What is Heaven Worth to You?

Around every corner we are faced with making a choice. We are required to value products in the store, tickets to special events, even political campaigns. If we think something is ‘worth it’ we are willing to spend any amount of money. If something is really worth it to us, we will even spend our valuable time. We put a price on everything. So, today my question for you is, what is heaven worth to you?

For the young rich man in today’s Gospel (Matthew 19.16-26) heaven was worth more than he was willing to spend. Let’s go back to the beginning. He asked Christ, “What good deed must I do to have eternal life?” He was immediately faced with the price. “If you would be perfect, go, sell what you possess and give to the poor.” That was more than he was willing to spend, so he left.

After the rich man left, Christ said, “It will be hard for a rich man to enter into the Kingdom of Heaven.” This doesn’t mean it will be impossible. It only means that many of us will not be willing to pay the price. The price isn’t money. We only think it is money because we think everything is about money.

The real price of heaven is our life. For the rich man, money was his life. He was willing to do everything the Law outlined. He never killed anyone. He never stole from anyone. He never lied. He honored his parents. In fact, he said, “All these I have observed, what do I still lack?” He figured he was ‘all clear’ for heaven. It didn’t cost anything to do the things he had done his entire life.

Then Christ said, “If you would be perfect, go and sell what you possess and give to the poor.” Suddenly he was face to face with a problem. He loved money more than he loved heaven. He went away sad not because the price was too high. He went away sad because he realized that the only way his life would ever have value was for him to love heaven more than he loved money.

No matter how much money we have, if we love our money more than heaven, it doesn’t matter how much heaven costs. We will never pay the price. We could be poor and still walk away sad if we are not willing to give all we have.