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. 

The eye is the lamp of the body; so then if your eye is clear, 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 that is 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 one and despise the other. You cannot serve God and wealth.

We read these words and ask, “Where is the Comforter when you need him?” (That was supposed to be funny.) So, returning now to godly sobriety…. What I believe really happens when we read Jesus’ hard words can be something more like this…..

We scramble about in our hearts (where treasures are either treasured or abandoned) seeking some shade from such an intensely bright word as this. There in the center of our hearts (where life either begins or ceases -Prove 4:23) there is an inner conversation between us and the Holy Spirit. When this conversation reflects up into our minds it is in the form of questions such as; Can I have wealth and not serve it?  …. or ….. What would actually constitute slavery to mammon? …. Am I a slave to materialism?

If things are still too bright for us here we will push the questions away from the center and (seeking a bit more cover) we may ask (perhaps with an attitude); Well, why does Jesus have to use words like hate my earthly family and despise wealth anyway?  If the remaining light is still too bright the question gets shoved all the way to the periphery of our hearts where shade is usually abundant. Here statements are forming with our questions; I was born into this culture…. I didn’t choose affluence; its is not my fault. Wealth, after all, is God’s sign of blessing on America and me.

Perhaps you are picking up on the progression in heart from light into the shadows. Ultimately, if one stays on this broad thoroughfare a destruction of conscience will occur where there is no light at all. The bible calls this a hardening of the heart and God allows it. If one continues, the inner (somewhat troubling) conversation with the Holy Spirit will cease altogether and one will be troubled no more. We will live without questions and we will be bothered by those who ask them. What has happened here, biblically speaking?

The eye is the lamp of the body; so then if your eye is clear, 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 that is in you is darkness, how great is the darkness!

So, just how great is our darkness?

In the west, the most affluent culture per capita that has ever existed; in a religious context where it is believed that one can be saved without having to be Christ’s apprentice (i.e.following the hard teachings such as today’s), an analogy by Dallas Willard from Divine Conspiracy seems appropriate. It begins in Chapter 1, called; Entering The Eternal Kind of Life Now ……

   Life in the Dark

Recently a pilot was practicing high speed maneuvers in a jet fighter. She turned the controls for what she thought was a steep ascent – and flew straight into the ground. She was unaware that she had been flying upside down. 

Her darkness was indeed great and bore ultimate consequence for her. I would propose that many of us are unknowingly flying upside. I believe if we are asking questions like  “Can I have wealth and not serve it?” and “Why does Jesus have to be so harsh?” we are just flipping switches on a control panel that has (or is) shorting out and is no longer feeding back to us accurate indications of our true orientation.

Our darkness is very great because we are infected in mass. Not wanting to be troubled by deeper heart level questions about our true motives we have accumulated for ourselves voices who have agreed to steer clear of that arena. Often using the same words and phrases that Jesus used they have redefined normal spirituality while excluding the heart. How does this happen?

We form unspoken contracts with these voices that are far more binding than any articulated or printed ones ever could be. Their power rests in the fact that collectively these unspoken agreements form a culture which is taboo to challenge. (Especially religious ones). Our agreements consist of covenants such as, “If you will steer clear of (or better yet, just give lip service to these heart-level discipleship issues) we will continue to support your institution and its programs.” These kinds of agreements that redefine the gospel by excluding authentic discipleship (the watching over one’s heart with all diligence) compose a contemporary religious culture that is saturated with knowledge and tradition yet void of New Testament abundant Life.

I will suggest that if this seems harsh it is only because we have exchanged our contemporary experience and ideas for those of the New Testament which was intended to be a plumb line for the ever expanding kingdom Jesus has established and is continuing to build.

Back to our flight. If we want to know if we are flying upside down or right side up, we must ask ourselves if Jesus is the navigational gyroscope orienting our hearts toward reality? If we have not yet given our lives to him unconditionally, the gyro is not spinning rightly. If we are not maintaining this conversation with his Holy Spirit that assumes that all Jesus’ words apply to our hearts (as Lord), we are likely inverted in our orientation.

We may think the trajectory of our lives is a steep ascent while in reality an eternally consequential crash may be imminent. The only way for any of us to get the gyro spinning rightly and to repair damaged wiring in our navigation system is to live out of the center of our beings where we have given him permission to live and reign and say and do whatever he deems best for us. This requires that we keep this dialogue with the Holy Spirit, regarding wealth, alive . This is what it means to live with Jesus as our Lord.

It is with Him whom we have to do. It is Him before Whom we will ultimately stand to give account of our lives. Here we shall finally discover which kingdom we have loved and which one we have despised. It will be clear who was Lord in our lives; Jesus Christ or ourselves. All men’s secrets will then be revealed. If we have loved this world; if we have pushed this Lordship / two-masters issue away from our hearts our darkness is great. Just how great it is will be exposed on that Great Day. So, rather than flee the light our disComforter would shed on this conversation, His apprentices know that ….

Lord, You have searched me and known me. You know when I sit down and when I rise up; You understand my thought from afar. You scrutinize my path and my lying down, and are intimately acquainted with all my ways.

They pray…..

Search me, O God, and know my heart; try me and know my anxious thoughts; and see if there be any hurtful way in me, and lead me in the everlasting way.

This is how His apprentices live with Jesus’ command to…..

….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.

Father teach us to intentionally identify and repent of every lie that has become a part of the bad wiring in our hearts. Come Helper and grant us the grace to be humble enough to allow our incomplete and inaccurate definitions of your words to be refashioned with their rightful kingdom meanings. Help reestablish your kingdom in our hearts as the beachhead for a fuller gospel in a culture contentedly flying upside down. Amen.

I am considering the formation of a small group (or groups) to read and discuss either Renovation of the Heart or Divine Conspiracy. I would like to know if you would have an interest in this. I don’t know about you but I want my heart renovated by having the right treasures stored in it. Let me know.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

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