Seeds for 06/15/2023 - Matthew 6:22-23

Scripture: ¹⁹ “Do not store up for yourselves treasures on earth, where moths and vermin destroy, and where thieves break in and steal. ²⁰ But store up for yourselves treasures in heaven, where moths and vermin do not destroy, and where thieves do not break in and steal. ²¹ For where your treasure is, there your heart will be also.

²² “The eye is the lamp of the body. If your eyes are healthy, your whole body will be full of light. ²³ But if your eyes are unhealthy, your whole body will be full of darkness. If then the light within you is darkness, how great is that darkness!

²⁴ “No one can serve two masters. Either you will hate the one and love the other, or you will be devoted to the one and despise the other. You cannot serve both God and money.

Observation: Jesus, master of metaphor, now builds on His point.

Because heart follows treasure and treasuring is a choice, our heart will be with whatever we choose to treasure, whether temporary earthly treasures or lasting heavenly treasures. Perspective is crucial to understanding the difference between earthly treasures and heavenly treasures. Like investing our money, we need the ability to accurately assess the real value of something, otherwise we’ll end up seeing what wealth we possess diminished because it was invested in something that only seemed valuable at the time.

This brings us to Jesus’ illustration, “The eye is the lamp of the body.” Our perception depends on the health of our eyes. If we are too near- or far-sighted, if we have an astigmatism, cataracts, or double-vision, we will struggle to walk because, in varying degrees, we are unable to perceive the landscape. Our eyes let in light that allows our brains to understand the world we inhabit and seek to navigate. “But if your eyes are unhealthy, your whole body will be full of darkness.”

If our eyes—“the light within you”—are dark, then accurate perception will be absent. That’s not a bad way of describing the impact of sin. Sin gives us something like cataracts on the soul, skewing our perception of reality. We think we see, but we do not. We are in darkness because the eyes of our soul are unhealthy and therefore, we walk in darkness.

There’s good news, however.

“The people walking in darkness
    have seen a great light;
on those living in the land of deep darkness
    a light has dawned.” (Isaiah 9:2)

In Jesus we have a Savior who absorbs our darkness in the cross and shines His light into our lives, just as the sunrise lit up the empty tomb on the morning of resurrection. In Him, we have an “inheritance that can never perish, spoil, or fade.”

Part of our sanctification, our growth in spiritual maturity, is learning to tell earthly and heavenly treasures apart in our lives today. In other words, can we learn to perceive life on earth now in the light of heaven? That’s our calling as followers of Jesus.

Application:

• Where do I tend to have blurry perception of earthly versus heavenly treasure?

• What else might the Holy Spirit be speaking with you about in the text today?

Prayer: Lord, “open my eyes that I may see glimpses of truth Thou hast for me.” Amen.

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“But the seed falling on good soil refers to someone who hears the word and understands it. This is the one who produces a crop, yielding a hundred, sixty or thirty times what was sown.” (Matthew 13:23)

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