| “For where your treasure is, there your heart will be also.” |
| —Matthew 6:21 |
I want to invite you to stop for just a moment and think about what it is that you treasure the most? Is it your family? Your home? Your car? Your job? Your position in society? Your family name? The church you attend? Or, is it something or someone quite beyond any of the people or things on this list? It is quite important for you to know, really know, what you treasure the most.
I used to treasure my mind. Doesn’t that sound rather silly? Nevertheless, it’s true. I knew at a very early age that I seemed to grasp things just a little bit quicker than some other people. I could look at a machine and know instantly how it worked. I could read a book about a subject and absorb both the apparent information and some of the subtle information that was often hidden beneath the surface. I could watch someone perform a task and then—within the boundaries of my own physical ability—mimic what they did with little additional coaching.
Compounding my use of this seemingly natural gift of mental ability was the fact that I was both physically and socially awkward. I was very uncoordinated, so I couldn’t do well in any sports activities. I was grossly overweight, so I did not have the strength and stamina of most “ordinary” people my age. I was painfully shy, didn’t seem to understand how to interact well in social situations, and often was misperceived or misinterpreted and considered quite odd.
Even so, I treasured my mind and truly believed it was a gift from God—one that I felt I had better use well, in order to please the One who had so graciously given that gift.
However, as I grew older, I learned that treasuring my mind was more than a little self-focused and, at times, bordered on egotistical. I began to see that there was a way of making a decision about what I would truly treasure that would push out the boundaries beyond my puny selfishness and self-interests.
I’m quite sure it was Jesus’ words that first pushed me to consider the value in treasuring something beyond my own self-centered horizon. The Apostle Matthew captured these words of Jesus in Matthew 6:19-21:
“Do not store up for yourselves treasures on earth, where moths and vermin destroy, and where thieves break in and steal. But store up for yourselves treasures in heaven, where moths and vermin do not destroy, and where thieves do not break in and steal. For where your treasure is, there your heart will be also.”
As I meditated on these words of Jesus, I suddenly became aware that whatever I chose to “treasure” would also capture my heart. Apparently, Jesus felt it was an important enough concept that He needed to make certain His disciples understood this great truth: “For where your treasure is, there your heart will be also.”
As we begin a new day, let’s make certain that whatever we “treasure” is very carefully chosen. We do well to choose to treasure things or, more importantly, people who have the “glow of eternity.” Then, our heart will surely follow.
While we do not want to become “so heavenly minded that we’re no earthly good,” we do want to make certain that our greatest treasure resides in something reflective of the “Kingdom of God and of His Christ”—to borrow a phrase from Revelation 11:15 and from Handel’s The Messiah. We will all be so much better off if we choose carefully what we “treasure” the most.
Based on a blog originally posted on Monday, April 3, 2017
