Where's the Treasure?

Recently I found out about a news organization that is publishing a searchable database of all employees and their salaries for the state university here. I don't think it's right, so I won't give the link. I did notice something of interest that spurred this line of thinking. According to this database, there are two people at the university that make more than twice what the president of the university is paid. Can you guess who those would be? Of course, it's the head coach of the men's football team and the head coach of the men's basketball team.

Jesus said, "Where your treasure is, there will your heart be also" (Matt. 6:21). One has to wonder about where our heart is if we evaluate where our treasure is. If we evaluate the heart of the university based on where they place their treasure, it would appear that the university's biggest concern is not education, but sports. More importantly, I suspect, the biggest concern is the income that those sports provide the university. The heart is in income, not education.

Consider the nation in the same light. The leading moneymakers in the United States are CEO's. That would make some sense. Those who make money for a company ought to be "treasured". The fact that they make mind-numbing salaries may be problematic, but there is some reasonableness in terms of heart and treasure. The fact that they give more money to CEO's than they're willing to give to society suggests that the heart of American corporations is purely money-making. I don't suspect that this is a surprise to anyone. The next category of money makers, however, is odd. After big CEO's, the big salaries in this country are paid to ... entertainers. Sports figures and actors make exorbitant amounts of money for doing what they do. Again, evaluating this in terms of "heart", where does this say that the typical American heart is? Well, apparently we value amusement above most other things.

Of course, that's America in general. I don't expect a rightly placed heart out of those who don't know Christ. But the question you have to ask yourself if you're a Christian is, "Is that me?"

Over at Random Responses they posted a convicting video that asks the question, "If you were paid $100 for every person with whom you shared the Gospel, would you be sharing the Gospel more?" This, again, is a question of heart in terms of treasure. If we treasured the Gospel, our heart would call us to share it often. If we treasure money or that which money can provide and we honestly answered "Yes" to the question the video asks, what does that say about our heart?

I know. The first response is defense. "Well, I share the Gospel every time I get the chance ... sort of." "Who's to say what 'sharing the Gospel' is? I share it by my life all the time." "I share Christ as often as I am called to." Dance around all you want. I think you still get the point. If, in truth, someone paying you to share the Gospel would make you share the Gospel more, you (and I) have a misplaced treasure and a misdirected heart. Perhaps it's something to think about, pray about, and work on.