Where’s Our Treasure Found?

Where’s Our Treasure Found?

By Rob Wiltshire

Have you ever noticed how much of a reality check going through your bank statements can be?

Prior to going through them, you’re sure you’re not wasting money on meaningless items.  In fact, we proudly point out how little money we spend.

And then we go through our statements…

“That’s right;” “I bought an album on iTunes last week… great album.”

“Oh yeah;” “two days ago I forgot to take lunch to work so I ducked out and bought some.” “No biggie.”

“I can’t remember signing up to that…” “Oh yes, now I do.”  “It’s a really good cause, I’m happy I did.”

“Netflix and Stan subscriptions;” “Well everyone needs wind down time.”

“What’s that $3.65 charge every morning?”  “That’d be my morning coffee.”  “I need to have some way to wake up.”

That list could go on.

Looking over our bank statements, reveals in no uncertain terms not only what we do with our money, but what it is that’s important to us.

Nothing says “that’s important to me,” like our spending does.

It’s a reality we can’t deny.  If it’s important to us, we’ll put money towards it — like your morning coffee or your nightly Netflix.

Jesus puts it this way in Matthew 6:21,

YOUR HEART WILL ALWAYS BE WHERE YOUR TREASURE IS.

What he is simply saying is… “wherever your passion/belief/focus lies, you’ll find reflected in your bank statements also.”

To take this a step further; nothing reveals what/who we worship like our bank statements do.

Ouch, that hurts!

Recently I did just this.  I looked over my spending and came to the realisation that the god my bank statements was suggesting I was worshiping wasn’t the God of the bible, but rather the god of my savings account. 

And if I’m transparent, it was challenging to change that.

A harsh reality is this; Money is the number one competitor between your heart and God.

Money enables us to enjoy life.  It enables us to put aside something for a rainy day.  Money promises to not just in-hance life, it promises (or at least we think it does) to give us life.  Give us life now, and life later.

That’s why money is the number one competitor between your heart and God.

So, what are you saying?

Do I have to give/tithe to be a Christian?  Nope.

Can I believe in God and not give/tithe?  You sure can.

Can I pray without having to give/tithe? Absolutely.

Can I attend church and not give/tithe?  Yep.

Can I volunteer at church without the need to give/tithe?  You sure can.

What we aren’t saying is that giving/tithing makes you a better Christian, or that you are more favoured by God because of it.

But when it comes to giving, what we are saying is that giving reveals what/who it is that you worship.

Think of it this way.

You can’t worship God without giving/tithing.  You’ll give your time, your money, your everything to what you worship.  Why?  Because we worship what’s most important to us.

You can’t claim that your faith and trust is in God without giving.  Well you can, but you’d be lying.  Just let that sink in for a moment.

You can’t claim to be led by God without giving.  Reality is that when you look throughout scripture we see God leading people to give towards His mission.  And that’s exactly what the church is; His mission, His plan.  It’s not perfect, but regardless the church was Gods idea, not our idea.   

And lastly

You can’t claim that Gods important to you or that your passionate about Him without giving.

Why?

Because your heart will always be where your treasure is. 

This isn’t supposed to be a blog that condemns people or suggests they aren’t Christians (if it has done that, my apologies, it was not my intention).  But what we do want blogs like this to do is challenge us to pursue Christ in every area of our lives, including our finances.

If you heart will always be where your treasure is, where is your treasure (aka your bank account) suggesting your heart can be found?