A Drifter Among Us

So starting Jan. 1st I have been reading through the bible with people from church. The goal is to the read the bible in a year. Ambitious, yes. Realistic....we'll see.
Anyways, tonight I was doing my reading for the day (Genesis 6 , Psalm 6 , Matthew 6 ) and I came across something that really spoke to me and something that made my mind wander.

Three verses in Matthew jumped off the page at me. It's something that I have felt God tugging at a lot more recently. It was in Matthew 6:19-24

“Do not lay up for yourselves treasures on earth, where moth and rust destroy and where thieves break in and steal, 20 but lay up for yourselves treasures in heaven, where neither moth nor rust destroys and where thieves do not break in and steal. 21 For where your treasure is, there your heart will be also.

22 “The eye is the lamp of the body. So, if your eye is healthy, your whole body will be full of light, 23 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!

24 “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.

For where your treasure is, there your heart will be also.



Now when I would read that verse when I was younger I always associated treasure with physical objects I value. Now while it appears that Jesus is referring to a tangible treasures, I think he had in mind more than just that. Jesus is going after something that penetrates all of us; it's the treasure we allow to occupy our time, our actions, our admiration, our hearts.

When I get honest, I admit that I have a chest full of things I treasure, value, and take comfort in. I like to drink, and at times it can go too far. I value the luxuries that my job has afforded me. I would be content filling my days with my favorite television shows, movies, music, and sitting behind my computer. I take comfort in way too many other things to list out.

So what does it look like to chase after godly things? It's turns out that today's reading kind of answers this question. Looking at the verses in Genesis, we see it. Consider Noah. We are told that Noah "walked with God." Would he have been balanced if, after learning of God’s purpose to destroy the world by a flood, he had spent his time building a bigger and better home and obtaining more material possessions? What good would it have done him if he had gone on with his normal life and avoided the ridicule of the people around him? For Noah, living a balanced, simple life involved devoting full attention to God's instructions and viewing matters with a heart grateful for being chosen by God to be spared.

I'll end this with some quotations from a John Piper sermon.

"Lay up for yourselves treasures in heaven" is a specific instance of what seeking God’s kingdom involves. Seeking the kingdom of God and his righteousness involves not trying to be rich on earth but trying to be rich in heaven, that is, rich in God. Seeking the kingdom means treasuring God and freeing yourself from the drag of earth......But let’s be more specific. If Jesus means "devote your life to accumulating treasure in heaven" – which I take to mean increasing your joy in God in heaven – what is the main thing he has in mind that we should do now? My judgment from the context would be that it is giving rather than accumulating. If laying up treasures in heaven is the opposite of laying up treasures on earth, then probably laying up treasures in heaven will be NOT laying up treasures on earth but giving them away in ways that magnify the worth of Jesus.