Written By: Katie Nowak
Matthew 6:21 tells us that “where your treasure is, there your heart will be also.” So, I want to ask you, where is your heart? These past couple of weeks have been such a whirlwind and let me tell you something, in light of it all I have been placing so much of my attention into my finances and things of this world. We are in a time full of unknowns, uncertainty, and chaos. It’s easy to get caught up in watching the news and reading articles about just that; the uncertainty, chaos, and unknowns revolving around COVID-19. But I want to ask you, are those things bigger than your faith? Are they bigger than your trust? Are they bigger than our God?
This week at Encounter, Garrett walked us through Matthew 6:19-24. A passage in scripture with a reminder that is so needed in our lives today. Through these verses we see Matthew pouring so much truth into believers and he does so by discussing how we are to lay up for ourselves “treasures in heaven, where neither moth nor rust destroys and where thieves do not break in and steal” as verse 20 tells us. Prior to this in verse 19 he says, “do not lay up for yourselves treasures on earth, where moth and rust destroy and where thieves break in and steal.” The world is fleeting and even we know that our lives here on earth will come to an end one day. We see here that we are called to seek the Lordship of Christ, who reigns forever, over the world that will one day come to an end.
In this time of COVID-19 running rampant, household necessities becoming scarce, stores shutting down, and streets coming to a near halt, it’s easy to look at the world and feel uneasy. These things that the world is showing us today, in my opinion, cause us to feel a need to stock up on things of the world. And don’t get me wrong, it’s good to be prepared but where we can slip up in this mentality is when we place what’s going on in our world over the Lordship of Christ. Personally, over these last few weeks, I have placed my finances over Christ’s Lordship and the words Garrett spoke to us on Wednesday were ones that I desperately needed to hear. If we continue on reading in Matthew 6, we see in verse 24 that we cannot serve two masters because we will either “hate one and love the other” or we will “be devoted to one and despise the other.” If we are living under both the rule of the world and of the Lord, we will eventually love and be devoted to one while we are hating and despising the other. But, when we choose to solely serve Christ and trust in His sovereignty, his supremacy, we will no longer have to choose who we will serve because our hearts will desire His goodness and the decision will already be made because as verse 21 tells us, that’s where our treasure will be.