Daily Devotional For Tuesday, October 29, 2024

It’s “Terrific Tuesday.” Our week is well on its way and so are we in making our way through Jesus’ Sermon On The Mount. You can read this sermon in Matthew chapters 5, 6, & 7. We are currently looking at Matthew 6:19-24:

“Do not store up for yourselves treasures on earth, where moth and rust destroy, and where thieves break in and steal. (20) But store up for yourselves treasures in heaven, where neither moth nor rust destroys, and where thieves do not break in or steal; (21) for where your treasure is, there your heart will be also. (22) “The eye is the lamp of the body; so then if your eye is clear, your whole body will be full of light. (23) But if your eye is bad, your whole body will be full of darkness. If then the light that is in you is darkness, how great is the darkness! (24) “No one can serve two masters; for either he will hate the one and love the other, or he will be devoted to one and despise the other. You cannot serve God and wealth” (NASB).

Jesus says that whatever we treasure, there is where our heart will be also. Jesus is not saying that if we put our treasure in the right place our heart will then be in the right place, but that the location of our treasure indicates where our heart already is. Spiritual problems are always heart problems. Sinful acts come from a sinful heart, just as righteous acts come from a righteous heart. The Bible says this about the heart:

• Jeremiah 17:9, “The heart is more deceitful than all else, And is desperately sick; Who can understand it?” (NASB).
• Proverbs 4:23, “Guard your heart above all else, for it determines the course of your life” (NLT).
• Proverbs 23:7, “For as he thinks in his heart, so is he” (NKJV).

British evangelist and pastor G. Campbell Morgan (died. May 16, 1945) reminds us about our treasure:

“You are to remember with the passion burning within you that you are not the child of to-day. You are not of the earth, you are more than dust; you are the child of tomorrow, you are of the eternities, you are the offspring of Deity. The measurements of your lives cannot be circumscribed by the point where blue sky kisses green earth. All the facts of your life cannot be encompassed in the one small sphere upon which you live. You belong to the infinite. If you make your fortune on the earth—poor, sorry, silly soul—you have made a fortune, and stored it in a place where you cannot hold it. Make your fortune, but store it where it will greet you in the dawning of the new morning.” (Source: G. Campbell Morgan, The Gospel According to Matthew, pp. 64-65).

What would you say are your treasures you are storing up in heaven? Pastor and author John MacArthur reminds us bluntly in this story he tells:

“When thousands of people, mostly Jews, were won to Christ during and soon after Pentecost, the Jerusalem church was flooded with many converts who had come from distant lands and who decided to stay on in the city. Many of them no doubt were poor, and many others probably left most of their wealth and possessions in their homelands. To meet the great financial burden suddenly placed on the church, local believers “began selling their property and possessions, and were sharing them with all, as anyone might have needs” (Acts 2:45). Many years later, during one of the many Roman persecutions, soldiers broke into a certain church to confiscate its presumed treasures. An elder is said to have pointed to a group of widows and orphans who were being fed and said, “There are the treasures of the church” (Source: John MacArthur, The MacArthur New Testament Commentary, “Mathew,” p. 412).

When it comes to our treasures, God’s principles about it have always been found in the following verses below:

• Proverbs 3:9-10, “Honor the Lord from your wealth, And from the first of all your produce; (10) So your barns will be filled with plenty, And your vats will overflow with new wine” (NASB).
• Luke 6:38, Jesus said, “Give, and it will be given to you. They will pour into your lap a good measure—pressed down, shaken together, and running over. For by your standard of measure it will be measured to you in return” (NASB).
• 2 Corinthians 9:6, “Now this I say, he who sows sparingly will also reap sparingly, and he who sows bountifully will also reap bountifully” (NASB).

If you want to have dividends that turn like no other, these verses above tell you have to reap such a sowing. In the Parable about the dishonest but shrewd steward, Jesus warned us about the dangers our treasures can be in Luke 16:9, “And I say to you, make friends for yourselves by means of the wealth of unrighteousness, so that when it fails, they will receive you into the eternal dwellings” (NASB). What is Jesus’ point here? Our material possessions are “unrighteous” in the sense of not having any spiritual value in themselves. But if we invest in the welfare of human souls, the people who are saved or otherwise blessed because of them, will someday greet us in heaven with thanksgiving.

We all have a tendency and for some, an addiction, to accumulate more and more stuff. The wealthy see it in parading their treasures in their mansions, yachts, art collection, cars, clothing and bank accounts. Yet, this is not just limited to the wealthy because when Jesus talked about wealth, most Jews were “dirt poor.” We can become too attached to our things to the point that we idolize our treasures. Look again at Jesus’ words in Matthew 6:21, “For where your treasure is, there your heart will be also” (NASB). 

Questions To Consider

1. Am I living unselfishly? Do I demonstrate generosity and care for others? Or am I tightfisted and reluctant to help those in need?
2. Do I know when I have acquired enough? Or am I stuck in an endless race grasping for more and more? 
3. Do I allow things to lure me into a materialistic lifestyle? Am I just plain greedy? Or am I content with what God has given me and satisfied with His provision for my simple needs?

Scripture To Meditate On: Colossians 3:1-3, “Therefore if you have been raised up with Christ, keep seeking the things above, where Christ is, seated at the right hand of God. (2) Set your mind on the things above, not on the things that are on earth. (3) For you have died and your life is hidden with Christ in God” (NASB).

Prayer To Pray: “Dear Jesus, I have to confess that I am too attached to my treasures. I know that I am not taking them with me and when I am gone, they will pass to others who might not even appreciate them, like them nor want them. I want my treasure to be “seeking first the kingdom of God and His righteousness.” I love You Jesus. In Jesus’ name, Amen!”

I love you Southside!--Pastor Kelly