DAY 53, MONEY AND TREASURES EXPOSE THE HEART

The devotional discusses the importance of how we handle money and possessions as disciples of Jesus. It emphasizes the need to invest in eternity rather than focusing solely on earthly wealth. The disciple's heart focus is revealed through their stewardship of resources and their worship. It warns against idolizing money and encourages dependence on God for provision. The disciple should trust in God's care and not be consumed by worries and anxieties. The instruction is to invest wisely, worship God, and keep focus on Him in all aspects of life. Welcome to Hope for Today devotional. Our scripture text is drawn from Matthew chapter 6 from verse 19 to 21. There we read these words, Don't store up treasure here on earth, where moths eat them and rust destroys them, and where thieves break in and steal. Store your treasures in heaven where moths and rust cannot destroy, and thieves do not break in and steal. Wherever your treasure is, there the desires of your heart will be also. Our topic of meditation is money and possession expose the disciples heart focus. Today we enter a new month, the first day, and the Lord invites us to ensure we guard our hearts and minds in all we do and how we handle things he directs into our lives. Did you ever hear the statement, if you want to know how spiritual a Christian is, wait until he is entrusted with a reasonable sum of money that does not belong to him or her. It is Paul who wrote in 1 Corinthians 4 verse 2, now a person who is put in charge as a manager must be found faithful. The disciple of Jesus must work and live according to the economy and principles of God's kingdom. He is therefore called to be a good steward of not only his personal life but his time, talents, relationships, opportunities, possession, and money. The way the disciple relates with and handles especially his possessions and money portrays vividly his heart focus towards these things. Here are three areas that test the focus and condition of the disciple's heart. One, where the disciple invests. In verse 19 to 21 of our text of Matthew chapter 6, we might begin with a question, where are your resources going? Are you investing for the moment or doing so with eternity in perspective? We live in days when life is evaluated in terms of material possession, bank accounts, and whatever other riches, while the world evaluates wealth in terms of bars of gold. People in my country, some are known to evaluate life in terms of the number of trucks, heavy duty trucks they have on the way, the number of story buildings or skyscrapers they build, and also the number of millions in the account. As disciples of Jesus, we must be careful how we handle the resources and the finance God entrusts to us. We cannot afford to behave like the people who do not have a relationship with God and do not feel obligated to think kingdom wise. The Lord Jesus teaching on life and the reaction of the disciple with respect to material possession declared in Matthew chapter 16 verse 26. And what do you benefit if you gain the whole world but lose your own soul? Is anything worth more than your soul? Yes, people can have life insurance, but if really somebody kills you and you were insured, does that bring your life back? Talk less of gaining you a place in God's presence. Disciples as stewards of their master must understand that they are merely channels of whatever God entrusts to their care. We also must understand that what is entrusted to the steward is not technically his or her own, and the management of these things must be according to the instructions and for the profit of the owner or the master. To have material possession and financial assets is to use them for the benefit of the kingdom of God and for the extension of his domain. To do otherwise is to portray where our hearts are focused as his people. Imagine a disciple who is blessed with landed property in a community where the local church is seeking, combing everywhere for a piece of land to raise a sanctuary to the honor of the Most High God. And such a one with multiple plots is not entrusted to facilitate such a process. Imagine the church struggling to reach remote villages with limited resources, yet some disciples in the faith community may have enough to own multiple cars and continue multiplying their real estate without a burden for what kingdom project is going on. This type of attitude demonstrates clearly where their hearts are focused. Jesus was clear to say such attitude is on wise investment. Investing in heaven is participation is participating to save the lost. I dare ask again, where are you investing your life, time, talents, possession and money? Do those things in any way contribute to extend the kingdom? Answering the prayer, your kingdom come and your will be done on earth. The second thing we want to consider in this meditation is what the disciple worships matters. What you worship determines whether your focus is in God or gold. On the point of the disciples of the disciples worship, Jesus is conscious of the fact that while God alone deserves our worship, the enemy vies for our worship also. To therefore worship any other thing than God is to be guilty of idolatry. The scripture defines idolatry as giving our worship to anything else, whether physical or spirit, man or an object, having that thing taking the first place in our lives. Today some spiritual and political leaders are revered because of their power and their possession. And so they have become idols in the lives of many who live at their mercy. In our context, Jesus points out the fact that we cannot serve two masters. We shall either love one and hate the other, but not two. And he bluntly warned that we cannot serve God and Mammon, the idol of money. The Bible does not teach that to be rich, the rich cannot be disciples of Jesus or that money is evil. Rather, according to Paul, Paul taught and warned about against the love of money as being the root of all evil. Money is supposed to be a slave and a servant to man. Unfortunately, many a man have become slaves to money, serving it like real slaves. A true disciple of Jesus worships God, not gold. He serves God, not money. May God deliver us from the slavery of money in Jesus name. Amen. Lastly, we address the issue of what preoccupies your heart as a disciple. This we see in verse 26, 25 and 26. Every true disciple of Jesus must understand that when he or she says, yes, Lord, it implies he or she pledges to follow Jesus unreservedly, depending completely, totally on him on a daily basis for his guidance, his leadership, his protection and counsel and provision. Daily dependence on God therefore implies that we trust him to take care of our everyday need from the physical, material, emotional and spiritual needs. Anything other than such childlike dependence is lack of faith and as a result, worries and anxiety setting and bring damage to our lives. Faith cannot co-abide with worries and doubt. To illustrate his rebuke on worry about what we should eat, drink or wear. He invites disciples to take a look, a practical look at the life lesson from the birds. They do not sow, but their heavenly father feeds them daily. He invites us again to look at the lilies in all their beauties and he adds, even king Solomon in his incredible royal apparels and riches could not be arrayed compared to this exotic mosaic beauty of beautiful colors of the lilies. Jesus was in no way saying that man must be reckless and thoughtless to think about tomorrow's life. He was saying that we should not be that man must be reckless and thoughtless to think about tomorrow planning, but rather that they live by faith, trusting God in all they do. In summary, the disciple must understand that if the tiny sparrow is fed daily and the weak flowers that appear in the morning and by noon they drop dead, yet God gives them such gorgeous colors only for a few hours. How much more of you and I who carry the imago, day, his very image for him to care for us. How could he forget you or leave you helpless? Dear friend, daily human beings are full of fears, doubts and plagued with many worries just because they do not trust or depend on God in all they do in life. May you flee from the temptation of self-dependent trusting in idols, depending on the arm of flesh and rather than follow the instruction of the scriptures as we read in Proverbs 3 verse 5 and 6, trusting the Lord with all your heart. Do not depend on your own understanding. Seek his will in all you do and he will show you which path to take. Finally, Jesus instruction challenges us to depend on God as we work, plan and trust him to direct, inspire and enable us to fulfill our projects and plans rather than trusting in our feeble efforts and limited wisdom than which most often fails. May you, dear friend, today be wise about where you invest your resources, possessions and money. Be careful what you worship. You cannot serve God and man. And lastly, keep focus on God to guide and bless your efforts to yield fruits daily. Let us pray. Father, undertake by the Holy Spirit to amplify and explain this word further. Bless my listener in Jesus name. Amen.