Where your treasure is

Where your treasure is

Scripture:

“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. Matthew 6:19-21

Observation:

After teaching on fasting, the Lord now focuses on the subject of riches. For many rich people, there is the strange paradox that the richer they become, the stingier they are. Now, there is nothing wrong with setting aside savings for a rainy day. That is good and prudent management of the resources that God gives us. However, in this passage, the imagery of storing up treasures on earth is more inclined towards someone who accumulates and accumulates as much wealth as he can, because of greed and pride. Later, our Lord tells us the parable of the rich man who stored up barns of wealth for himself and in his pride thought to himself how he had plenty for years and years to come, not knowing that his time was already up.

In just a few words, the Lord gives us the key lesson on wealth. Whatever wealth we accumulate on earth is only temporary, subject to destruction by moths and vermin, and to thieves who break in and steal. In today’s world, the thieves are not just the physical thieves of old, but high-level international thieves in the world financial market who manipulate governments, markets and economies using sophisticated plans, stealing quietly from the middle class and the poor whose every dollar become less and less valuable through inflation.

Instead, our Lord tells us to store up treasures in Heaven, where moths and vermin do not destroy, and thieves cannot break in and steal. We are taught here again that there are rewards and treasures in Heaven. Those who do good and serve the Lord earn treasures in Heaven. We cannot comprehend it here on earth now, but we can trust the Lord that whatever He has prepared for us in Heaven will be far more wonderful than whatever we could imagine on Earth. It is for us then to serve Him, to trust Him, to do good and give to the poor. Our part is to trust, and later, it is God’s part to reward according to His wisdom and justice.

Application: 

Where your treasure is, there your heart will be also. This profound statement is relevant not only for money, but also everything in life. What is our treasure? For some, it could be “good” things like our health, our family, our hobbies. However, all those are also things that fade away. How do we know what our treasure is? It is by reflecting on how we spend our time, and on what we think about most of the time. That is where our heart is. If we shift our heart to be God-centered, we will find ourselves spending more and more time seeking to follow God’s will, and thinking about God’s will.

Reflect on the Scriptures read today, and see if we have become hoarders of treasures on earth while being stingy towards the poor, and towards God’s work. Reflect on the way we spend our time and what we think about. Ask God for a new heart to seek what truly matters, and ask the Holy Spirit to lead us to set our hearts on God’s will rather than our own pleasures and ambitions.

Prayer:

Lord, so many times, my heart strays away, chasing after temporal and meaningless things. Forgive me O Lord, but lead me back to You always. Let my heart always be set before You, to put You first and let the other things of life recede in priority. May Your name alone be glorified first in my life I pray. In Jesus name, Amen.