What if God were Your Treasure?

In Matthew 6:21 Jesus says plainly, "where your treasure is there will your heart be also." Hoarding for self v. helping others survive shows a fundamental flaw in character. A heart issue. Reveals a lack of depth and compassion and understanding of how life works best. Reveals a lack of trust in the sovereignty of God, to provide everything we need; shows that we give more credence in man’s abilities than God’s sufficiency.

What consumes your thoughts? What do you really want? Why would God want us free from self-centered pursuits? So that we would more freely and fully worship Him. He inhabits the praises of His people. We were built to serve Him.

The difference between treasures on earth and treasures in heaven is the difference between enjoying something good and finding one’s joy in something. Not finding foundational joy but residual joy in the good gifts God gives. He has given us all good things to enjoy, but not to obsess on or worship as idols. 1 John 5:21 "Little children, keep yourselves from idols." Where do you run for comfort? Food? People? things? Or Jesus? If its Jesus you can enjoy all the others; but if not you will enjoy nothing.

In our spare time we usually dream of getting, not giving away. We ask our friends, what would you do if money was no object? What if you won 1 million dollars? We never ask what would you do if you ran out of money? or went broke? or what would you do if your salary was cut in half? or you lost your job? We are consumers trained to consume; programmed to possess. We seek treasure, but I want to give you a vision for something more, better, deeper. What if we were focused on systematically giving our stuff away? What if words like “my” or “mine” were eliminated form our vocabulary? What if our natural inclination towards possessiveness became a super-natural relinquishing of all rights and possessions? What if we had a loosening grip vs. a tightening fist? What if in simple grace you downsized when you could upsize? The blessing of living a simple life.

What if God were your treasure? As A.W. Tozer wrote in the Pursuit of God, "The man who has God for his treasure has all things in One. Many ordinary treasures may be denied him, or if he is allowed to have them, the enjoyment of them will be so tempered that they will never be necessary to his happiness. Or if he must see them go, one after one, he will scarcely feel a sense of loss, for having the Source of all things he has in One all satisfaction, all pleasure, all delight. Whatever he may lose he has actually lost nothing, for he now has it all in One, and he has it purely, legitimately and forever." God must be our treasure. We need to find our security in the all-sufficient Jesus Christ.