Treasure
What do you treasure? How do you know?
Verse of the Day
“Wherever your treasure is, there the desires of your heart will also be.”
Today’s Devotional
“Don’t store up treasures here on earth, where moths eat them and rust destroys them, and where thieves break in and steal. Store your treasures in heaven, where moths and rust cannot destroy, and thieves do not break in and steal. Wherever your treasure is, there the desires of your heart will also be.” (Matthew 6:19-21)
Today’s verse contains the words of Jesus as He teaches us how to correctly value material possessions and money. But this one sentence gives us a litmus test: “Wherever your treasure is, there the desires of your heart will also be.” If I want to know where my heart is, I look to what I treasure. But I can’t make this determination by looking at what I THINK I treasure, or what I want to be my treasure. No, I think Jesus is telling us to look at our lives. How do I prioritize my time? How and on what do I spend my money? For what purpose do I pour out my talents and abilities? What do I think about most? We use our resources on what we value, on what we treasure. If we are treasuring the wrong things, then our heart is in the wrong place. So…with the Spirit’s help…we change what we treasure if those things are not honoring of God’s Kingdom. When we do that, our hearts will realign with the heartbeat of the Father.
In an effort to understand this further, let’s look at what a few commentaries say:
Bibleref: Our hearts and our sincerity towards God matter most of all, so having wealth is not a problem until we start to prioritize it over godliness. How did Jesus mean for His followers to store up rewards for themselves in heaven? He has spoken a few times in this Sermon on the Mount of acts God will reward. These have included being persecuted for Jesus’ sake (Matthew 5:11–12); giving to the needy in secret (Matthew 6:4), praying in secret (Matthew 6:6) and fasting without calling attention to oneself (Matthew 6:18). It short, God rewards His people when they lead lives of sincere devotion and worship to Him.
Gotquestions: When Jesus is our treasure, we will commit our resources—our money, our time, our talents—to His work in this world.
Enduringword: Our material treasures will not pass from this life to the next; but the good that has been done for the kingdom of God through the use of our treasures lasts for eternity, and the work God does in us through faithful giving will last for eternity.
Today, as I sit here and stare at my blinking cursor, I am asking God to show me what my heart desires so that I will know where my treasure is. And I am praying Psalm 139:23-24. “Search me, O God, and know my heart; test me and know my anxious thoughts. Point out anything in me that offends you, and lead me along the path of everlasting life.” God promises to lead me along His path. Am I willing to follow?
Journal Prompts
Answer only the questions that seem relevant to you today.
How do you prioritize your time? What do you make sure that you do every single day?
How do you spend your money?
For what purpose do you use your talents and abilities?
What do you think about most?
Based on those answers, what do you treasure?
If you aren’t sure what you treasure, are you willing to ask God to show you?