Budget and Priorities: Your Treasure and Your Heart

[intro]”You can tell a person’s priorities by looking at their budget.”[/intro]

I can’t remember when I first heard that sentiment—I believe I’m paraphrasing it from Dave Ramsey and Financial Peace University—but regardless of the source, it’s true. My own budget, for example, has a rather large portion set aside for eating out, reflecting my enjoyment of trips for Indian or froyo with friends. A young family may put that same amount of money into their kids’ college funds. A fashion-conscious person may put it toward clothing or accessories. A newly-engaged couple may be saving for their wedding. Regardless, each of these perfectly reasonable financial decisions reflects the person’s or family’s priorities, and by extension, their heart.

In fact, Jesus even talks about this principle in Matthew 6:21: “For where your treasure is, there your heart will be also.”

Now, if you’ve been around the church for a while, you’ve probably heard this verse a lot. But have you ever thought of this verse as a promise? Look at it again: “For where your treasure is, there your heart will be also.”

God and Your Priorities

This verse falls pretty much dead-center to the Bible passage known as the Sermon on the Mount (it’s Matthew 5-7—go read it). The entire sermon draws a lengthy contrast between “spirituality” and humble obedience, between showy religion and righteous living. Matthew 6 starts out talking about showy living. Often Jews (especially the Pharisees) would very publicly give their money to the poor or would make a show of fasting, not for the sake of helping the poor or drawing closer to God but to show off just how spiritual they were. By the end of the chapter, Jesus has transitioned to telling people not to be anxious about food or clothing, especially as it relates to money. (You can hear more about this in Noel’s message from the “Jesus Said WHAT?” series, “Do Not Be Anxious About Tomorrow.”)

Sandwiched in the middle of all of this is the following passage:

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. (Matthew 6:19-21)

Now, Jesus isn’t saying owning things is bad, just like he’s not saying that giving to the poor is bad or fasting is bad. He is saying that possessions are temporary, and that rather than letting your stuff define you, you should focus on what’s eternal.

In reality, that’s the solution to every problem Jesus lists in this chapter. Are you giving to the poor in order to boast about it? The praise won’t last. Do you make sure everyone knows when you’re fasting? You may impress others, but not God. Are you tossing and turning, worrying about how much you’re going to get for your Christmas bonus this year, and whether you’ll be able to afford that new phone you’ve been wanting? It’s probably a sign that your priorities are not fixed on Jesus.

This is where that promise comes in again. “Where your treasure is, there your heart will be also.”

Notice that it’s in future tense. Jesus is saying, wherever you put your treasure, your heart is going to follow.

I want to be absolutely clear here. This is not a magic formula for sudden spiritual (or material) success. Nor am I saying that we should only spend our money on the bare necessities. It is, however, a ridiculously practical tip: because your heart is going to follow your money, whether good or bad, then you should put your money where you want your heart to be.

Playing the Principle Out

Think about your own investments. Chances are good that you’ve already experienced this in your own life. Are there brands you buy frequently? Stores you often shop at? Sports teams you love? Have you noticed your love growing for that brand or sport the more time and money you spend on it? Personally, I love the Mass Effect series of video games; I’ve invested in shirts and downloadable content, and with every purchase, my loyalty increases a little bit.

Now, none of these things is inherently bad, and God certainly allows us to enjoy our money. At the same time, though, none of these things by default has eternal value. My newest t-shirt can certainly be ruined by moths, or stained beyond wearability. Your fancy new car can and probably will be eventually be destroyed by rust or smashed up in an accident or stolen.

Again, there’s nothing wrong with me spending the occasional $15 on a shirt, or you spending $50,000 on an awesome car. However, these things should be secondary to Jesus. And if I want Jesus to be first in my own life, then I need to put my treasures in Jesus.

Personally, this means giving financially to Riv. It also means that I’m sitting in a coffee shop to write this post instead of sitting at home playing video games. It’s me saying that, even though my chair in front of my TV is much more comfortable than this booth, I don’t want my heart to exist solely in video games. I do want my heart to be held by Jesus, and as such I donate my time to Riv as a very small sacrifice, a reflection of the One who sacrificed much, much more for me.

One Small Step for God…

I’m speaking of myself here not to boast. In reality, two hours of writing in a coffee shop is virtually nothing. But I think we can often be intimidated by the thought of investing in Jesus by the big heros—the people at Riv who support or have adopted children from Mazatlan, for example. Or there’s the couple who downsized their house to realign their own priorities (a video of their story is below). But if you do want to get a little closer to Jesus, start by taking a small step in faith and put your treasure in something with more lasting value.

If you have no disposable income, start by volunteering a couple of hours a week at a local soup kitchen or on the Welcome Team at Riv. You can also look for opportunities to give with the Compassion Team (we run an annual turkey drive and toy drive, for example).

During our Questionable series, we also asked everyone who considers themselves a member of Riv to make a commitment to giving financially over the next two years (you can learn a lot more about our plan for this money at livequestionably.com). The series is over, but God still loves a cheerful giver! Take an hour or two to sit down with your budget (and your spouse/significant other, if you have one) and spend some time praying over your money. Give thanks to God for the financial gifts he’s given to you, and ask him to put your treasure not in your possessions, but in Him instead. Then see what you can give up cheerfully (2 Corinthians 9:7) to help build up Jesus’ kingdom through Riv. Maybe that will be $5 a week. Maybe it will be $500. Then, every time you drop your offering in the red buckets or pay out in the kiosks or balance your budget after an automated payment, pray over that money, and remember—you’re putting your treasure with Jesus, and your heart will follow.

Photo credit: Sterling Eli