Focal Passage: Matthew 6:19-34
If last week’s lesson focused on possessing, this week’s
lesson is more about position.
In Matthew 6:19, Jesus warns His listeners to not “collect
for yourselves treasures on earth.”
Without delving too far into a language lesson here, Jesus
told them to “not treasure your treasures;” the word used for “collect” is from
the same root as the word for “treasure.”
So here’s the burning question: Is it wrong to “have”
things?
I remember the first car that I really truly liked and that
was really truly mine (my “first” car was a 1963 Chevy Impala painted with brown
house paint and applied with a paint brush). It was a 1974 Oldsmobile Cutlass
Supreme with a 350, four-barrel carburetor.
The car was copper gold with a Landau roof, and it was fast.
I kept it spotless, so much so I wore the paint off the hood. The only reason
it didn’t rust was due to the “umpteen hundred” coats of wax I kept on it.
The problem was, the longer I had the car, the more it had
me.
I got this right before I got married, and after we were
married I spent almost as much time with it as I did Frances
(and yes, I paid dearly for my foolishness).
I worried where it was parked, how much dirt was on it and
how it ran. When I sold it after three years, I almost cried.
Basically, I was “treasuring my alleged treasure.”
So what was my problem?
Did I fall into some kind of Jedi mind trick played on me by
the twin tail pipes of my car?
My problem was one of worship. I always walked around the
car before getting in and starting it, and I did the same thing after stopping.
I would walk six blocks in the Savannah,
Ga., summer rather than risk a door ding. I
was worshiping my car.
The car itself wasn’t the problem. Having the car wasn’t the
problem.
The problem was I allowed the car to have me. I worshiped
the car, and it consumed almost every “loose” thought in my head.
I was living proof of the truth Jesus was teaching regarding
human nature: wherever we have put our treasure that is where our thoughts,
energy and worship will be.
In Matthew 5:6, Jesus gives blessing for those who “hunger
and thirst” after righteousness. The blessing is that they will “be filled,” or
satisfied.
Anything we worship — or “treasure” — other than Jesus
Christ and His kingdom will be very unfulfilling.