Treasures and Hearts

Jesus was famous for His statement,

"Do not store up for yourselves treasures on earth, where moth and rust destroy, and where thieves break in and steal. But store up for yourselves treasures in heaven, where neither moth nor rust destroys, and where thieves do not break in or steal; for where your treasure is, there your heart will be also. (Matt 6:19-21)

We've all heard it. We all nod and say, "Amen, Preacher!" Or something like it. And we all go on our merry way, like James's man who sees himself in the mirror and forgets who he is when he walks away (James 1:22-24). The text could almost be considered to be aimed directly at American Christianity. Americans are all about storing treasures on earth. "The one who dies with the most toys wins" is a popular saying. American Christians often suffer from the same malady.

Jesus offered the statement as a sort of litmus test. "Here's the test," He seemed to say. "What do you treasure? Look at what you treasure and you can tell where your heart is." What do we treasure? We treasure stuff -- comfort, well-being, money. We treasure less concrete stuff -- fame, power, that sort. We treasure America, don't we? I mean, genuine Christians are deeply exercised over the state of the union, who is in charge, will our nation thrive or recede, that kind of thing. More simply put, where do we spend our time, money, energy? In what are we most deeply invested? There, dear readers, is your treasure and there is where your heart is. So if we skip church on Sunday because our kids have a soccer game or we just don't seem to have time to pray and read our bibles or if loving our neighbors or making disciples is too much work, or if you hear yourself say, "I'm not sure I can give to that need because I'm saving up for a boat" ... these kinds of things tell you where your treasure is (or is not) and, therefore, where your heart is.

Interestingly, our attention seems to hang on "treasure." Mine did right there in that last paragraph. "Where is your treasure?" The real problem is not your treasure; it is your heart. The real consequence of a misplaced treasure is a misdirected heart. And we muddle through, struggling for temporal treasures rather than investing in eternal treasures because our hearts are not in eternity. I'm not sure I can face myself if that's true about me. Are you okay with it?