Where Your Treasure Is, There Your Heart Will Be Also
A recent web search for the greatest cost by disease/branch of medicine for US healthcare revealed that heart disease is by far and away the number one expense. According to Web M.D., “more than one in three Americans have heart disease.” The website reports that in America we spend $555 billion a year on cardiac care. The next closest expense is roughly half that, and depending upon some variables, it is either diabetes or COPD/asthma care.
Think of it as a stewardship issue. What would we do with an extra $333-499 billion dollars?
Jesus would place the figure of heart disease right around 100%, at least before God gets hold of a heart. I say that because, in all of Scripture, the word “heart” is rarely used to describe the organ in our chest. One of my lexicons gives this definition: “kardía – heart; “the affective center of our being” ……. lit: “the heart; mind, character, inner self, will, intention, center…” “desire-producer that makes us tick…”
I contend that Jesus also spends the most on heart disease. When Jesus was preaching in the Sermon on the Mount, He said a fair amount about money. In chapter 6 which includes the most verses about money in the sermon, Jesus would say things like, “Do not store up for yourselves treasures on earth, where moth and rust destroy, and where thieves break in and steal. But store up for yourselves treasures in heaven, where neither moth nor rust destroys, and where thieves do not break in or steal; for where your treasure is, there your heart will be also…” (v. 19-21)
We see the value that Jesus places upon us at the Incarnation, the Crucifixion, and the Resurrection. He came for us, died for us, rose for us. During Holy Week, with His disciples visiting the temple courts, He calls attention to a widow who gives the smallest coins as an offering. He said, “but she, out of her poverty, put in all she owned; she gave her whole livelihood.” (Mark 12:44b). Of course, this is what Jesus would do later in the week as He hung naked on a cross. That is where His heart was; you and I are what He treasured.
Our checkbooks or credit card accounts reveal what we treasure. Our schedules and use of free time show what we value. Jesus said the widow threw in her whole “livelihood.” Her life was her faith, and vice-versa. The hymn “Take my Life and Let it Be” comes to mind.
Isaiah encourages us when he reminds us that God invests in reviving hearts and in spending time with the lowly. For this is what the high and exalted One Who lives forever, whose name is Holy, says: “I dwell in a high and holy place, And also with the contrite and lowly of spirit In order to revive the spirit of the lowly And to revive the heart of the contrite. (Is. 57:17) No wonder Christ would say in the Beatitudes, “Blessed are the poor in spirit, for theirs is the kingdom of God.” (Matthew 5:3)
Prayer: Lord Jesus Christ, a broken and contrite heart You will not despise. May our hearts always be lowly and revived by the value You have put on us. May we treasure Your kingdom above all as You treasured us above the glories of heaven. Thank You for spending Your livelihood on us. In Your Name we pray. Amen.