For where you treasure is there your heart will also be

This saying of Jesus our Lord is a great indication of the presence of the true faith in the hearts of men. God knowing the intents of the heart places a very great emphasis on where the heart of men is. This is why one of the most talked about issues in the word of God is money. There are many examples in the Bible that speak about the stewardship of the temporal things in this life and how God would take that as the measure of Him trusting us in the life to come.

In these words of our Lord in Matthew 6:21 and Luke 12:34 He is trying to show us that the most treasured place in our lives is where our heart is. Meaning by looking at man’s actions and where he/she spends his hard earned money you can tell what are his/her priorities.  A very obvious test of devotion is to watch the manner of spending of a person or a family. Where their money goes the most, besides the real necessities of life is a true indicator of the condition of the heart. Basically their check book or their bank account can tell where their heart truly is with God.

Many of us claim that we love God more than any and all, but in close examination we could see that our actions do not say the same thing. We have treasures pampered in our hearts that are the true spokesmen of our faith. Jesus in the parable of the rich young ruler did not just hear his words, but tested the matters of his heart. He said to the young rich ruler all that you said is fine, there remains one more thing for you to do. Go and sell all you have and give it to the poor and you will have treasures in heaven. The word says the young man became very said and left the presence of the Lord since he had many possessions and a great wealth.  This man had come seeking after eternal life, yet his heart was completely tied down to this present evil age with all its riches. Many times it is the same with many of us in the Church.  We also claim to have the Kingdom of God in mind, yet our treasures remain very much on earth.

The entire 12^th chapter of Luke’s gospel is based on the warning us about avoiding hypocrisy. A great warning to the Church of Jesus Christ. Seeing the hypocrisy of the pharisaical priesthood Jesus Christ the Messiah of Israel warns His own disciples to stay away from that yeast or the leaven that can defile them in heart. In verse 1 He says it in this way “Beware of the leaven of thePharisees, which is hypocrisy.” Then He continues to say “For there is nothing covered that will not be revealed, nor hidden that will not be known. Therefore whatever you have spoken in the dark will be heard in the light, and what you have spoken in the ear in inner rooms will be proclaimed on the housetops.

And I say to you, My friends do not be afraid of those who kill the body and after that have no more they can do. But I will show you whom you should fear; Fear Him who, after He has killed, has the power

To cast into hell; yes I say to you fear Him!”

Here the Lord begins His speech saying that we need to have a healthy fear of God and that will make us live an upright life through His Spirit’s enablement. In living such a balanced state of life we would be afraid of all extremes, specially hypocrisy which the worst kind of deliberate refusal to obey God’s commandments in the heart. Seeking God’s Kingdom and righteousness requires a complete yeildedness to the life in the spirit in allowing Him to sanctify the motives of our heart by exposing them to us and God through our genuine confessions.

Saying that we love God, yet living with other treasures in our hearts we are saying that He is not the first in our lives.

Where we put our treasure or our money there our hearts would be.

Sometimes the most unbelievers are gathered in the Church, since we say one thing and do completely another.

I am reminded of the widow who gave her last two mites and Jesus’s eyes saw that great sacrificial giving. He said “You give out of your abundance, but she gave all that she had”. A slap in the face of the pharisaical hypocrisy. Many times our selfish pursuits of this life overtake our love and devotion to God and the promise of His eternal Kingdom to come. The rest of Luke’s 12^thchapter talks about the folly or the sin of worry and an anxious heart of unbelief or mistrust. Something many of us struggle with in spiritual ignorance. That is why He continually reminds us about God’s paternal care for our basic needs in this life. Jesus our Lord begins to even expand His words from the necessity of trusting Him to start looking into investing in the age to come by seeking His kingdom. This is where He says all things will be added on to us. Then He says “Do not fear, little flock for it is your father’s good pleasure to give you the kingdom.”

