Treasure in heaven; you cannot serve two masters
What you value runs you
Money is a good tool and a terrible boss.
Key points
- What it means: Whatever you invest in pulls your heart toward it.
- Try this: Look at where your money and time went last week. Does it match what you say matters most?
- The good news: You are God’s treasure. He gave everything to have you.
What he said
“For where your treasure is, there your heart will be also.”
Matthew 6:21
Find it: Matthew 6:19–24
Read Matthew 6:19–24
19 “Don’t lay up treasures for yourselves on the earth, where moth and rust consume, and where thieves break through and steal; 20 but lay up for yourselves treasures in heaven, where neither moth nor rust consume, and where thieves don’t break through and steal; 21 for where your treasure is, there your heart will be also. 22 “The lamp of the body is the eye. If therefore your eye is sound, your whole body will be full of light. 23 But if your eye is evil, your whole body will be full of darkness. If therefore the light that is in you is darkness, how great is the darkness! 24 “No one can serve two masters, for either he will hate the one and love the other; or else he will be devoted to one and despise the other. You can’t serve both God and Mammon.
World English Bible, public domain. The whole chapter on Free Scripture → · Read in the NRSVue, the ELCA’s standard translation →
What it means
Whatever you invest in pulls your heart toward it. Jesus says you cannot serve two masters: God and money. One of them will end up in charge.
Things that rust, break and get stolen make poor foundations for a life. What lasts is how you loved.
At work
- Jesus isn’t against work or earning. He is against being owned by it.
- When a number you’re chasing starts deciding how you treat people, the number has become the master.
With people
- Your calendar and your bank statement tell the truth about what you love.
The hard part
Everyone needs money, and some people have far too little of it. This isn’t a lecture to the struggling; it is a warning about what happens when enough is never enough.
Try this
Look at where your money and time went last week. Does it match what you say matters most?
Go deeper
The good news
You are God’s treasure. He gave everything to have you.
Nobody lives this perfectly. How to read it