Day 6
With All your Heart
“Do not lay up for yourselves treasures on earth…But lay up for yourselves treasures in heaven…For where your treasure is, there will your heart be also.”
-Matthew 6:19-21

We tend to grow uncomfortable when the church talks about money. Why? Are decisions about how we live and how we use those resources unimportant? Is our faith supposed to be separate from our finances? Are not believing and praying and loving more important? Look at a revealing count of New Testament words: Believe, Believing—275 times; Pray, Praying—371 times; Love, Loves, Loving—714 times; Giving, Give—2,162 times. Jesus knew that our treasures and our hearts are inseparably linked. For Him, talking about treasure was to reach more completely for people’s hearts. Remember the story of Zaccheus in Luke 19? We have no idea what happened between Jesus and Zaccheus other than they had dinner together. But we do know that Jesus reached and dramatically changed that person’s heart. How do we know? Follow the money trail! Look at what happened with Zaccheus’ treasure. Seeing where the treasure went, Jesus exclaims, “Today salvation has come to this house!”

Maybe we are uncomfortable with talk about money because that conversation is getting awfully close to our faith—or the lack thereof.

PRAYER
Lord, teach me to love You with all my heart—and with all my life. Let salvation come to this house!