PRAYER: Lord, teach me to love You with all my heart and with all my life. Let my giving and my time reflect a treasure that has eternal value in Your sight!
DAY 6 - READ MATTHEW 6:19-21 AND LUKE 19:1-9
We tend to grow uncomfortable when the church talks about our time or our money. Why? Are decisions about how we live and how we use these resources unimportant? Is our faith supposed to be separate from our time or finances? God desires that our time and finances be spent on eternal things. He challenges us to an eternal perspective. He wants us to believe in Him, pray, love one another, and give of ourselves towards His work. Look at a revealing count of these New Testament words: Believe, Believing: 275 times; Pray, Praying: 371 times; Love, Loves, Loving: 714 times; Giving, Give: 2,162 times.
Jesus knew that our treasures and our hearts are inseparably linked. For Him, talking about treasure was to reach for the full allegiance of people’s hearts. Jesus knew that dealing with our treasure is one of those critical places where the rubber meets the road—where the practicality of our faith is tested and where what we believe becomes tangible and real.
Remember the story of Zacchaeus in Luke 19? We have no idea what happened between Jesus and Zacchaeus other than they had dinner together. But we know that Jesus dramatically changed that man’s heart. How do we know that? Follow the money! It reveals the change in his heart. Look at what happened with Zacchaeus’ treasure. Half of what he possessed he gave immediately. Every wrong he set to make right. Seeing where the treasure went, Jesus exclaimed, “Today salvation has come to this house!”
Maybe we are uncomfortable with talk about how we spend our time and money because that conversation reveals the actual trajectory of our heart and faith. Maybe we are uncomfortable because we are afraid our fleshly desires won’t be met, rather than recognizing the real treasure Christ provides. Where are your treasures being laid up? In temporary earthly things? Or are they being laid up in heaven by building God’s kingdom?
ACTION ITEM
Sketch out a simple budget of where your treasures are—where your time, talents, and financial resources go. Evaluate how you are spending them. Now write down your current investment in God’s eternal kingdom. How does your giving to God’s work and the time you invest in the ministries of the church compare to your investment in other treasures? What type of legacy do you hope to leave based on the use of your time and resources? What adjustments are in order?