Are you storing up treasures on earth, or in heaven? Are you focused on the temporal or the eternal?

In Matthew 6, Jesus clarifies that our hearts will always follow after what we treasure. Was he talking about money? Chad Clark shares his insights with us today.

Chad Clark is the Executive Director of FaithFi: Faith & Finance.

What does Jesus mean when he says, “For where your treasure is, your heart will be also”?

It challenges us to evaluate what we treasure most. It's common for us to say that where our money is, there our hearts will be, and we can sometimes use this to encourage generosity. People can look at their checkbooks to see where their hearts are based. However, there's another way to look at the word “treasure,” which doesn't refer to physical treasure but more to what we value or devote ourselves to.

There are parallels between Matthew 6:21 and Matthew 13:44, where Jesus tells us the kingdom of heaven is like treasure hidden in a field that a man found and covered up. Then, in his joy, he sells all he has and buys that field. Now, we see the word treasure here in both of these. But for this man in Matthew 13, nothing is more important, valuable, or glorious than this treasure he has discovered.

How is this idea foundational to the way we manage God’s money?

Jesus follows up this statement in Matthew 6:24, where he says:

“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.”

Money is a terrible master, but it is a useful tool. Paul David Tripp puts it this way:

“Money is one of God's good creations. But a good thing becomes a bad thing when it becomes a ruling thing.”

So, the question we need to wrestle with today is, where is our treasure? Is our hope, joy, safety, satisfaction, and identity found in money, and are the things of this world in the person of Jesus?

When God is the treasure of our hearts, it completely changes how we view and use money. We see money as a tool for His glory and desire to faithfully steward what He has entrusted to us. That means that our financial decisions may look and probably should look very different from the rest of the world because we aren't here to build our kingdom, but His.

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On Today’s Program, Rob Answers Listener Questions:

Does a VA loan have a different appraisal amount than a conventional mortgage?
I'm 58 years old and looking to retire between 62 and 65 if I can make it. I do have some savings and some investments. I have an inherited Raymond James brokerage account and about half a million in there. Then, I got a Charles Schwab Roth IRA, primarily invested in NVIDIA for about $100,000. I also have a condo that's paid for that is worth about $260,000. I’m just wondering if it'd be a good idea to cash out what I have in the Raymond James account, just to sit on it for a while and see what the markets do. It feels like the stock markets are just really high right now, and I would hate to go back down at that end to that decrease and lose all those gains that I had made the last couple of years.
My wife and I are currently separated. There's a divorce settlement agreement out there, and as I looked through the contract, I noticed that I could keep the house. But I will need to provide $35,000 to her, which I don't have on hand. So to do that and take my wife's name off the mortgage, I will have to refinance. The bad part about that is that I have a really good low rate right now, and the rates for refinancing are not very good currently. I was just wondering if there are any other strategies out there that I could consider, whether dipping into my 401k or anything else, because I want to stay in the house.
I have a problem with a law firm that I reached out to to renegotiate some credit card debt and get the interest rates down. Unfortunately, they haven't done anything, and they’ve been taking $1,500 a month from me. Now I have two lawsuits outstanding. What should I do?

Resources Mentioned:

Remember, you can call in to ask your questions every workday at (800) 525-7000. Faith & Finance is also available on Moody Radio Network and American Family Radio. You can also visit FaithFi.com to connect with our online community and partner with us as we help more people live as faithful stewards of God’s resources.

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