Jesus said, “Lay not up for yourselves treasures upon earth, where moth and rust doth corrupt, and where thieves break through and steal: but lay up for yourselves treasures in heaven, where neither moth nor rust doth corrupt, and where thieves do not break through nor steal: for where your treasure is, there will your heart be also” (Matthew 6:19-21).
Consider Jesus’ teachings on earthly wealth, and consider also our human tendencies regarding its accumulation. Almost universally, humans are inclined to accumulate and hoard material possessions, and to place our confidence in those possessions. Jesus said, “Don’t do it. Don’t expect to keep them. And don’t set your heart upon them” (personal paraphrase).
Human affections are naturally ordered and prioritized in our minds. Ideas, objects and people become arranged in our thinking as important, or more important or less important than others. This continual sorting taking place within us is characteristic of human experience. When we become attached to something, other things become more or less important than that attachment.
Jesus spoke of His truth and its impact upon the human heart in just this way. He once taught a parable about the Sower, the seed, and the heart conditions the seed encountered. Among those conditions was the heart overgrown by thorns. He said, in explanation of seed sown among thorns, “Now these are the ones sown among thorns; they are the [folks] who hear the word [His teachings], and the cares of this world, the deceitfulness of riches, and the desires for other things entering in choke the word, and it becomes unfruitful” (Mark 4:18-19). This teaching focuses on the arrangement of loves within the human heart and emphasizes that riches—whether they be called wealth, treasures, possessions, investments, or something else—endanger our ability to receive and apply the eternal truths Jesus taught.
On more than one occasion, Jesus said, “No servant can serve two masters; for either he will hate the one and love the other, or else he will be devoted to one and despise the other. You cannot serve God and wealth” (Luke 16:13).
Notice how Jesus taught that our love follows our treasure. He did not say, “Where your heart is, there will your treasure be also.” Instead, He said, “Where your treasure is, there will your heart be also” (Matthew 6:21). He is teaching us that whatever we “treasure, or value” our heart will naturally be set upon that. This is irrefutable truth, and we do well to take heed to this danger!
