Where is your Wealth?
“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.”
The last month has been hard for my wife and me for a number of reasons, first, there is the regular stress of two working parents raising toddlers but secondly, our air conditioner and car both stopped working on the same day.
The air conditioner we ended up needing to replace completely, was the original with the home and had done its duty well for 21 years, the car was another story. When we tried to turn the car on nothing happened, nothing we did seemed to work. After getting it towed to the shop we found out what the problem was.
Rats had managed to find their way into the car and chew up everything they could find especially the wiring.
I was deeply discouraged by all these issues that seemed to be cropping up. We had managed to save up some money to take care of some outstanding debt we have but it all went up in smoke with the A/C and the car. It was with that attitude that we attended our church where one of the pastors spoke on a very specific verse,
“Do not store up for yourselves treasures on earth, where moths and vermin destroy…”
You ever have God try and get your attention in a very conspicuous way?
It's so easy to put our security, our identity, and our stability in the stuff we acquire. When that stuff goes wrong, or when rats start to chew it up, we can get deeply discouraged and despair. Yet our foundation, our security isn’t found in the stuff we have on earth, but rather the promise we have in Jesus. Our wealth is found in the righteousness we have in Christ.
What do you value? And are you building upon earth, or building up in heaven? Where is your wealth?
Jack Warner from Warner Studios was the last of the five living Warner Brothers which came in handy because in 1960 he sold the company and got the proceeds from the entire company. At the sale, he received the sum of 640 million dollars. They had a press conference afterward and a reporter asked a rather odd question.
In the midst of this sale and all this kind of stuff, the reporter asked, “Mr. Warner, you just received 640 million dollars and we know your life and your legacy. How many good friends do you have in the world?”
Warner looked at him and without blinking an eye said, “I don’t have a single friend in the world.”
What good is it to be wealthy if you’re really poor?
It is like that old saying, ‘you’ll never see a U-haul following a hearse.’ You can’t take it with you. God’s word doesn’t just advocate for us to live lives of generosity but commands it of us!
Jesus closes out this particular teaching by stating emphatically that you cannot serve both God and Money or (mammon; the god of money).
Here are three ways we can apply this,
Start being Generous
First, practice generosity. Think about it - how often does our world specifically ask you to be generous? Almost never. In fact, most of the time culture is advising you to gain as much as possible. Yet when you practice generosity in the small things (like tithe) you’ll be ready for when God presents you with a big opportunity to be sacrificially generous!
Strategize your Generosity
Secondly, generous people don’t need a reason to give. The few times the world might ask you to give something it typically needs to tug on your heartstrings to do it. Generous people don’t need to be compelled to give it's simply what they do.
Steward your Stuff
Finally, there is a reality that you and I do not “own” what we have. The idea of autonomous ownership doesn’t seem to appear in the Bible for us. God is the one who is sovereign. It's really his. The reason I was able to make money or work hard to earn my wage is that God gave me the opportunity, the gifts, the skills, and the circumstances to do so. Everything I have is his. Yet in his mercy and grace, he allows me to steward 90% of what he’s given me, for whatever I want!
Greed will blind you, generosity will help you see. When you store up, it weighs you down. When you sacrifice, it frees you up!
