Where Your Money Goes Reveals Where Your Heart Is
About this series: The Beatitudes told us who the blessed man is. But Jesus kept going. He didn’t just describe the character of His followers – He told them what to do with it. This series picks up where the Beatitudes leave off, walking through some of the most practical and penetrating words Jesus ever spoke. These are not suggestions for a better life. They are the marks of a man who actually means it.
“Do not store up for yourselves treasures on earth, where moths and vermin destroy, and where thieves break in and steal. But store up for yourselves treasures in heaven… For where your treasure is, there your heart will be also.” – Matthew 6:19-21
Jesus did not say your treasure follows your heart.
He said your heart follows your treasure. That is a different direction. And it matters.
Most of us assume that we spend money on the things we care about.
But Jesus is teaching us something more penetrating than that. He is saying that over time, you will start caring about the things you are spending money on. Your investment creates attachment. Your financial commitment reveals and then shapes what you value.
That is worth thinking deeply about.
I want to be honest with you about money, because I think there is a version of Christian teaching on this topic that is either so heavenly minded it becomes impractical, or so prosperity-focused it becomes corrupt. Neither one is helpful.
Here is what I know to be true from my own life. Money is a tool. It is a faithful servant and a terrible master. When I have used it to build security, provide for family, and give generously, it has served us well. When I have chased it as an end goal, or made decisions primarily because of it, it has cost me far more than the dollar amount would suggest.
The question Jesus is asking is not whether you have money. It is what you are building with it. And more importantly, what it is building in you.
A man who spends everything acquiring things he cannot take with him is building a kingdom with an expiration date. A man who invests in relationships, in generosity, in his children, in the work of God, is building something that outlasts him.
First Timothy 6:6-10 says, “Godliness with contentment is great gain. For we brought nothing into the world, and we can take nothing out of it… For the love of money is a root of all kinds of evil.” Notice it is not money that is the root of evil. It is the love of it. The obsession with it. The arrangement of your entire life around the accumulation of it.
Proverbs 11:28 says, “Those who trust in their riches will fall, but the righteous will thrive like a green leaf.” Stability built on wealth alone is fragile. Everything can change overnight. The man who trusts in God over provision is the man who can weather any financial storm without losing his footing.
Luke 12:15 records Jesus saying, “Watch out! Be on your guard against all kinds of greed; life does not consist in an abundance of possessions.” He said watch out. That is a warning. Greed does not always announce itself. It just quietly convinces you that you need a little more before you will finally feel settled. And that finish line never arrives.
I want you to be men who are generous before you feel ready to be generous. I want you to be men who give first, save wisely, and spend last. I want you to be men whose relationship with money is governed by peace and purpose, not anxiety and accumulation.
And I want my sons to understand that the greatest inheritance I can leave them is not financial. It is the example of a man who held money loosely and held God tightly. Everything else is temporary. Build toward what lasts.
Challenge this week: Look honestly at where your money is going. Does it reflect what you say you value? If not, make one adjustment that moves your treasure in the right direction.
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