And the twelve gates were twelve pearls: every several gate was of one pearl: and the street of the city was pure gold, as it were transparent glass. – Revelation 21:21, King James Version (KJV)

A millionaire Christian was sleeping in his bedroom when an angel came to him and woke him up. “It’s time for you to go to heaven”, said the angel. “Oh, I’m not ready, what should I bring?”, said the man. “Nothing, just yourself”, replied the angel. But the millionaire pulled a large suitcase from under his bed and opened it up. It was full of gold bars. “Can I just bring this along?” he pled. The angel said, “OK, but only the suitcase”. So the millionaire was taken up to the pearly gates where St.Peter was waiting to welcome him. Looking at the suitcase Peter said, “I’m sorry but we don’t allow any earthly possessions here, you’ll have to leave the suitcase behind.” The man said to Peter, “But the angel said it was OK.” Peter says, “Well, let me take a look then.” He opened the suitcase to see all the gold bars inside and immediately fell to the floor rolling around with laughter!

The millionaire was amazed at the saint’s antics. Why was he laughing? After a while Peter was able to stop laughing and managed to let out one question, “Why do you want to bring pavement into heaven?”

When Christ admonished us to lay up treasures in Heaven, He did so knowing that the treasures of Heaven are SO much more valuable than the treasures of Earth. As the story above illustrates, what we value here is often treaded upon as commonplace in Heaven. Don’t be mesmerized by the attractions of the here and now. Instead, long for the attractions of God’s eternal home, and simply be content to enjoy the earthly treasures that He sees fit to entrust you with for now.