How Do We Store Up The Right Treasure?
Good Morning Friends,
It is pretty obvious that the place our treasure is will be the place we will most want to be, and logic would tell us that it is the place we will end up being as well. So if what we love is the life everlasting then it makes sense that we ask the question How Do We Store Up The Right Treasure?
Scripture:
“Do not store up for yourselves treasures on earth, where moth and rust consume and where thieves break in and steal; but store up for yourselves treasures in heaven, where neither moth nor rust consumes and where thieves do not break in and steal. For where your treasure is, there your heart will be also.”
Matthew 6:19-21 (NRSV)
24No one can serve two masters; for a slave will either hate the one and love the other, or be devoted to the one and despise the other. You cannot serve God and wealth.*
Matthew 6:24 (NRSV)
45Again, the kingdom of heaven is like a merchant in search of fine pearls; 46on finding one pearl of great value, he went and sold all that he had and bought it.
Matthew 13:45-46 (NRSV)
Message: I hope you are beginning to ask all the right questions…such as… could all this religious activity actually make a difference? Are our priorities in order? Of course, the challenge is to give the investment we make the best chance of a return for the Kingdom as well as our own life. Thankfully in my life a spiritual strategy of hope that builds community and health seems to be working. I think I have invested well. Now some people believe it is wrong to have excess money. Others assume that prosperity is the reward of the righteous. But the proper theology demonstrated in today’s scripture is one that views our possessions as a trust given by God that we are responsible to manage. It is no mistake that the Bible has more to say about money than almost any other subject. It takes such a prominent place because how we use money is so revealing of our heart’s affections, the focus of our mind’s perceptions and our will’s directions. Money in spiritual relationships helps us to get where we are going and especially so if we understand the incredible benefits of giving and the dangers of wealth being the focus of our obsessions. I imagine that we realize that most people struggle with managing money. In the Sermon on the Mount Jesus was speaking on the subject of the law, the kingdom to come and finally he comes to the subject of money. It should not surprise us because money is a big part of what life is all about. So here Jesus puts money to the test of durability. He asks the question, “How long will it last?” Where will we do our banking and how do we make deposits on earth that will yield dividends on earth as in heaven? How do we invest in things that last? What last? Then Jesus puts it to the test of the heart. Jesus put it plainly. He said that our heart follows our money. Whatever we invest of our time and money in will become very important to us. Unfortunately with so many material things to invest in, our heart gets tied to earth and less on the people of God, the Word of God made flesh and the Kingdom of God. Then Jesus connects it all by asking, “Where is our focus and who is our master?” Friends, our future is either focused on the material or the spiritual…on greed or need. So based on our daily routines and actions, where can we expect to be in five years…fifty years…five hundred? If we have an idea about what we want the next chapter of our life to look like, we have to do things that support this idea every day. An idea, after all, is not going to do anything for us until we do something productive with it. We cannot aim at success. The more we aim at it and make it a target, the more we are going to miss it. For success, like happiness, cannot be targeted or pursued, it must ensue, and it only does so as the unintended side effect of one’s personal dedication to a cause greater than one’s self. Here we discover that we cannot serve two masters… we discover we can only store treasure in heaven if heaven is our final destination.
Pray that our possessions not become the center of our life. Pray we serve God. Pray that money in our life not lead to a detachment from God. Pray that money never consume us. Pray we realize that when we serve money we cannot serve God. Pray we are on guard against all kinds of greed. Pray we not be deceived. Pray we maintain proper priorities. Pray we realize it is more blessed to give than to receive. Pray for thy Kingdom to come, thy will be done, on earth as in heaven.
Blessings,
John Lawson
Daily Devotionals 