“Who or what owns your heart?” Is it the world?  Do the material things on earth own your heart, or does God own your heart?  Those are the kinds of questions that Jesus wants us to ask ourselves from time to time.  Who or what owns our hearts can be determined by what we truly treasure in life.  This being the case, Jesus now gives us some instructions along these lines.

Matthew 6:19 (ESV)
¹⁹ “Do not lay up for yourselves treasures on earth, where moth and rust destroy and where thieves break in and steal,

This is not a prohibition against saving money.  Preparing financially for the future is a smart thing to do and even encouraged by the scriptures (Proverbs 6:6-8; 2 Corinthians 12:14).  So, if Jesus is not talking about simply saving money, then what does He mean?  One of the key words in His statement is “yourselves.”  That points to a selfish accumulation of physical things.  It is one thing to be a good steward with your money, saving it so that you can provide for your family and use it to help others around you.  It is something else altogether, however, to compile as many earthly riches as you can amass just to be able to say with pride, “Look at what I have.”

Those who spend a lifetime striving to build a kingdom of material things on earth, rarely have time to think about God.  Laying up treasures on earth will make you slowly forget about God, and before you know it, God will be excluded from a major portion of your life.  Next, those earthly riches will become your God.   What is the alternative?  Jesus tells us.

Matthew 6:20 (ESV)
²⁰ but lay up for yourselves treasures in heaven, where neither moth nor rust destroys and where thieves do not break in and steal.

Why should we lay up treasure in heaven?  There is a primary reason and a practical reason.  The practical reason is that treasures in heaven are safe with God.  According to Jesus, heaven is a place where corruption and thieves cannot break through and steal.  Paul once said, “I know whom I have believed, and am persuaded that he is able to keep that which I have committed unto him against that day.”  But. the primary reason for laying up treasures in heaven is because of the impact it has on our hearts.

Matthew 6:21 (ESV)
²¹ For where your treasure is, there your heart will be also.

The Greek word for treasure here means, “the place in which good and precious things are collected and laid up, or a storehouse in which valuables are kept” (Thayer).   Now, Jesus is telling us wherever our most cherished possessions are located, that is where our heart is going to be.

If your most cherished possessions are physical, your heart is going to be on earthly things.  It does not matter how often you attend a worship service, sit on a comfortable pew, and worship God. As soon as you leave the building, your mind will be right back on material things because that is what you treasure the most in life.  You will find yourself being materialistic and earthly-minded and committed to the things of this world.

To avoid this, we must do what Paul exhorted to be done in Colossians, that is, “Set your affection on things above, not on things on the earth.”  If we do this, our hearts will be just fine, and so will our relationship with our heavenly Father.