Treasure part 1
I talk about the three T's a lot. Time. Talent. Treasure. So I thought I could take the next couple of weeks to really dig in to each one of them. And then I figured I'd do it Tarantino style and do it backwards. Start with treasure. And right off the bat I want to say, treasure does not only mean money. That's included in it, yes. But it's more than that. When we see a verse like Matthew 6:24, "No man can serve two masters: for either he will hate the one and love the other; or else he will hold to the one, and despise the other. Ye cannot serve God and mammon," we automatically think about money. Right? And the word "mammon" there is number 3126 in Strong's Greek Concordance and it means, "Confidence, that is, figuratively, wealth, personified; avarice." And avarice, according to dictionary.com is "insatiable greed for riches; inordinate, miserly desire to gain and hoard wealth." I'm not trying to belabor this. But I think it's important. I Rant all the time about how having things is not a problem. But things having you IS a problem. It's the greed that gets us. It's the chasing. It's serving that greed. Spending our other T's (time and talent) in order to GET the treasure is a problem. Because our three T's are SUPPOSED to serve the OTHER master. God. Love. Kids (and I think people in general, really) spell love T-I-M-E. Time is the one thing you can never get back. Spending it on accumulating wealth is, quite frankly, a waste of it. And, as always, I'm not saying you shouldn't take care of business. You have to take care of business. Paul wrote, "For even when we were with you, this we commanded you, that if any would not work, neither should he eat" (2 Thessalonians 3:10). As my pastor was fond of saying, "Call up the power company and tell them how much you love Jesus... but if you don't pay the bill they WILL shut your lights off." So I'm not talking about not working. I'm talking about having a balance. Having your priorities in line and in order. Not always chasing the carrot but only getting the stick. There's more to life than just working and paying taxes. You HAVE to work. And you HAVE to pay taxes. But that's not the sum total of the whole deal. That's not even most of it. That's just taking care of business. Making sure you are doing your part. But really, your treasure is so much more than just money. So much more than mammon. Look at Matthew 6:21, which is really my key memory verse for this Rant series: "For where your treasure is, there will your heart be also." There's a connection between treasure and heart. So to me, what treasure is--more than simply money--your treasure is what's important to you. Like the pirates of old who would bury their chests of gold, and diamonds, and jewels... we need to protect what is important to us. What is valuable to us. In other words... the PEOPLE in our lives. I always say God and people are what's important. Loving God and loving people. Loving God BY loving people. In other words, where our treasure is... that's where our heart is. Put your heart into people. That's what's worth it. That's what makes life worth living. People. Connections. Relationship. Love!