WHAT IS YOUR TREASURE?

Can I pray for you in any way? Send any prayer requests to faithhopegodlove@aol.com In Christ, Mark

The scriptures. May God bless the reading of His holy word.

"Do not store up for yourselves treasures on earth, where moth and rust destroy, and where thieves break in and steal. But store up for yourselves treasures in heaven, where moth and rust do not destroy, and where thieves do not break in and steal. For where your treasure is, there your heart will be also.”

"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. If then the light within you is darkness, how great is that darkness!”

"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 6:19-24

This ends this reading from God's holy word. Thanks be to God.

This has been a very difficult month for me.

I have been in Africa for nearly a year, separated from my wife, and was only weeks away from being relieved and returning for a fantastic reunion when the news came.

My relief had a medical condition that was not going to allow him to come here and take my place. And to make matters worse…there was no alternate.

I remember receiving the news and feeling like I had been punched in the stomach. Oh how I missed my wife so much…my best friend…my soul mate…my blessing from God…my Amazing Grace. Oh how I longed to be back with her again…but now I didn’t know when that would be.

So I entered the wilderness of uncertainty. Maybe you’ve been there.

It happens when circumstances turn you upside down and shake the very foundations of your life like an earthquake, leaving you in a place where you are unsettled…damaged…trying to put the pieces back together. I consider myself to be a pretty solid man of faith but even now, I found myself hurting…yearning for home so badly…seemingly numb to what was going on around me.

I’m almost ashamed to confess this but I went on feeling this way for almost two weeks. Word from the States on identifying a new relief and getting me home was not forthcoming. Everything was in process…a process that was nowhere near fast enough for me. My patience reduced with every passing day without some word of resolution…and with it, my faith.

Indeed, Satan can reach down and try and have his way with even the most faithful. He sure was proving it in me.

But then something incredible happened.

In the midst of my hardship, the Lord brought revelation.

For at the end of yet another long work day as I was walking to my room and again feeling so heart-broken as I thought about calling my wife as I do every night…wishing that I could just be there with her and be able to speak face-to-face, the Lord had seen enough. In the midst of yet another pity party, He spoke to my heart and soul and asked me, “Do you desire Me as much as you desire Grace? Does your heart ache for me as much as it does for her?”

I immediately felt convicted. How could I have my priorities so messed up? I have always preached that I never hold my wife higher than I hold my Lord…and yet, I was doing just that. The solution to my problem had been there all along…in the midst of my confusion…in the midst of my anguish…in the midst of my impatience…in the midst of my loss of faith. Through it all and more, the Lord was with me.

You see, I forgot that He promised me He would never leave me nor forsake me. I forgot that He promised me He wouldn’t give me a burden I couldn’t bear. I forgot that I could do all things through His strength.

Yes, I forgot all His assurances because fundamentally, I lost bearing on what my true treasure was in life. Instead of Jesus, it was Grace…and that was where I went astray.

In today’s passage, Jesus continues to teach His followers and hits on the matter of treasures. And as we have seen in His prior teachings, He speaks to what how the world defines something and then reveals His heavenly interpretation…an interpretation that always draws us close to Him, His will and His way.

So what did Jesus say about treasures?

First, he exhorted His listeners to “not store up…treasures on earth, where moth and rust destroy, and where thieves break in and steal.”

This would be the treasure that many people would vision when you say the word. It conjures up possessions like money or jewels or expensive clothes and cars or other valuables…material items that can perish, deteriorate or be taken away. Even a loved one could be possessed like they belong to us…when the truth is that they really belong to the One we should treasure.

So what kind of treasures are we to store up?

Jesus tells us to “store up…treasures in heaven, where moth and rust do not destroy, and where thieves do not break in and steal.”

In other words, Jesus is telling us to cherish the unperishable…the treasure we find in heaven.

He is telling us to treasure Him.

To seal this truth, hear the closing words for this message as Jesus says, “…where your treasure is, there your heart will be also.”

Friends, if we’re truly going to profess ourselves as Christian, then we need remember that Jesus is the only treasure…period. He is the One we are to value above everything else in life. For when we truly do this, then…and only then…will we be assured that He and He alone is in our heart. And when that happens, then everything we are will be of Him…and there will be no room for Satan to have any inroads to your life because He can’t coexist in the same place as Jesus.

Simply, when Jesus is in your heart, Satan can’t be.

Where I erred earlier in this month is that I tried to leave room for Grace and Jesus in my heart. And when I only gave Jesus a part of me, Satan moved in and did his evil. Indeed, we cannot serve two masters…our heart cannot be divided between Jesus and anything else.

And so I ask you today, “What is your treasure?”

Seek your heart and if it’s anything than Jesus, turn to Him today and ask for a change. He waiting to fully enter in and transform you forever, just as he did with me…bringing certainty in the midst of uncertainty…faith in the midst of doubt…love in the midst of pain.

Only Jesus can do that.

There’s no other treasure like Him…anywhere.

Amen.

In Christ,

Mark

PS: Please share this with anyone you feel might be blessed by it.

Send any prayer requests to faithhopegodlove@aol.com