Skip to main content

101. "Where Your Heart Is"


Exodus 20:1-6, Matthew 6:19-24,
Key Verse: "No one can serve two masters. Either he will hate the one and love the other, or he will be devoted to the one and despise the other. You cannot serve both God and money."
Matthew 6:24

The saying is true, "the more you possess, the more your possessions own you." In Philippians 4:11-12, Paul states "I have learned to be content whatever the circumstances. I know what it is to be in need, and I know what it is to have plenty. I have learned the secret of being content in any and every situation, whether well fed or hungry, whether living in plenty or in want." For most of us, however, this is not the case.

It is very hard to focus on more than one thing at a time. When we are focused on one thing, it is next to impossible to give our full attention to another. Even when we try to focus on more than one thing at a time, we cannot give equal attention to both. Something, one thing, will dominate eventually.

Isn't it interesting that in the middle of this section, Jesus seems to change the subject and begins talking about our eyes? "The eye is the lamp of the body. If your eyes are good, your whole body will be full of light. But if your eyes are bad, your whole body will be full of darkness. (Matthew 6:22-23) I think that in saying this, Jesus is hoping that we will remember what He said about the eyes back in Matthew 5:29. "If your right eye causes you to sin, gouge it out and throw it away. It is better for you to lose one part of your body than for your whole body to be thrown into hell." In bringing up the subject of vision again, Jesus is making a connection between seeing, desiring and choosing who our real god is going to be. The eyes are in the lead. What we choose to focus on does make a difference.

The problem for us is that what is seen, our earthly possessions, our success, our failures, in this world, are easy for us to see. It is so easy for our physical world to block everything else out because it can so easily demand our immediate attention. Jesus is saying, when we allow this to happen, we are not focused on Him. Remember, it is Jesus, not me, that is saying that we can't do both.

But, you ask, how do we focus on Him, the unseen Jesus? How do we put Him before the physical world that we can see? Well, I hope that you are doing it now, as you sacrifice this time to come aside and get to know Him better.

Jesus knows us well. He knows that while we may spend a few minutes here, thinking about Him, the majority of our day will be spent focusing on the physical, what we have, what we want, and how to get what we want. "For where your treasure is, there your heart will be also." (Matt. 6:21) Our heart usually follows our eyes. Jesus wants us to refocus so that our eyes, and then hopefully our hearts, will be on Him. We collect earthly treasures that we can see, but they eventually collect dust, go out of style, break or decay. The treasure that we lay up in heaven through our prayers, our kindness and gifts to others, and those we bring to Him, can never decay, break or be taken away for they are with Him. When we put our heart in this kind of work, where that kind of treasure is, our heart is safe with Him as well.

We have a choice to make. We can use our time accumulating for ourselves and let our material world be our master, or devote it all to Him and let Him be Master and guide. We may think that we can do both, but as I said earlier, eventually one or the other will dominate. Take time to absorb God's word. Take time to converse with Him in prayer. Ask Him to show you what He is seeing. Ask Him to help you put Him first always. 

Hymn: "Be Thou My Vision" 

Comments

Post a Comment

Popular posts from this blog

211. The Sons of Thunder's Request

Matthew 20:20-28 , Mark 10:35-45 , Key verse: "Whoever wants to become great among you must be your servant, and whoever wants to be first must be slave of all." Mark 10:43B-44 In our readings for yesterday, in which Jesus outlined what was about to happen to Him, for His disciples, the passage in Luke ends: "The disciples did not understand any of this. It's meaning was hidden from them, and they did not know what He was talking about." ( Luke 18:34 ) Now, we see just how truly clueless they were. Jesus had laid out a plan before them of pain and suffering and death and now James and John are focused on a promotion. The disconnect is so obvious. It's really not important to know whether James and john came up with this request on their own or if their mother put them up to it. The request was made and James and John thought that they could handle the responsibility that would come with it. What is that saying, "Fools rush in where angels fe...
Post a Comment
Read more

These Boots are Made for Walking

Scripture: Ephesians 6:10-15 These Boots are Made for Walking. Of course, I picked that title because it has a reference to popular culture, and it connects with our text today about “feet fitted with the readiness that comes from the gospel of peace.” I was tempted to play the video of that song, but it’s really not amenable to worship. If you remember that old song, it was quite confrontational. The singer had a righteous complaint against a boyfriend or spouse who was cheating on her. She’s not going to put up with that, and the song goes on to say, “One of these days these boots are gonna walk all over you!” And that “take a stand” bravado made her a hero! It was a #1 hit in 1966. I mention it because it has one interesting parallel and one major contrast with the message of grace and forgiveness. That parallel is this. God has a righteous complaint against the entire human race for cheating Him out of the loving relationship He desires with us. As the God who created us, he h...
Post a Comment
Read more

186. Ten Healed, Or One?

Luke 17:11-19 Key Verse: Then He said to him, "Rise and go; your faith has made you well." Luke 17:19 At last, Jesus has left the crowd behind and again is continuing His journey toward Jerusalem. His path takes Him and His disciples along the border of Judea and Samaria, between the pure Jews, and the hated half breeds of the day. On His way, Jesus encounters an interesting group of people. We only learn the nationality of one of them and, though we don't know the nationality of the others, because Jesus sends them to the priests in Jerusalem we can probably assume that at least some of them are Jews. Isn't it interesting that through leprosy, a disease that causes much suffering, the dividing wall of hatred has come down for the sake of companionship? We encountered one leper earlier on our Journey. Lepers were the dreaded untouchables of the day. Their disease cut them off from all they loved. It was a very lonely life. No wonder these people had ...
Post a Comment
Read more