Do not lay up for yourselves treasures on earth, where moth and rust consume and where thieves break in and steal, but lay up for yourselves treasures in heaven, whether neither moth nor rust consumes and where thieves do not break in and steal. For where your treasure is, there your heart will be also.
Matthew 6:19-21
A look at a person’s calendar and bank account will tell you what their priorities are. Look at where you spend your time and where you spend your money and you’ll see what is most important to you. One of the biggest challenges to faith are the things and the people we pay attention to. And another challenge is finding balance between good things and Godly things while avoiding the ungodly things.
Many children have fantasies, that they hope will become realities. Many young children dream about being professional athletes and in their backyard games of football or basketball, even take on the mannerisms of their favorite athlete. Some of these “fantasies” continue into adulthood. We know as adults that these fantasies aren’t going to come true, but many of us still dream about managing our own NFL team (we even call it fantasy football) and who hasn’t dreamed about what they would do if they won the lottery.
Most of us don’t daydream about being saints. When I was growing up and Michael Jordan was the dominant basketball player, many of my peers had posters of him up in their rooms, and several products had Michael Jordan endorsing him, encouraging us to buy them buy using the phrase “Be Like Mike.” There was even a cute tune that was part of the commercials: “If I could be like Mike, if I could be like Mike.” When people become so busy trying to “be like Mike,” they forget that we are supposed to “be like Christ.” That doesn’t mean there is anything wrong with being a sports fan, or that we don’t need time for leisure activities, or that there is anything sinful about daydreaming about what it would be like to win the lottery or manage an NFL franchise. What is wrong is when we are so caught up in our worlds of consumerism and fantasy that we forget to spend any time with Christ.
We have a beautiful Tradition of saints in the Orthodox Church. The walls of our churches and even our homes are adorned with them. If I had one complaint about our tradition of icons it would be that the saints always seem sad, they don’t ever smile in icons, and people get the idea that one has to be sad all the time to be a Christian. God made us with an emotional composition that allows us to both laugh and cry. We are meant to experience the full gamut of emotions—there would be something wrong with us if we never laughed, or if we never cried.
One challenge in life is the elusive finding of balance amongst all the choices in life. How to have fun while staying true to Christian values; how to make quiet time for prayer and Scripture reading in a busy schedule; how to make time for exercise and rest amidst work and family responsibilities.
Jesus was very intentional about saying in Matthew 6:21, “For where your treasure is, there you heart will be also.” In other words, where you put your treasure, your heart follows. It’s not the other way around. The things we treasure the most are our time and our money. Where we put these things directs where our heart goes. If we give the first fruits of both time and money to God, our hearts will follow. If we give God the leftovers, our hearts will follow that as well.
One of the greatest challenges to being a Christian is changing our fundamental approach on life to go from “I have to fit God in around life,” to “I have to fit life in around God.” How many of us “forget” (or more likely don’t make the time) to pray until we go to bed at night, and we fit in a quick prayer before we fall asleep. Instead, we should be leading off with prayer and putting everything under the umbrella of God. Of course, this is easier said than done. We spend so much of our lives doing the very things that Jesus warns against in Matthew 6:19-21. We spent so much effort on storing up earthly treasures, stocking away resources for a rainy day, trying to get as much “security” as possible, and we forget two fundamental facts: First, security is an illusion. Life and the things we treasure can end at any moment. And second, even the best and longest life will eventually come to an end, and all the material things we have amassed will eventually no longer be ours.
There is nothing wrong with having material goods. In every wedding sacrament, we pray for the couple to have abundance, so that they can give to those who are in need. The challenge is to balance who and what we are paying attention to, and to keep God as the priority, the first focus. There is nothing wrong with laughing or having fun, just like there is nothing wrong with achieving and earning things, or taking what we’ve earned and buying and enjoying things. It’s keeping God as the center and the priority, and doing all the things we do under the umbrella of Christ.
Lord, we know that every good and perfect gift is from Above, coming down from You the Father of Lights. Help me to not only “know” this but to “show” this in my life today. Give me the desire and discipline to place you first and to place everything else around You. Help me to have courage to do this even when it is not the popular thing to do. Help me to have the faith and trust to put my time and my treasure to use first and foremost in ways that honor You and reflect my identity as one of Your children, so that where I am putting my treasure, my heart will follow. Amen.
Pay attention to where you put your treasure—your time and your financial resources, what fills your calendar and empties your wallet—because your heart will follow. When we give first to God, our hearts make Him the priority. Intentionally begin your day in prayer. Intentionally begin each day with a plan for what you will offer to God of that day.
