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Jesus and His Teachings About Treasure
March 29, 2014

Last week I wrote Jesus and His Teachings About the Way.  The path we are on should direct us to God and those things that are spiritual. Most overlook a very simple test that can help us identify if we are on the path or not, and it has to do with treasure. Broadly defined, treasure is anything rare and of extreme value. We need to ask ourselves what it is we treasure. We need to determine for ourselves what it is that is rare and of extreme value. The answer that we have may be a good indicator if we are indeed on the path. Jesus knew it would be important for us to make this determination, and it was one of his earliest teachings.

Matthew 6:19-24
Lay not up for yourselves treasures upon earth, where moth and rust doth corrupt, and where thieves break through and steal: But lay up for yourselves treasures in heaven, where neither moth nor rust doth corrupt, and where thieves do not break through nor steal: For where your treasure is, there will your heart be also. The light of the body is the eye: if therefore thine eye be single, thy whole body shall be full of light. But if thine eye be evil, thy whole body shall be full of darkness. If therefore the light that is in thee be darkness, how great is that darkness! No man can serve two masters: for either he will hate the one, and love the other; or else he will hold to the one, and despise the other. Ye cannot serve God and mammon.

Sometimes these verses get twisted by those who want to separate you from money. They will make it sound like you have to be separated from your money to have any shot for salvation. These verses are designed to help us reflect on what is the authority in our life. Is it God and those things spiritual or is it money? That can hard for some, especially those who preach a prosperity gospel that blends financial prosperity with spirituality. What these verses intend to show is that if we value something, we will focus on that. These verses give us a clear choice to either value God and spiritual things as the authority in our life or to value physical things as the authority in our life. You may be wondering how one may value God and spiritual things and still have money in your life. The key is that you must surrender to one as the master in your life, and the other becomes a tool for you. So, have you surrendered yourself to God or to money making one of these your master? Which one is your tool? Being able to think this way can help us get through difficult times in our life. Jesus explained how in the next several verses.

Matthew 6:25-34
Therefore I say unto you, Take no thought for your life, what ye shall eat, or what ye shall drink; nor yet for your body, what ye shall put on. Is not the life more than meat, and the body than raiment? Behold the fowls of the air: for they sow not, neither do they reap, nor gather into barns; yet your heavenly Father feedeth them. Are ye not much better than they? Which of you by taking thought can add one cubit unto his stature? And why take ye thought for raiment? Consider the lilies of the field, how they grow; they toil not, neither do they spin: And yet I say unto you, That even Solomon in all his glory was not arrayed like one of these. Wherefore, if God so clothe the grass of the field, which to day is, and to morrow is cast into the oven, shall he not much more clothe you, O ye of little faith? Therefore take no thought, saying, What shall we eat? or, What shall we drink? or, Wherewithal shall we be clothed? (For after all these things do the Gentiles seek:) for your heavenly Father knoweth that ye have need of all these things. But seek ye first the kingdom of God, and his righteousness; and all these things shall be added unto you. Take therefore no thought for the morrow: for the morrow shall take thought for the things of itself. Sufficient unto the day is the evil thereof.

When our focus is to seek first the Kingdom of God and God's righteousness we establish God and those things spiritual as our master. It is on our master that we rely using the tools he gives us. We focus on how we may be right with God today without a worry for tomorrow, because most of what we worry about was never intended to control our lives, unless we choose to allow it to have this control. We are in a much better place when we choose to follow righteousness and make righteousness the treasure in our life.

Proverbs 21:21
He that followeth after righteousness and mercy findeth life, righteousness, and honour.

Jesus knew we would have the capacity to treasure many things we see each day. He wants us to value God and those things that are spiritual and not money or those physical things that can be bought with money.

All verses are from the King James Version.
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