Well, it is time once again for me to take a moment to be a proud mamma. This is the speech that Emma has prepared for Lads to Leaders this year. We have had so much going on here in our little neck of Wild and Wonderful West Virginia. My sweet daughter has worked diligently on study and preparation for this speech and I am filled with joy to share her words with you.
"What do you treasure? What’s at
the top of your priority list?
Two years ago my family moved to West Virginia from
Louisville, KY. It was hard work to pack and unpack all our stuff, but what was
even harder was leaving the people I’ve known for 8 years, and trying to make
new friends. This was especially hard once school started. As I tried to find
good friends, I began to notice that I was focusing on and valuing the wrong
things. I wasn’t only looking for the wrong things in other people, but I was
valuing the wrong qualities in myself. I was worrying about how I could change
myself, so other people would view me as someone who’s important. As I worried
more and more about what other people thought, I was worrying less and less
about what God thought. I was treasuring all the wrong things. Instead of God
being at the top of my priority list, the opinions of others took his place.
In Mathew chapter 6, Jesus is in
the middle of delivering his first sermon: the Sermon on the Mount. Throughout
this section of the sermon, Jesus is saying that no matter what we are doing,
whether it’s praying, worshiping, fasting, serving others, or dealing with the
worries of life, we should do them all with one focus in our heart.
Matthew 6:19-24 says, “Do not lay up
for yourselves treasures on earth, where moth and rust destroy and where
thieves break in and steal, but lay up for yourselves treasures in heaven,
where neither moth nor rust destroys and where thieves do not break in and
steal. For where your treasure is, there your heart will be also. The eye is
the lamp of the body. So, if your eye is healthy, your whole body will be full
of light, 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! 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.”
It’s easy for us to read this
portion of Matthew chapter 6 and focus in on the word money, and while this is
an important part of the passage, it’s not the main lesson Jesus is teaching.
We may have the mindset that if we are generous with our money and not greedy,
we don’t have a problem, this passage is for someone else who struggles with
that and not me. This mindset is dangerously wrong. You may not love money, but
do you love electronics, your car, or making sure everyone likes you no matter
the cost? What Jesus is saying here is not only that you cannot serve God and
money at the same time, but that you cannot serve God and the stuff of the
world at the same time, no matter what that stuff may be. This is a point Jesus
tries to drive into his followers from the very beginning of his ministry to
the very end. And, he never promised it would be easy.
In Luke 14:26-27 Jesus uses some
very intense language to drive this point home for those who would be his
disciples.
“If anyone comes to me and does not
hate his own father and mother and wife and children and brothers and sisters,
yes, and even his own life, he cannot be my disciple. Whoever does not bear his
own cross and come after me cannot be my disciple.”
Wait… I have to hate people to
follow Christ? That can’t be right?
Jesus is not saying it’s ok to
have hatred in our hearts here. He’s using very strong and hard to hear
language to make the point that we must value him and his teachings over any
other person in this world. His apostles knew and believed this and taught it
after Christ had ascended back to heaven.
Paul in Colossians 3 verses 1-3 says, “If
then you have been raised with Christ, seek the things that are above, where
Christ is, seated at the right hand of God. Set your minds on things that are
above, not on things that are on earth. For you have died, and your life is
hidden with Christ in God.”
If we have been raised like
Christ this implies that we have died in some way. We have died to the “things that
are on earth” and are now living for the “things that are above.” Our
minds, our hearts should be filled with all the things that are important to
God in heaven.
As I struggled with finding a place
in a new community I lost sight of all of these things. I lost sight of what
really mattered and of the fact that true treasure doesn’t look like what the
world may think it does. My heart was not valuing heavenly things and my eyes
were losing focus.
Verses 22 and 23 of our
main text in Matthew say, “If your eye is healthy, your whole body will be full of
light, but if your eye is bad, your whole body will be full of darkness.”
It warns that the things you are
focusing on can give you light or can darken your life entirely. I am thankful
that I already had some treasure hidden in my heart. If I had not, this small
struggle in my life may have become much larger. I could have been blinded by
the darkness of the world.
I know this won’t be the only time
in my life I will have to fight to stay focused on what is truly valuable. Jesus
never promised that the treasure he offered would make life on this earth easy.
I will have to make tough decisions and sometimes others won’t like what I
choose. But, this world is temporary and heaven is eternal. I will choose to
focus my heart on the treasure that God has for me and on serving him. I have
died to this world and my “life is hidden with Christ in God.” (Col. 3:3)
I was treasuring all the wrong
things. Instead of God being at the top of my priority list, the opinions of
others took his place. My new treasure is focusing on what God thinks about how
I pray, worship and serve.
What do you treasure? What’s at
the top of your priority list? "
