WHAT YOU TRULY TREASURE IS YOUR HEART’S FOCUS!
WHAT YOU TRULY TREASURE IS YOUR HEART’S FOCUS!
The LORD said to Joshua, “Get up! Why have you fallen on your face? Israel has sinned; they have transgressed my covenant that I commanded them; they have taken some of the devoted things; they have stolen and lied and put them among their own belongings. Therefore the people of Israel cannot stand before their enemies. They turn their backs before their enemies, because they have become devoted for destruction. I will be with you no more, unless you destroy the devoted things from among you. Get up! Consecrate the people and say, ‘Consecrate yourselves for tomorrow; for thus says the LORD, God of Israel, “There are devoted things in your midst, O Israel. You cannot stand before your enemies until you take away the devoted things from among you.” —Joshua 7:10-13
And Achan answered Joshua, “Truly I have sinned against the LORD God of Israel, and this is what I did: when I saw among the spoil a beautiful cloak from Shinar, and 200 shekels of silver, and a bar of gold weighing shekels, then I coveted them and took them. And see, they are hidden in the earth inside my tent, with the silver underneath.” —Joshua 7:20-21
Truly, “For the love of money is a root of all kinds of evil. Some people, eager for money, have wandered from the faith and pierced themselves with many griefs” (I Timothy 6:10). Not only does our sin affect ourselves, it affects others around us. The seriousness of sin is so often softened and taken lightly. Sin is destructive. It impacted the whole human race and all of creation! (Romans 5:12; 8:20).
Covetousness… is so destructive and that is why God has said, “You shall not covet your neighbor’s house. You shall not covet your neighbor’s wife, or his male or female servant, his ox or donkey, or anything that belongs to your neighbor” (Exodus 20:17). The Hebrew word for covet is translated lust/desire in Proverbs 6:25. In that case we are told— “Do not lust in your heart after her beauty or let her captivate you with her eyes.” And Jesus put it this way— “But I tell you that anyone who looks at a woman lustfully has already committed adultery with her in his heart” (Matthew 5:28). Coveting after or lusting after or desiring something or someone begins in the heart. It is a heart issue. Jesus said, “For out of the heart come evil thoughts—murder, adultery, sexual immorality, theft, false testimony, slander” (Matthew 15:19). And so, brothers and sisters, fellow followers of Jeus, “Above all else, guard your heart, for everything you do flows from it” (Proverbs 4:23).
We should, right now, pray, “Search me, God, and know my heart; test me and know my anxious thoughts. See if there is any offensive way in me, and lead me in the way everlasting” (Psalm 139:23-24). We are commanded “Love the Lord your God with all your heart and with all your soul and with all your mind” (Matthew 22:37). If our heart is filled with love for God, then sin will not control it. And if we “Love your neighbor as yourself” (Matthew 22:39) we are less likely to sin against them.
Surely, “No one can serve two masters. Either you will hate the one and love the other, or you will be devoted to the one and despise the other. You cannot serve both God and money” (Matthew 6:24). Yes, and so it is that, “where your treasure is, there your heart will be also” (Matthew 6:21). So, where is your heart’s focus? That is what you treasure. May Our Lord God Almighty be what is treasured by you, not just in words… but by godly lifestyle! https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=vSAN5ObaRQg Yes, Dear Father, may this be so by the power of Your Holy Spirit and in the authority of Your Precious Son, Jesus my Lord.