Aluminum in the mid-1800’s was an extreme expensive metal.  Aluminum was plentiful (in fact, the most plentiful metallic element in the earth’s crust).  That was not the problem with this element.  The problem was that the refinement process at the time was very expensive.

The Emperor of France, Napoleon III, it is said, let his most honored guests eat with aluminum flatware. His less distinguished guests ate with gold and silver flatware.

The Washington Monument was built to  honor George Washington.  Work began in 1848.  The work was interrupted from 1855 until 1878 due to finances and the Civil War.  Finally in 1885 the work was finished and an expensive aluminum cap of six pounds was placed atop the monument.

Charles Martin Hall, an American, and Paul Heroult, a Frenchman, both about the same time (1886) found a way to refine the metal inexpensively.  The result – within two years of the Washington Monument being capped the value of the cap decreased to 1/1000 of its original price! (John Hudson Tiner, The World of Chemistry, p. 122). Today, every day pots and pans, foil, and even pop cans are made out of aluminum.

The point?  The point I am making is that what we treasure today may not be so valuable tomorrow.  Remember that true lasting, eternal riches are found in heaven. Matthew 6:19-20 reads, “Lay not up for yourselves treasures upon earth, where moth and rust doth corrupt, and where thieves break through and steal: But lay up for yourselves treasures in heaven, where neither moth nor rust doth corrupt, and where thieves break through nor steal.”