"Do not lay up for yourselves treasures on earth, where moth and rust destroy and where thieves break in and steal, but lay up for yourselves treasures in heaven, where neither moth nor rust destroys and where thieves do not break in and steal. For where your treasure is, there your heart will be also.
The eye is the lamp of the body. So, if your eye is healthy, your whole body will be full of light, but if your eye is bad, your whole body will be full of darkness. If then the light in you is darkness, how great is the darkness!
No one can serve two masters, for either he will hate the one and love the other, or he will be devoted to the one and despise the other. You cannot serve God and money." - Jesus (Matthew 6: 19-24)
Where your treasure is... there your heart will be also. Truth! What do you find valuable? How do I spend my time, talent and treasure? Jesus makes it plan (as always), the things you hold as valuable are the things that will take hold of your heart. He is asking me and you to consider where we invest. Take a moment or two and think that through. Where do you spend your days, your evenings, your efforts and your money? The truth behind it all is that if we are honest in our answer, we know what or who owns our hearts.
He gives insight into what most of the world pursues... relentlessly... the things of this world. Wealth, possessions, homes, cars, stuff... that is what the vast majority of people in this nation are focused on. Their hearts are owned by things. I have heard I said that most people love things and use people. God's people love people and use things. He says, "why do you labor for stuff that will either be destroyed or stolen?" He tells us that we can store up treasure that is imperishable, that never fades away. When we consider the options before us, doesn't eternal outweigh the temporary? But none the less, here we go... got to get the new Iphone, must have that new fashion, the latest model car.
Interestingly, Jesus inserts a lesson about the eye in the middle of this discussion. Why would He do that? Why is the eye connected to the treasures we seek? He says, good eye, we are full of light... bad eye, full of darkness. What we see impacts our desires. If we constantly feed our eyes the things of this world, chances are we will want those things. If we are focused on the things in heaven, then we will seek those things. What are you spending your time seeing? What am I feasting my eyes on? He calls us to look to the eternal things, the things that illuminate our lives. (Hebrews 12:1-3; Phil 4: 8-9)
Then He closes out with a truth that should shake us 'til it wakes us. It's either one or the other. It is not both! Sometimes we try very hard to have one foot planted in heaven and one on this earth, but Jesus tells us that only one thing can have our hearts. Both are masters and we get to choose which one is master of our lives. It is a choice that God allows us to make. What we choose will determine what our lives look like, where we will invest ourselves.
I am reminded of a beautiful song by Casting Crowns that deals with the pull of this world... rarely will we make one choice that leads us to choose this world over the next... it's a slow fade... be careful little eyes what you see
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=QASREBVDsLk
No comments:
Post a Comment