Seeds for 06/16/2023 - Matthew 6:24
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: It comes down to this. There’s a throne at the center of our hearts. It’s not a love seat or a sofa, its a chair for one. Jesus is clear cut: “You cannot serve both God and money.”
Jesus places us in a long tradition of hearers called to “choose for yourselves this day whom you will serve,” who have had two ways set before them, “life and death, blessings and curses” and been exhorted to “choose life.” He does so with an uncompromising declaration: “Either you will hate the one and love the other, or you will be devoted to one and despise the other.” Love or hate, devoted or despising. Stark terms.
We think first of these words as referring to our affections. But love and hate in Hebrew were covenant terms. God’s love was not only affection. Indeed, many times the Israelites, like us, made it hard for anyone to feel affection for them! God’s love was and is deeper than that. “Love” refers to covenant faithfulness and loyalty.
Jesus is pressing His hearers about where their loyalties lie. Not only is it idolatrous to be loyal to and serve money above God, it is terrible for our souls and reversal of our roles. Serving money is completely backwards. It is God’s provision that we are to steward for godly purposes. To serve a resource, the only right purpose of which is to serve our needs and God’s purpose, is baffling and absurd.
However. Perhaps this is another instance of confusing the gift with the Giver, the blessing with the Blesser, the provision with the Provider. If and when we do that, we forsake our calling to steward the resources God places under our responsible care.
I’ll say it again. There’s a throne at the center of our hearts. It’s not a love seat or a sofa, its a chair for one. Will its occupant be the gift or the Giver?
Application:
When do I catch myself wanting the things God provides more than or instead of the God who provides?
What else might the Holy Spirit be speaking with you about in the text today?
Prayer: Lord, help me see clearly my choices each day. Make me a faithful steward of your gifts by keeping me a faithful servant of you. Amen.
“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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What an image! Who sits on the throne? The image of a chair, not a love seat or a sofa, will be in the front of my mind for a long time! Way to check my priorities!