Jesus presented a
compelling connection:
“Where your treasure is, there will your heart be also” (Matthew 6:21)
When
I’ve heard this passage taught, preached, and commented on, usually—almost
always—people declare, “Jesus is telling us that our internal world is the most
important thing. When we have a heart for what matters, then we will give our
money. Let’s be sure we change from the inside.”
This
thought may be comforting, or even challenging, in many ways. But it’s not
what Jesus said. Notice the order: It’s not “where your heart is, there
will your treasure be also.” Instead: where our treasure is (first), there our
heart will be also (second). Our heart follows our dollars. Not the other way
around.
Our call in life is to say yes to what’s truly important. And what's one way to
do that? The answer sounds slightly odd at first: By investing our money in
it. (And I would be willing to add our time and our talents, but I’ll keep
it focused for now.)
It’s actually commonsense. If I bought a sweet mountain bike (which I did), I’m
going to take care of my Trek—I’ll make sure it’s clean, that the derailleur
is adjusted precisely, the tires are pumped to the perfect psi, and that it’s
appropriately locked at night and insured. That’s at least what I’m doing.
Especially the latter… Because a bike of mine was stolen out of my garage a few years ago
while I peacefully slept. And so again, I digress….
Whatever we invest our money in will be the place where our heart goes. Dollars
lead the heart. And “heart” is the center of our lives—not just our emotions,
but more so the will, the attitude, the way our lives are directed.
In order to deepen our yeses, we have to invest money in what’s important. As
I’ve written before, we find our yeses where our passions meet God’s mission.
That means that we put dollars into God’s mission, which Jesus defined as the
poor, the marginal, the ones that society leaves aside because they are
interesting and alluring. That requires giving to our local homeless mission,
to overseas water projects, and to agencies that fight AIDS and waterborne
diseases worldwide.
As we’ve learned to define our yeses, we know even more where that money should
go. If we’ve completed and know the three words that define our personal branding—or
at least that’s one way to do it—we learn to invest in these things. Want to be
a great percussionist? Buy a good drum set. Invest in lessons. Download music
that you’ll practice with. It’s not a guarantee that you’ll get better. But
when you pay those bills, when you see that drum kit, you’ll be reminded. When
you start playing that beautiful new Yamaha recording custom set, you’ll sound
better. (And you’ll look cooler.) And that will make you want to play more.
And one hopes—at least I do for my life—that these yeses (even ones as
innocuous as enjoying drums) may serve God’s mission (perhaps by leading
worship, maybe by creating beautiful music or playing in the studio with a
friend). Or because I enjoy it, these may simply make me more of who God calls
me to be. As the great, ancient Christian writer, Irenaeus, phrased it so well,
“The glory of God is a human being fully alive.” Irenaeus
When we invest our treasure so
that our hearts follow—if we’ve done this in the right way—we become fully
alive. And in that yes, God is glorified.
