Where Are Your Treasures?

Right Living and Right Giving Go Hand in Hand
August 21, 2020

One of the most well-known passages in scripture is that of Matthew 6:20-21 (NKJV): “But lay up for yourselves treasures in heaven, where neither moth nor rust destroys and where thieves do not break in and steal. For where your treasure is, there your heart will be also.” I find it intriguing that this statement by Christ tells us first and foremost that God doesn’t have a problem with individuals investing in themselves. 

What? Is that not what we are to understand by His words: But lay up for yourselves treasures? Superficially and selfishly, we might proclaim that God gives us the right to invest in ourselves first and foremost. Ah, but the second part of the statement is the key: “But lay up for yourselves treasures in heaven.” The investment programs between earth and heaven are vastly different. 

The first order of business is to comprehend the term “stewardship” through the lens of heaven. Dictionary.com defines a steward as “a person who acts as the surrogate of another or others, especially by managing property, financial affairs, an estate.” Renowned poet Ralph Waldo Emerson said, “Things are in the saddle, And ride mankind.” One of the great life-lessons that has emerged from our plight with COVID-19 is the sinister fact that we as citizens of this land of plenty quickly learned that our possessions have been governing our existence. When we come up lacking, we seek the Source of the substance! 

Emil Mettler was a restaurateur in London. He was a close friend of Albert Schweitzer. Mettler would not allow a Christian worker to pay for a meal. He once opened his cash register in the presence of the Secretary of the London Missionary Society. The man was astonished to observe among the bills and coins a six-inch nail. He asked Mettler what the nail was doing there. Mettler explained, “I keep this nail with my money to 

remind me of the price that Christ paid for my salvation and of what I owe Him in return!” Our tangible response to God as His stewards is based on an intangible commitment. Right living and right giving go hand in hand! When we commit our lives to the King, the commitment of our resources follows closely behind. How could we withhold from Him our life, our time, our talents, our money or our potential? 

By Carlos J. Craig, President