Treasure God
Pastor Dave Monreal, Lead Pastor
“For where your treasure is, there your heart will be also.”
Matthew 6:21
This is a fascinating verse particularly because it seems to be backwards from what we might think it should be. It doesn’t say, “Where your heart is your treasure will be also.” If this were the case, it would call for us to look at our hearts and discern what it is we treasure. Now, in a sense this is true. We are to examine our hearts to see what our passions and desires are, but we can misread our hearts and not see our true motives. Likewise, we can deceive ourselves by ignoring negative desires and only focusing on positive ones. We can tell ourselves that we love God and love our neighbors even though our life doesn’t show it. We say certain things are important to us, but we do not focus our time, energy, or resources on them.
Jesus turns it around. He says, “look at what you treasure. Look at what takes up your time, talent, and resources. Consider what you think about when you are free to think about anything. If you want to know the true state of your heart, consider what you treasure. We can say that prayer is important, but do we spend any significant time praying? We can say that the body of Christ is paramount, but do we find excuses not to serve when we are asked? We can tell ourselves that gathering regularly and consistently as the church is important, then find ourselves sleeping in every Sunday. I’m not saying this to judge you or make you feel guilty. We all wrestle with sinful tendencies and guilt is not a good long-term motivator for change.
What this passage does tell us is to look at what we treasure and see that as a reflection of our hearts. If we find something that we are not treasuring the way that we should, this is a wake-up call to repent and turn to God. We can’t force our desires to instantly change. But we can choose those things that are important to God while asking him to change our hearts. Humbly come to God and ask him to stir your desire for him. Ask him to give you a longing for his word. Recognize those things that God calls you to do and, with God’s enablement, start to do those things.
It is amazing that God gives us the strength that we lack through the abiding presence of Jesus in our lives. Grace is not an impersonal force, but the life of Jesus lived out in us through the Holy Spirit. So, when we pray for grace, we are praying for more of Jesus’ presence and power to be in our lives. God also gives us the ability to reflect on ourselves and choose to do things against our self-centered inclinations. We can choose to focus on the love God has for us so that our love for him runs white hot. We can rehearse the gospel and consider how much God has forgiven us and made us free. We can remind ourselves of our great and precious promises that we have in Christ. And we can choose to move in the direction God calls us and ask God to reorient our values. Over time, God will increase our desire for him and give us a taste of spiritual things. Further, we can reflect on our present treasures and see how transitory they are in light of the eternal promises of God. In this way, we will treasure what God desires.
