March Like Jesus
… In Handling Our Money – Part I

Scripture Reading: Matthew 6:19-34

Key Verse: Matthew 6:21
“Wherever your treasure is, there the desires of your heart will also be.”

If you are like me, many decisions in my life are about how much money I have and whether I can afford it. Truthfully, I am not at the point where I can honestly say that money does not matter in my life… it does.

What I look for, almost daily, is a heart that doesn’t make money the true treasure in my life. I certainly know that my relationships with God and my family are the things that I cherish the most. God also has allowed me to enjoy friends and have some influence with those that are Christ-followers. I know that if I lost all my money, but could keep these treasures I cherish, I would be okay.

I am not saying that I would be happy about losing everything nor would I be free of concern over how to survive life with no money. But I want my treasures to guide my heart toward God and His blessings.

Jesus’s words in today’s Key Verse tell us that what we treasure determines what our hearts focus on. Jesus reminds us to daily work on our focus, making sure that it is on Him and the other true treasures in our lives. We can still enjoy the money He allows us to have without making them our “true treasures”.

Dolly Parton wrote a song many years ago that I was reminded of recently (“Coat of Many Colors”). One of the lines is “one is only poor if they choose to be”. We Christ-followers should never allow ourselves to live with a mentality that we are poor, for we are all rich with all the promises of Jesus Christ. We may not have a lot of money, but that does not make us poor in the most important areas of life. The Apostle Paul said he had to learn to be content (Philippians 4:11-13); all of us need to learn the lesson of contentment well!

I heard a true story of a minister who had made good decisions all his life as far as his financial affairs were concerned. He had accumulated a large amount of money over the years. He was always faithful to tithe and give beyond his tithe to Kingdom purposes. A few years later, things went bad with some investments, and he lost nearly everything. He told a friend, “I’m so glad that all that I gave to God and Kingdom is never lost but stored for me in Heaven”.

Let’s make sure we are storing up treasures in Heaven!

Father, give me wisdom to see what true treasures are in my life. I want to store those up in Heaven. In Jesus’s Name I pray, amen.