All of us are driven by what we believe will make us happy. For instance, if a person believes that money guarantees their happiness, then they will be motivated to do what it takes to get money. If a person believes a relationship with a significant person will make them happy, then they will become very motivated to find that person. Our motivation and the actions we take to follow it are all driven by our quest to be happy. Even though things and people can’t secure our happiness, we train ourselves to believe that they can. We invest our hearts into these treasures, and they become our motivation as well as the reason behind many of our actions. Jesus Christ speaks to this in Matthew 6:21(NKJV) when he said, “For where your treasure is, there your heart will be also.” Our treasure is the thing that we believe will fulfill our souls and make our hearts happy. Whatever that thing is, it’s our treasure, and because it is, it forms the desires of our hearts. It’s the thing we probably pray about most.
We may not be fully aware of it, but there’s a song playing inside our heads and hearts about our treasures. It’s “I gotta have it! I gotta have it! It must be mine!” God can hear this song, and He asks, “Am I not your treasure? I’ve given you the life of my only begotten Son. I’ve given you life itself and the earth for a habitation. I’ve blessed you with all spiritual blessings and set you free from sin and darkness. Why Am I not your treasure?” Jesus Christ said in Matthew 5:8(NLT), “God blesses those whose hearts are pure, for they will see God.” It’s impossible to have a pure heart when it is consumed with seeking anyone or anything other than God.
Jesus Christ warns us in Matthew 6:19-20(NLT), “19 Don’t store up treasures here on earth, where moths eat them and rust destroys them, and where thieves break in and steal. 20 Store your treasures in heaven, where moths and rust cannot destroy, and thieves do not break in and steal.” Earth for us is a temporary dwelling, and our Lord and Savior tells us not to store up treasures here. How do we store up treasures? We store up treasures in our hearts. Our hearts tell the truth about what we value, and the motivation and actions to pursue and maintain what we value take up more and more space in our hearts. We place a tremendous amount of thought, resources, and energy on the thing or person that we think will bring us happiness. If that thing or relationship is ever stolen or lost, some of us crumble. We discover that we had given over more of ourselves toward the thing or relationship than we had imagined.
In Matthew 6:24(NLT), Jesus Christ said, “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.” Again, this is referencing the heart. God is love, and our love for Him should take up every ounce of heart space we have. He is the One that has made it possible for us to love, and the way to love others is through Him. This means that we should never make an idol of things or people. That’s a very, very bad move. When we make things and people our everything, we turn our eyes away from heavenly treasures and cast our lots on things of this earth, this temporary dwelling place. God created us to be His spiritual children. We are spiritual beings having an earthly experience. To hunger and thirst after goodness came packaged with our makeup. We’re supposed to hunger and thirst to be filled, but people and things are not our source. People and things are not capable of filling our cups. God is our Source. He commands us to come to Him for all our needs, because He alone can take care of them.
The psalmist, King David, said in Psalm 16:5(NLT), “LORD, you alone are my inheritance, my cup of blessing. You guard all that is mine.” David understood the proper order of priorities. It’s always God first, but this isn’t the case for many of us. We’re not hungering for more of God, many of us are hungering for more of other stuff, and we must begin to pray about this. We must ask God for a new heart, one that hungers and thirsts after His righteousness.
The bottom line is that wherever our treasures are, our hearts are right there with them. Our treasures carve out a straight path to the contents of our hearts. They tell God what is most important to us, and if our Source of all good things, the Creator of all that survey, is not most important to us, our hearts will tell Him that.
You and I don’t have to say anything or do a whole lot of talking. We don’t have to get all emotional and cry our eyes out in front of God, trying to convince Him we love Him. He knows whether we do or not. 1Samuel 16:7(NLT) tells us, “But the LORD said to Samuel, “Don’t judge by his appearance or height, for I have rejected him. The LORD doesn’t see things the way you see them. People judge by outward appearance, but the LORD looks at the heart.” Your heart tells God what you really believe. Your heart tells God if you truly value Him. You heart tells us God if you are truly understanding who He has made you in Christ and if you are really ready to receive all He has in store for you.
Many of us have been praying for such a long time for a blessing that is very important to us, but God is not our joy of rejoicing, the thing we’ve prayed to receive is. We think that thing or relationship will fill us up and make us complete, when only Jesus Christ can do that. Colossians 2:10(NLT) says, “So you also are complete through your union with Christ, who is the head over every ruler and authority.”
God is the One that has made us complete in Christ, so we shouldn’t be looking for something or someone to do what only God can do. Oddly enough, many of us can’t envision what it would look like for God to be our everything, our all in all. We’re so accustomed to running on empty and chasing after the temporary treasures of this world that we won’t allow ourselves to be full through Jesus Christ. Now is the time to change this. Proverbs 27:19(NLT) says, “As a face is reflected in water, so the heart reflects the real person.” God will not force us to love Him, but we are not His children if we don’t seek Him first and place Him above all else. Our hearts must reflect our love for God, and when it does, our lives will be flooded with His peace, love, power, and everlasting joy. ■
Scripture quotations marked (NLT) are taken from the Holy Bible, New Living Translation, copyright © 1996. Used by permission of Tyndale House Publishers, Inc., Wheaton, Illinois 60189. All rights reserved.
English Standard Version (ESV)
The Holy Bible, English Standard Version copyright © 2001, 2007, 2011, 2016 by Crossway Bibles, a publishing ministry of Good News Publishers. Used by permission. All rights reserved.
“Your Heart’s Treasure”, written by JMack, 4theChristianMan.com© 2022. All rights reserved. All praise and honor to God through Jesus Christ, our Lord and Savior.