Where is Your Treasure?

Jesus said, “Where your treasure is, there is your heart also” (Matthew 6:21). The heart is where our deepest desires and passions are centered. It is what moves us and excites us. It is the very core of our being. As the scripture states, “Keep your heart with all vigilance, for from it flow the springs of life” (Proverbs 4:23). Who we are is centered in, what is in our heart.

Jesus said, ““Either make the tree good and its fruit good, or make the tree bad and its fruit bad, for the tree is known by its fruit. You brood of vipers! How can you speak good, when you are evil? For out of the abundance of the heart the mouth speaks. The good person out of his good treasure brings forth good, and the evil person out of his evil treasure brings forth evil. I tell you, on the day of judgment people will give account for every careless word they speak, for by your words you will be justified, and by your words you will be condemned” (Matthew 12:33-37) Do we have a good treasure? How good is that treasure?

Mankind tends to have many inordinate things in our heart. Things like inordinate love of self, power, money, recognition and an inordinate desire for pleasure, just to name a few. Many hearts are cluttered.

If we want to be all we can be our hearts must be focused in Jesus and His kingdom here and in heaven. To live in the fullness of goodness this is where we must focus. To experience the abundant life as Jesus spoke about in John 10:10 our hearts must be purified to love God above everything and everyone else and than we will be able to love others more perfectly. To be the true self we were created to be, we must be fully grounded in the earth of who God is. (Ephesians 2:14-21)

God holds your responsible for what is in your heart. By grace you can be transformed by Him, if you reach out to Him and are faithful to the process with Him. God holds you responsible in this life and the life to come. All men know deep down inside about eternity, because God has put eternity in the heart of man. (Ecclesiastes 3:11). In eternity we will be held responsible for how we responded to God’s grace in Jesus Christ and how we lived in Christ.

Jesus often spoke about the stewardship we have, especially in the parables, and encouraged us to consider how we will be held to account. The non-Christian we be held to account in hell and Christians will be held to account in the judgement day when we stand before the judgement seat of Christ. By the way, the one sin that will send people to hell will be rejecting Jesus as their Savior and Lord. (Mark 12:32) As well there will be degrees of hell. (Mark 12:40; Luke 7:28; John 19:11; etc.) The Bible says, “For we must all appear before the judgment seat of Christ, so that each one may receive what is due for what he has done in the body, whether good or evil” (2 Corinthians 5:10).

The Bible often spoke about rewards in heaven. (see, Matthew 5:20; 1 Corinthains 3:14; Hebrews 11:26; 2 John 1:8; Revelation 11:18; etc. etc.) Jesus spoke about rewards that could be applied to this life and primarily to the next. However, as the 24 elders in the book of Revelation 4:10-11 threw their crowns (representing their rewards) before the feet of Jesus so those who truly know Him will primarily serve and honor Him because of love for Him.

Christian, eternity is a very long time. We can waste our time here or we can add to the treasures in our heart and in heaven. The primary treasure is the Triune God, Father, Son and Holy Spirit. How these rewards will look we don’t know the Bible doesn’t tell us, but it tells us it will be so.

What are you doing for Jesus? What are you doing because you love Jesus? This salvation is enormous and God calls us to declare and live out the gospel. Do you care that how you live now and how that will make a difference in eternity? How are you involved in the church in which He is the head and as the scripture says is His bride? How are you being salt and light? How are you involved in the sharing and explaining the gospel to others? God Himself by His grace (His empowering) and the gospel itself in Jesus, calls us to account and gives us and empowers us with a great calling. By God’s grace you and I can be all we are called to be and do.

As the scripture states and as Paul the Apostle states from prison, “I therefore, a prisoner for the Lord, urge you to walk in a manner worthy of the calling to which you have been called” (Ephesians 4:1)

The Apostle Paul also encourages us with these words: “So flee youthful passions and pursue righteousness, faith, love, and peace, along with those who call on the Lord from a pure heart” (2 Timothy 2:22).