{"id":624,"date":"2022-08-02T03:00:00","date_gmt":"2022-08-02T09:00:00","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/reflectivebiblestudy.com\/gospeladventure\/?p=624&2022"},"modified":"2022-07-28T18:00:11","modified_gmt":"2022-07-29T00:00:11","slug":"heaven-focused-hearts-matthew-6-19-24","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/reflectivebiblestudy.com\/gospeladventure\/heaven-focused-hearts-matthew-6-19-24\/","title":{"rendered":"Heaven-focused Hearts: Matthew 6:19-24"},"content":{"rendered":"<div class=\"spoiler spoiler-style-2\"><div class=\"spoiler-title\">Focus Passage: Matthew 6:19-24 (CEV)<\/div><div class=\"spoiler-content\">\r\n<p><sup>19\u00a0<\/sup>Don\u2019t store up treasures on earth! Moths and rust can destroy them, and thieves can break in and steal them.  <sup>20\u00a0<\/sup>Instead, store up your treasures in heaven, where moths and rust cannot destroy them, and thieves cannot break in and steal them.  <sup>21\u00a0<\/sup>Your heart will always be where your treasure is.<\/p> <p><sup>22\u00a0<\/sup>Your eyes are like a window for your body. When they are good, you have all the light you need.  <sup>23\u00a0<\/sup>But when your eyes are bad, everything is dark. If the light inside you is dark, you surely are in the dark.<\/p> <p><sup>24\u00a0<\/sup>You cannot be the slave of two masters! You will like one more than the other or be more loyal to one than the other. You cannot serve both God and money.<\/p>\r\n<p class=\"passage-read-more\">Read <a href=\"http:\/\/www.biblegateway.com\/passage\/?search=Matthew 6:19-24&amp;version=cev\" title=\"Read the passage on BibleGateway.com\" target=\"_blank\" class=\"hyperlink-underlined\">Matthew 6:19-24<\/a> in context and\/or in other translations on BibleGateway.com!<\/p><\/div><\/div>\r\n<p>If we were to gather all of Jesus\u2019 statements about saving money and placed them on a list, ranked by how well known the passage is, near the top of this list we would find a set of verses in the passage we are focusing on in this journal entry.<\/p>\r\n<p>Our passage opens in the middle of one of Jesus\u2019 sermons, and it opens with Jesus advising those in His audience, \u201c<strong>Don\u2019t store up treasures on earth! Moths and rust can destroy them, and thieves can break in and steal them.<\/strong>\u201d (v. 19)<\/p>\r\n<p>This makes a lot of sense. Any place on earth is not 100% safe for us to place our treasure. Even in the modern banking environment we live in today, our money is not 100% safe. Even with all the protection and insurance, a banking error or hacker may instantly change the number you thought you had.<\/p>\r\n<p>But Jesus gives us an alternate place for our treasure in the next verse. He continues by saying, \u201c<strong>Instead, store up your treasures in heaven, where moths and rust cannot destroy them, and thieves cannot break in and steal them.<\/strong>\u201d (v. 20)<\/p>\r\n<p>On the surface, this seems like excellent advice \u2013 until one asks the question about how we accomplish this. As far as I am aware, there is no way to transfer money from my bank account from here on earth to heaven, or take my chest of earthly treasure and transfer it up to God.<\/p>\r\n<p>However, in Jesus\u2019 next statement, we see what Jesus may want to draw our attention to. Jesus finishes this point by saying, \u201c<strong>Your heart will always be where your treasure is.<\/strong>\u201d (v. 21)<\/p>\r\n<p>Perhaps Jesus is not giving us this financial advice because He wants our money. <em>What if Jesus shared this because He really wants our hearts? What if Jesus wants to get our hearts by helping us redirect our focus regarding money?<\/em><\/p>\r\n<p>If Jesus wants us to shift our \u201cmoney\/treasure focus\u201d to be a \u201cheaven focus\u201d instead, then we discover in these three simple verses a way for us to save in heaven \u2013 and that is by investing our treasure in things that help advance God\u2019s kingdom and His message.<\/p>\r\n<p><strong>When our hearts are focused on heaven, the size of our treasure on earth is not as relevant as our focus on advancing God\u2019s movement and message within our sphere of influence. When our hearts are focused on heaven, our treasure will follow, and we will work alongside God in spreading the gospel message, the great news about His kingdom, and gift of salvation He freely offers. That\u2019s what happens when we have hearts that are heaven focused.<\/strong><\/p>\r\n<div id=\"aj-wrap-up--624\" class=\"aj-wrap-up\"><p><em>This thought was inspired by studying the <strong>Walking With Jesus<\/strong> \u201cReflective Bible Study\u201d package. To discover insights like this in your own study time, <a class=\"underline\" href=\"https:\/\/reflectivebiblestudy.com\/\" title=\"Check out Reflective Bible Study!\">click here<\/a> and give Reflective Bible Study a try today!<\/em><\/p><p><em><a class=\"underline\" href=\"javascript:void(0);\" onClick=\"rbs_aj_inline_subscribe(this, '624');\">Subscribe<\/a> to this blog and never miss an insight.<\/em><\/p><\/div>","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"If we were to gather all of Jesus\u2019 statements about saving money and placed them on a list, ranked by how well known the passage is, near the top of this list we would find a set of verses in the passage we are focusing on in this journal entry. Our passage opens in the [&hellip;]","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[3],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-624","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-text"],"nelio_content":{"autoShareEndMode":"never","automationSources":{"useCustomSentences":false,"customSentences":[]},"efiAlt":"","efiUrl":"","followers":[],"highlights":[],"isAutoShareEnabled":false,"networkImageIds":[],"permalinkQueryArgs":[],"series":[],"suggestedReferences":[]},"yoast_head":"<!-- This site is optimized with the Yoast SEO plugin v27.7 - https:\/\/yoast.com\/product\/yoast-seo-wordpress\/ -->\n<title>Heaven-focused Hearts: Matthew 6:19-24 - Reflective Bible Study Gospel Adventure<\/title>\n<meta name=\"robots\" content=\"index, follow, max-snippet:-1, max-image-preview:large, max-video-preview:-1\" \/>\n<link rel=\"canonical\" href=\"https:\/\/reflectivebiblestudy.com\/gospeladventure\/heaven-focused-hearts-matthew-6-19-24\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:locale\" content=\"en_US\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:type\" content=\"article\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:title\" content=\"Heaven-focused Hearts: Matthew 6:19-24 - Reflective Bible Study Gospel Adventure\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:description\" content=\"If we were to gather all of Jesus\u2019 statements about saving money and placed them on a list, ranked by how well known the passage is, near the top of this list we would find a set of verses in the passage we are focusing on in this journal entry. 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