul in them, which measures quality and character as truly as the soul in the body.

For example, we do not put manure on our tables as a diet, and yet we take the manure to fertilize the vegetables and fruit trees, and out of that coarse manure there are produced the most luscious fruits and vegetables and these are put upon our tables and we eat them. Thus the quality in the common fertilizer has been transmuted into something much higher, and the fragrant and beautiful fruit on the table is a glorified form of the coarse manure that we put on the ground.

This is exactly the case with money, for down here in this life it is a coarse material and can be turned into an offensive curse, and on the other hand it can be used as a fertilizer in producing the fruit of the Spirit, and the graces of blessing to other souls, and in the heavenly state we will see the glorified products of that which was an earthly material in the present life.

The rich in this life will soon have to part with all their treasures and most of them will be paupers in eternity. On the other hand, those who lay up treasures in Heaven will take high rank in the life to come, and possess a wealth in the future ages which never will be taken from them. The rich are often uneasy for fear they cannot keep their wealth, and thus their riches bring a curse in the form of anxiety, whereas those who will be rich in Heaven will have no such anxiety of losing their treasures, and the very consciousness that they can lose nothing will be a source of exquisite joy.

There is a curse attached to high office in this life, to earthly fame and earthly honor, because of countless envies, jealousies, revenges, and the sense of uncertainty and insecurity that pervades all earthly comfort or glory or wealth, but in the heavenly world there will be in connection with holding an office, or having great honor or great wealth, such a sweet sense of security, of perpetuity, of incorruption, that all these things will impart a real joy to the possessor.

All the pleasures of this world are tinctured with sorrow, because they are so short and so uncertain. On the other hand, the very cream of the joys of Heaven is the absolute assurance that they will never be diminished.

Another element in laying up treasures in Heaven is that of the moral quality which goes with the amount that we give. The poor have the privilege of giving just as much as the rich, though it is hard to convince them of this truth. Suppose a man has an income of ten million a year, and he gives one million, another man has an income of ten hundred and he gives one hundred, the latter man gives more than the first, for he not only gives in the same proportion, but he will feel it the more, and make more sacrifice, especially if his needs are those of the average family.

It is on this principle that Jesus said that the poor widow had cast in more than all the rich men put together. The size of what we give to God depends on how much of our soul goes with it, how much of sacrifice and love and faith goes with the giving; just as a large soul may inhabit a small body, as in the case of Paul and Wesley, so a vast amount of moral force and heavenly wealth may accompany what seems to be a small amount, in itself considered. So many poor Christians fail to give their small amounts because they are not rich enough to give more, but in reality this is pride and unbelief, and they will see it some day, and find, too late in the heavenly world, that they have failed to lay up treasures in Heaven, because of their unbelief.

It is said that Mr. Rockefeller has given away about forty million dollars, but when we consider that he has over six hundred million dollars to give out of, it will be seen when Jesus comes that there are thousands of very poor people who have given thousands of times more than ever Mr. Rockefeller gave. Oh, if we had spiritual eyes to see the measurements of spiritual things, and to discern how God will deal with us, how differently we would act!

Another principle in laying up treasures in Heaven is that of doing it regularly, with forethought, and intention, and perseverance, and in faith. To give in a slipshod way, and by spurts and spells, is better than not at all, but all such giving betrays a lack of character, a lack of fidelity, for it is faithfulness that God watches with a jealous eye. It will not be "good and successful servant,"� but "good and faithful servant."� The best givers in the world are those who give in a right proportion, the tenth being the least amount, and those who give regularly, and those who give lovingly and prayerfully, not according to some red tape or some church assessment, but those who are open to the voice of God, and stand ready to give their money by Divine leading instead of by narrow prejudice or the mere dictation of a man. There are many things to be considered in the giving of money to make it pleasing to God, which men ignore. God often tells people where to give their money, but very few have in them the perfect obedience to obey the Lord.

Many people give away money without giving it to God, or where He wants it given. It is amazing how many Christians are always promising what they are going to do with their money, and then die, and the lawyers and the devil get all their property, and Jesus does not get a dollar.

I know of several prominent Holiness people who had considerable property, but when they died all their wealth went in the way of sin. It is harder to get rich Christians to give their money to God than it is to reclaim drunkards, or to convert the heathen, or to work any other moral miracle in the world.

Oh, brother, sister, the time is short, and if you have any money that God ought to have, do not delay, give it before you die, for if you don't the devil will get it!

Your position in the heavenly kingdom, the size of your crown, your rank in glory, your usefulness in the ages to come, depend on what you are doing now. As we sow, so shall we reap.