Jesus here is unveiling a very magnificent spiritual truth about our true treasure. He says our true treasure is the Kingdom of God and Christ our shield and the exceedingly great reward in both lives. Giving more value to anything else uncovers the true motives of our hearts. That is why He said “You cannot worship both God and Mammon”. Now some of you might say I do not worship money, but wait a moment look at your greatest spending lately where do you spend most of your money? The big trip you are planning to take? The expensive car that you drive? The house that you have just built and or remodeled? Or the extravagant spending you do on cloths or dining out or whatever you plan to do next? You would see yourselves where truly your heart is.  You see it is not what we say that gives us away only, but what we do. Such were the Pharisees of Jesus’s day.

Did you know even the money we possess is not ours?

This is why Apostle Paul in response to the generous giving of some in his second letter to the Corinthian Church says in it in this way in verse 10.  “Now may He who supplies seed to the sower, and bread for food, supply and multiply the seed you have sown and increase the fruits of your righteousness.” Here the Apostle of Jesus reminds his readers that the giver of our income is God Himself and He is watching to see how we are stewarding it. In the matters of kingdom or not? He has in the past warned me several times of this truth, that faithfulness in spending the God given finances says a lot about where my heart is truly with Him?

This why in Haggai’s prophetic word the Lord says through prophet Haggai “Is it time for you yourselves to dwell in your paneled houses, and this temple to lie in ruin?” since in the prior verse the Lord had said. “The time has not come, the time that the Lord’s house should be built?.” Haggai 1:2-4

The principal of sowing and reaping is a very true reality of the kingdom of God and its abuse has made many totally ignore its dire necessity. The following verses of the first chapter of Haggai is a very trembling reality of God’s response to our indifference to this important matter of our faith.

In verses 5 to 6 the Lord says….

“Now therefore thus says the Lord of Hosts; Consider your ways!

“ You have sown much and bring in little;

You eat, but do not have enough;

You drink, but you are not filled with drink;

You cloth yourselves, but no one is warm;

And he who earns wages earns wages to put into a bag with holes.”

Thus says the Lord consider your ways.

Some of us live in the kingdom, yet with earthly and worldly principals. We live bearing Christian names, yet follow the principals of this world. We live to impress others and show ourselves off. We spend money

For the luxurious of our own choosing and then complain why our pockets are empty at the end of the day. Some of us are buying houses we cannot afford through ease and soon become the slave of our own ignorance. The enemy tricks us by showing us a façade and we fall into it through intrigue and later on pray to God for a miracle. Yesterday while listening to Joyce Meyer’s words on drawing boundaries she was saying some of us buy homes and then we are never in them to enjoy them, since we now have become the slaves of the mortgages of those  houses of ours. When in distress and fatigue we call on God and say why? Lord Why? Not knowing to our utter amazement that it is Him that has blown in all away.

Joyce Meyers was saying and  I quote, “ Then some run from ministry to ministry to find someone with a special gifting to lay hand on them and pray for miracle of finances that would bail them out of their own misery of living with earthly principals.

Saying we believe in the gospel of the Lord Jesus, which is the only way of salvation we consider it none essential to give to its cause. Once a dear sister ignorantly said and I quote

“ Pastor why are you buying these expensive Bibles for our kids? Are you trying to bribe them to come to God? My heart sank within me when she said that. I immediately prayed to the Lord and I heard His voice very clearly “ She doesn’t know that your investment is greater than she understand”. The same is today. We need to watch the matters of our heart. We need to reconsider our ways. We need to forsake earthly principals and motives. Stop Living like the rest of the unbelievers and come and proclaim you are saved. Let us fear lest we have come short of our profession of faith.

Let us give to God  and His kingdom. Let us give to the Church for her needs, let us give to the missions and the building of HisKingdom of righteousness. Let us build ourselves a future by investing in His Kingdom and not Satan’s kingdom. Let us give our thies and offering first to God. The first fruits of all our labor. Money, life, devotion and all that we temporarily possess in this short lives life on this side of eternity. Let us seek His Kingdom  and His righteousness in spirit and in truth. Not like the hypocrites who one day would have to stand before the Lord as believers and not as unbelievers who do not have this principal in their minds.

Let us give to the needs of our Church here, why should the kingdom suffer violence for our sake? Why should the work of the Lord come to a halt because of our own lack of obedience? Why should the poor suffer any longer? Why should we not have enough to feed the hungry? Why should there be a needy person amongst us in these last days? And finally why should the gentiles say where is their God?