Pleasure or Treasure?

Date of original journal entry: July 21, 2017

Proverb 21:17(a) He that loveth pleasure shall be a poor man

I have just looked at a photo of 15 or so faces – young eager faces.  Some of the youth from our church are on a mission trip to Trinidad and I’ve made a pledge to myself to pray for them every morning.  I made their photo into a bookmark to mark the Proverb for the day; a great visual reminder of that pledge.  This verse from today’s meditative reading has particularly ignited my heart with contemplation and further prayer for the group.

Trinidad.  “The New York of the Caribbean”.  There’s no want of fleshy pleasure in Trinidad; any decadent, licentious, hedonistic appetite can be well satisfied in this lush tropical paradise.  The online tourism photos are quite scandalous and would make the innocent heart blush.  It’s a place of unrestrained pleasure.

Pleasure or Treasure?  Our group is treasure seeking; they didn’t go to Trinidad to squander their money and time on the insatiable lusts of the flesh.  This group of teens and early twenty-somethings has worked and saved and sacrificed vacation time for the “trip of a lifetime” — a mission trip.  The light in their eyes is joy, their smiles pure, hearts clean.  They are there to work.  They are there to be a servant to others not a servant to the flesh and sin.  They are there to lay up eternal treasure.  They are a thrill to my heart.

On the last day of their trip I took a long last look at this group of fresh, young, budding lives and, smiling to myself, I tucked the picture back into the book of Proverbs to mark my place for tomorrow; I decided to continue my pledge of daily prayer for them.  And not just for these in the photo, but for the entire youth group at The Bible Baptist Church along with their intrepid, dedicated leader, David Brown and his wife Lauren.

Thank you Lord for the privilege to pray for these young ones just starting out on their own walk with you.  Thank you for the families who have so diligently raised and trained them.  Thank you for the church, the pastor, and the youth pastor whom you’ve given to help guide them.  And thank you for their desire to be rich in Treasure, not poor in Pleasure.

Matthew 6:20 But lay up for yourselves treasures in heaven, where neither moth nor rust doth corrupt, and where thieves do not break through nor steal