A Word from Matthew 6

In recent weeks, my family and I have been making plans to put a shed in our backyard. We’ve got all this “stuff” in the basement that we’d like to clear out a little, so we can do something productive down there. And so, we’ve been looking at sheds, and studying requirements, and trying to get this done.

For better or worse, the Bible doesn’t give a lot of direction when it comes to backyard sheds. But in today’s word from Matthew 6, it does have something to say about the “stuff” that goes in them. “Do not store up for yourselves treasures on earth,” Jesus says, “where moths and vermin destroy, and where thieves break in and steal. But store up for yourselves treasures in heaven…For where your treasure is, there your heart will be also.” (6:19-21)

Now, the challenge in those words is that they don’t tell me to put my treasure where I’d like my heart to be. No, they insist that wherever I put my treasure is the place where my heart is. And I don’t know about you, but I’d hate to think that my heart is all wrapped up in the “stuff” that I keep in a backyard shed.

Of course, I don’t think it’s wrong to have some “stuff”—or to have a place to put it! But the Bible speaks far more often about dangers of what we own and what we desire than it does about most of the other issues that we Christians seem to get so worked up about. And in fact, having warned us about out treasures, Jesus goes on to say why this is so important. “No one can serve two masters,” he says. “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.” (6:24)

So, where’s your treasure — or where’s you’re “stuff” — today? How much of your time, and energy, and money does it take to store and care for it? And what does all of this say about which master you’re really serving?

May God give us grace and wisdom to serve Him and Him alone. Amen.