How many times have you heard a well meaning person say, “Wherever your heart is, your money will be. Invest your heart in something and you’ll put your money there Focus on getting your heart right and then you’ll get your finances right.”? Frankly, that is what some of us think the Bible teaches. We think it says, “Where your heart will be, there your treasure will be.” Right? Nuh-uh.
Jesus said exactly the opposite. For where your treasure is, there your heart will be also…(Matthew 6:21) Here’s the "formula" from the Sermon on the Mount: Our direction in life follows our hearts which follows our “treasures”. What you invest your time, money, energy and ambition will direct your heart, the control panel, the executive function of your life. And that will guide you like the headlights of a car.
Jesus taught that what you buy, spend, go into debt for, or give money to will form your life. You and I are more influenced by what we are holding onto, what we hold dear, what gives us security, what we treasure, then anything else.
This is why, for Jesus, one of the very first things Jesus talked about was their money, their livelihood, their security. Those who followed him left their fishing businesses, and their livelihoods to do so. Those who welcomed him welcomed him into their homes not just their hearts. Those who sought to serve him had to be willing to trust him with not only their souls but their security.
My friends, if this was so in the first century when people lived far more simply without the need for as many clothes, or the variety of foods, or the opportunities for leisure or the luxuries that have become for us necessities…
If Jesus talked to them about their security because they were sick with worry then, in a world where people lived far more communally looking out for each other, caring for each other…
If Jesus talked so much about this in the first century where people lived so simply and mostly had so little, imagine what he would say to day.
Jesus said that our treasure focus our hearts and that our heart are like the eyes that direct our path. If we are focused on the wrong things, our lives go dark. We become travelers who are careening down the road in the dead of night without headlights to illumine the way.
And some of you right now are experiencing this. You stay up late at night feeling ashamed of the amount of debt you carry. While you hope that no one notices, your self worth is wrapped up in the size of your paycheck, the new car with the expensive lease, the neighborhood that you now live in.
There are moments along the way when you are deeply aware and deeply humbled by how much you have, how truly blessed you are, but if the truth be told there are so many moments where you feel restricted, addicted, imprisoned and torn between two masters: God and mammon.
Do you want a solution? I know that this is going to seem trite, but it’s wisdom from the ages. Learn to “treasure well” through the spiritual discipline of tithing. Tithing means to give the first ten percent of your household income directly back to the Lord as a sign that his kingdom is the first priority in our lives. Tithing is giving the “first fruits” back to God.
In our church, we don’t teach tithing as a law or as a command, but as a spiritual discipline that will transform us and provide for all that we need together to fulfill our calling as a Kingdom community. We challenge people to start slowly and let their treasuring rearrange their hearts, trusting the wisdom of God’s teaching and the truth of Jesus instruction.
Where your treasure is there your heart will be, Jesus said. Worrying well starts with treasuring well. And maybe, just maybe, treasuring well can be learned through tithing.
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