John Calvin Commentary Matthew 6:19

"Lay not up for yourselves treasures upon the earth, where moth and rust consume, and where thieves break through and steal:" — Matthew 6:19 (ASV)

Lay not up. This deadly plague reigns everywhere throughout the world. Men are grown mad with an insatiable desire for gain. Christ charges them with folly, in collecting wealth with great care, and then giving up their happiness to moths and to rust, or exposing it as a prey to thieves. What is more unreasonable than to place their property where it may perish of itself, or be carried off by men?⁴⁵⁰

Covetous men, indeed, give no thought to this. They lock up their riches in well-secured chests, but cannot prevent them from being exposed to thieves or to moths. They are blind and destitute of sound judgment, who give themselves so much toil and uneasiness in amassing wealth, which is liable to putrefaction, or robbery, or a thousand other accidents: particularly, when God allows us a place in heaven for laying up a treasure, and kindly invites us to enjoy riches which never perish.

⁴⁵⁰ “Ou bien perir d'eux-mesmes, encores que personne n'y touche;” — “or even perish of themselves, though nobody touch them.”;” — “or even perish of themselves, though nobody touch them.”