Don't keep hoarding for yourselves earthly treasures that can be stolen by theives. Material wealth eventually rusts, decays, and loses its value. Matt 6:19 (TPT)
Someone Else – Treasures Series – Part 3
Go to PART 1 | PART 2 | PART 3 | PART 4 | PART 5 | PART 6 | PART 7
It’s easy to get trapped into thinking that the more we have, the safer we are, the better off we are, and the BETTER we are. This is actually where the world begins to fracture. The natural progression of this thinking is: I don’t have enough, I don’t own enough, I need more, I can’t get enough, I’m going to take from “them” so that I can have and be more. It may sound a bit extreme, but we’re all guilty of it.
When I was a child, whenever my mum would ask me to dish up dinner or pour drinks or hand out chocolate for my family, I instinctively tried to manipulate the situation so that I would get the best portion, the biggest cup, the largest piece of chocolate. Yep. If we have the best, it means we are the best. And sometimes, someone else has the best; what they have would make my best better, so we take from them to add to ourselves.
Rome had invaded Israel while on route to rule the world. It was horrific. The Hebrews were murdered, tortured, raped, enslaved… Rome was not kind. And Israel wanted their land, rights, dignity, and freedom back. Within their own communities, there was political and social upheaval outside of what Rome had done to them. Crime, corruption, compromise… Even temple worship was being used to line the pockets of certain priests robes. People wanted the wrongs righted. They wanted freedom. They wanted their country. They wanted their own back.
We’ve seen this pattern through history over and over and over again. Someone takes what belongs to someone else. So the “someone else’s” take it back from them and them some to make up for it. Then their children grow up with a mind and will to avenge their fathers, and so the cycle continues. So much taking, very little giving.
I get it, though. I look at the problems within my own nation and beyond and instantly I'm filled with anger and desperation to fight for what is rightfully mine, or rightfully my neighbours. I don’t have an answer for this problem, I don't have a literal cure for this sickness and infection that runs deep in humanity and has been festering and rotting our world almost since we began.
I don’t think Jesus was specifically asking his audience to be pacifists, but I do think he was trying to get them to look at life from a different point of view. Instead of the question, “how do I get back what's rightfully mine?” He was encouraging them to ask something different.
“Don’t hoard treasure down here where it gets eaten by moths and corroded by rust or—worse!—stolen by burglars. Stockpile treasure in heaven, where it’s safe from moth and rust and burglars. It’s obvious, isn’t it? The place where your treasure is, is the place you will most want to be, and end up being. Your eyes are windows into your body. If you open your eyes wide in wonder and belief, your body fills up with light. If you live squinty-eyed in greed and distrust, your body is a dank cellar. If you pull the blinds on your windows, what a dark life you will have! (and he continues a few verses on with…) If God gives such attention to the appearance of wildflowers—most of which are never even seen—don’t you think he’ll attend to you, take pride in you, do his best for you? What I’m trying to do here is to get you to relax, to not be so preoccupied with getting, so you can respond to God’s giving.“
Luke wrote that Paul mentioned that Jesus said, “Giving brings a far greater blessing than receiving.” (Acts 20:35).
Somehow, the question must turn from, “How can I take back what's mine?” to “What treasure do I already have, and what of it can I give to replace what someone else has lost?”
Somehow (again) generosity, forgiveness, and healing are the pathways to replenishing lives, and the world, that have been victims of so much taking…
Perhaps the treasure is in the exchange: giving and receiving.
Over to you. Leave us your thoughts in the comment section below.
Go to Part 4 – Worth Indicators »
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