Good morning!
Greetings in the name of Father, Son, and Holy Spirit.
“No one can serve two masters. Either you will hate the one and love the other, or you will be devoted to the one and despise the other. You cannot serve both God and money. (Matthew 6:24)
One day as Jesus saw the crowds gathering, He went up on the mountainside and sat down. His disciples gathered around him, and he began to teach them. The first teaching was the beatitudes for the poor in heart, the mourning on earth, the hungry for justice, and those who are persecuted and seeking mercy and peace, because they were blessed by God. He continued teaching about being light, Godly behaviors between people, and prayer. Then he started saying:
“Don’t store up treasures 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 also be. (Matthew 6:19-20)
Anything on earth is not permanent. Although we really treasure things on earth and want to protect them, all of these efforts become futile. Anything on earth, although we want them to be with us forever, they slowly and steadily fade away. If it is an expensive wool coat, it will sooner or later eaten away by moth by leaving holes. Then although we paid lots of money initially, it will be thrown into a trash can. Yes, how exciting when we purchase a brand new and shiny new car. Although it gives a confidence that it will stay with us forever because it is made out of metal and beautiful protective coating and paint over it. We wash and wax it, but as time goes, its color fades, and the excitement dwellings down. The initial excitement also fades away. Suddenly, the shiny and brand new car needs repairs and shows up rusts around rear wheel walls and underbody. Then the rusts only start growing. A small patch of rust soon becomes a sizable rust. We wish the rust does not spread any further without giving a real damage. No. Those rusts start eating up metal, and make the shiny and strong car metal body slowly disappearing creating a hole. Those rusts are like disease, they spread throughout the rest of the car and even destroying the frame of the car, while threatening the integrity of the car, which makes the car unsafe to use any longer. This is the fate of all things on earth.
Additionally, things on earth are always in a danger of being stolen. If we are in heaven, nobody will steal or take away what we have without telling us. We are not in a perfect world. Biblically, we live in a fallen world. Some people covert our possessions, and they steal or take away forcefully. Yes, it is immoral, but it happens in our world, which is a reality. This is very unfortunate, which creates two victims: one whose possession is stolen or forcefully taken away, and the one who actually steal or take away. Even though the latter might think he or she obtain what is wanted, in fact, he or she sold the heart and mind, which are much more precious than the thing that he or she stole.
Our heart is preoccupied by what we treasure. If we lose what we treasure, whether it is a thing or a person, our heart breaks. We feel as if a part of our heart is taken away. Therefore, the best approach is not to lose. Is it possible on earth? No. As long as we possess anything on earth, they are in danger of losing them. Is there any solution? Yes, the Bible tells if we store our treasures in heaven, the treasure will be with us forever. Why? In heaven, there is no moth, no rust, or no thieves who want to steal. Are we really willing to store our treasures in heaven?
Actually, there is another more even bigger advantage of storing treasures in heaven. It is easy to think that we own and manage our treasures. In reality, it is not. Once we have a treasure in our heart, we slowly become a servant of the treasure. The more we treasure, the more we tend to be a servant of the treasure. That is, rather than enjoying our treasure, soon we becomes slave to what we treasure in our heart. In other words, we live for the treasure while dedicating our heart, mind, time and energy, i.e., our own life. Do we work day and night? Why? Please ask this question now. Yes, the simple and direct answer is: we work day and night to earn money. Then the next question is why we make money? The answer touches the core of the issue – to buy what we treasure: whether to purchase what we treasure or to make happy a person that we treasure in our heart. Yes, n earth, money works and is powerful. It empowers (or at least facilitates) us to do what we really want to do. Perhaps, money on earth is the single most powerful one. If not careful, it easily becomes our master because it provides all that we want on earth although all that on earth are transient and will not with us forever. Therefore, the Bible tells us to serve God, not money.
“No one can serve two masters. For you will hate one and love the other; you will be devoted to one and despise the other. You cannot serve both God and money. (Matthew 6:24)
Another temptation is to make a compromise in our heart by serving both money and God. How nice, if we can both money and God in our heart? It sounds temptingly reasonable and doable. The dilemma is that we are absolutely incapable of serve both money and God equally. Why? When the time comes for us to choose one over the other, when the two masters conflict each other while providing two completely two difference courses of action, which cannot be reconciled. Can we do two completely two different things at a time? Nobody as a human being existing in this world has been able to do. We cannot be two places at a time, or perform two conflicting things together. This reality forces us to choose either money or God.
Nobody likes conflict. We all know that living under a conflict is really stressful. One way to get out of this conflict is to choose one, and continue loving it, while abandoning the other. Then we vent all frustrations and stresses accumulated during the conflict to the choice that we do not make. Thus, if money is chosen as our mater, we put all our blames to God, which is not logical either, and it is a sin too
Therefore, God asks us to choose a right mater before getting into this stressful life. Our God is one and the only true master to us. We also know by our experience that all things on earth will not make us truly satisfied. The more we have, the thirstier we are while making us more craving for it. Serving God is absolutely opposite. The more we serve God, the more we find peace and love in Him while being truly satisfied in heart and mind. Why? The things on earth demand, but God gives.
While we were still sinners who are wrapped around the earth-bound desire and passions of our own flesh, God sent His only begotten son, Jesus Christ, to us, and make Jesus died on cross for our sins. This is the love of God. He first loved us, and still loves us no matter what we did and whom we become. What God wants is to accept Jesus as our savior, and serve Him with our heart.
For God so loved the world that he gave his one and only Son, that whoever believes in him shall not perish but have eternal life. (John 3:16)