Treasure part 3
Where your treasure is, your heart also will be. Because your treasure is what is important to you. And that goes beyond just money. You can't serve God and mammon. Because God is love, and love is giving. Mammon is greed... getting. You can't do both. If your focus is on getting, then obviously you aren't giving. You're taking. Or trying to earn. Trying to get. Which is, in reality, the opposite of faith. Faith believes that you have what you need and you are who God wants you to be. If you have what you need you don't need to try to get anything else. If you are who God wants you to be then you don't need to be somebody else. You can embrace who you really are. You can give what you've got instead of trying to get something you think you haven't got. When I talk about the three T's (Time, Talent, Treasure) I'm not talking about things we need. I'm talking about things we have. Things we ARE. Things that we can use to express the love of God. You don't use your time and talent to get treasure. You use your time, talent, and treasure to show people that you love them. It's not the pursuit of treasure that makes life worthwhile. It's about using your treasure to help people that makes life worthwhile. PEOPLE are our treasure. LOVE is our treasure. It might seem a little bit backwards, but that's the Kingdom. Up is down. Black is white. He who would be first humbles himself and puts himself last. We esteem others higher than ourselves. We put others first. And, as always, it's not about thinking less of yourself. It's just about thinking of yourself less. Not GETTING treasure, but GIVING the treasure you have. The treasure you ARE! You are God's love letter to the world. Everything He wants to say He says to us. And in us, and through us, and as us. We are the visible expression of an invisible God. And the only thing He wants to say is, "I love you." Let there be light. The only expression He has is giving His life for us and to us. Laying His life down for His friends. That's the greatest love a man can have. That's what God--in the person of Jesus--did for us (and as us). That's what we can, and ought to, do for each other. It's a shift from being self-centered (and trying to get treasure) to be Christ-centered (people-centered) and giving away the treasure that we have. A Kingdom mindset says, "I have what I need. And I have what YOU need. So I'm going to give what I've got." Seeing a need and meeting it. Seeing past yourself and seeing other people. Using your treasure on, and with, and for other people. God blesses us to be blessings. To receive and release what we've been given. Faith doesn't say, "God will give me what I need." Faith says, "He has already given me all I need, and I'm going to give you what you need!" Living out of our abundance. Not chasing, but flowing. Not running around like chickens with their heads cut off, but resting. Following your heart doesn't mean trying to get treasure. Where your treasure is... your heart will be. Following yoru heart means USING your treasure to enrich others!