Journal Entry // January 11, 2021
For where your treasure is, there your heart will be also.
Matthew 6:21 ESV
Where is my treasure? Where am I putting my hope? It is easy to run through this question and not really give it too much thought or consideration, but it is an essential question in the overarching journey of life. My heart is the centerpiece of who I am and is the core of what makes me… me. It is easy to say that my heart is following after God and I am pursuing and loving Christ. But am I paying attention to the details? Am I evaluating the fruit of my heart in light of what this passage is communicating? Am I paying attention to where my treasure is?
Where is the line between falling into sin and being trapped in sin? We all fall into sin each and every day. There is not a day that goes by where I can truly say that I loved God with all my heart, soul, mind, and strength. So how is it that I can move from treasuring Christ and falling into sin and then be at a point where I am treasuring sin more than Christ? Secret…
This chapter in Matthew talks about doing things in secret, good things, because that is where God can see you and the world cannot. Communing and treasuring Christ in the secret longings of your heart. This is where sin traps us I think. We take the secretness of communing with God and replace it with the secretness of sin. Whereas we want to expose our works and communion with Christ for everyone to see, we also want to keep secret the sin that we truly desire at times. We reverse the roles and lose the fight.
Secret Sin – it wants to consume me. Like a fire raging through a dry and parched field, sin wants to consume every part of my life and destroy my faith. I lose sight of this truth to my own demise. When I play at fighting sin, or worse, when I actively seek it out and bring it into my life, these are the times that should scare me most. These are the times I am treasuring sin and my heart will be there. Sin will not just come and go. No, it wants to stay and dwell in my heart. It wants to replace the Spirit within me and the indwelling of Christ in my heart. This is the battle I need to remember.
The best way to fight against sin… Treasure and Delight in Christ. Seek first his kingdom and his righteousness. All of the things of this world are secondary in light of this singular truth. Delight in Christ above all. If I only do those things that Christ himself would approve, then my life would be in step with the truth and wisdom of Christ. If every moment of my day I simply think about how Christ has taught me to answer, then my life would be full of grace and mercy and love toward others but also towards myself. I would stop hating myself. I would stop minimizing myself. I would stop pushing myself down. I need to be firm in my stand with Christ. I need to walk this journey full of faith and love and humility. I would treasure Christ and him alone. I would see the world through his word and truth. My hope would be in him for every passing moment.