Catches Our Hearts
“Do not lay up for yourselves treasures on earth, where moth and rust destroy and where thieves break in and steal, but lay up for yourselves treasures in heaven, where neither moth nor rust destroys and where thieves do not break in and steal. For where your treasure is, there your heart will be also.
The eye is the lamp of the body. So, if your eye is healthy, your whole body will be full of light, but if your eye is bad, your whole body will be full of darkness. If then the light in you is darkness, how great is the darkness!
No one can serve two masters, for either he will hate the one and love the other, or he will be devoted to the one and despise the other. You cannot serve God and money.” Matthew 6:19-24
Insight
Today’s passage resides at the top (or close to it) of the list of Scripture that people do not enjoy hearing. Even though it’s most often associated with money, a subject that everyone relates to in one way or another, I believe Jesus is casting a wider net. There are so many realities competing to be our master.
As a people pleaser, there was a season where the approval of others sat on the throne of my heart. I spent time, energy, effort, and restless nights trying to get everyone to like me. The way people viewed me and approved of me mattered more than anything else. It left me exhausted and if I don’t play close attention, the approval of others will try to reclaim its seat at the head of the table.
What about you? Think about all that competes to be your master: approval, money, acceptance, success, popularity, and so much more. Alongside our natural pull towards those masters, the world also attempts to pull at our heartstrings. The world’s agenda pulls you towards bigger, more costly, and less fulfilling masters. So, the question to wrestle with is not simply, “Who is your master?” A better question is: “What are you going to allow to master you?”
Jesus warns that whatever catches our hearts is what will master us. And let’s be honest, do you want to get to the end of your days here on earth and someone associate your name with being mastered by money? Or clothes? Or acceptance? Or popularity? Or, would you want to receive the same description as King David who was described as a man after God’s heart (Acts 13:22). What spurred David to allow God to be his master was experiencing God’s love.
If we think about the masters of this world, none of them show love and give us value. Fame did not die on a cross for you. Money did not take away the debt of your sin. Popularity did not rise from the dead and give you a helper. But God sent His son down to this earth to die and come back to life so that there would be a restored relationship where you call Him not only master, but Father as well.
As naive as it sounds, out of all the masters we can have, I want to make the guy, who predicted His own death and resurrection and pulled it off, my master. I can follow that Master anywhere and know He has my best interest in mind.
So, what about you? Something is going to try to sit on the throne of your heart. What or who is it going to be? God has demonstrated why He should be the one and He did it out of love.
Reflection
What is sitting, or trying to sit, on the throne of your heart?
How could allowing Jesus take the throne change the way you approach life?
Prayer
Father, thank you for being a true Master of my life. The masters of this world leave me longing and searching for more satisfaction that can never be provided; they are truly empty masters. But You came along and changed everything. You reminded me of my value and worth, and when You sit on the throne of my heart, I am content and satisfied. Help me to keep You on the throne when other things try to pull you away. I thank You for loving me so much Father, and pray in Your might name, Amen.
Port City writer Davy Nance wrote today’s devotional.