Your treasure is what you fix your eye upon and what your eye is fixed upon becomes your master. It’s been said that our bank statements say a lot about what we actually treasure. If our pursuit of earthly belongings and wealth is just a means to gaining more earthly belongings then we treasure earthly things.
In Matthew 6:19 – 24 Jesus says…
19 “Do not lay up for yourselves treasures on earth, where moth and rust destroy and where thieves break in and steal, 20 but lay up for yourselves treasures in heaven, where neither moth nor rust destroys and where thieves do not break in and steal. 21 For where your treasure is, there your heart will be also. 22 “The eye is the lamp of the body. So, if your eye is healthy, your whole body will be full of light, 23 but if your eye is bad, your whole body will be full of darkness. If then the light in you is darkness, how great is the darkness! 24 “No one can serve two masters, for either he will hate the one and love the other, or he will be devoted to the one and despise the other. You cannot serve God and money.
The Hobbit & The Lord of the Rings movies are absolute classics. Big beards, long pipes, giant mugs of ale, epic battles between good and evil, fierce dwarfs, elves who can shoot bows and arrows with insane accuracy, warriors from the race of men and of course little funny dudes with hairy feet called hobbits.
In these movies we’re introduced to many different characters but there is one character in particular that every one of us can identify with. His name is Smeagol. Smeagol is a hobbit who found a ring that held a power beyond his greatest dreams and fears. The ring captivated him. It became his treasure. And he referred to that ring as his “precious”.
And as the sickness of the ring infected him he began to change into a dark and deformed creature that called himself Gollum. Smeagol struggled between his identity as Gollum and his identity as Smeagol as the power of the ring overtook him.
He struggled between his two identities so much that he often referred to himself in the plural while talking to himself. The big problem for Smeagol is that he fell in love with this powerfully evil ring and as he fell more and more in love with that ring he became totally devoted to what he treasured and his eyes would even gleam at the thought of the ring, which had now become his boss and his master.
Smeagol treasured that ring so much and he had his eye focused on that ring so much and he was willing to serve that ring as his master to the extent that it eventually brought his life to complete ruin & destruction. These stories remind us of the truth that: “Your treasure is what you fix your eye upon and what your eye is fixed upon becomes your master”. What do you treasure? Do you treasure money or do you treasure Christ?
It’s been said that our bank statements say a lot about what we actually treasure. The cars we drive, the clothes we wear and the houses we live in prove that we treasure our social status. The amount of money we hoard in our bank accounts proves that we treasure our financial status. The way we spend our money according to our credit card statements proves whether we treasure God or not.
It’s not wrong to have good cars, nice clothes or nice homes. It’s not wrong to have money in savings. It’s not wrong to spend money on your credit card. But Jesus does draw our attention to the truth that if our pursuit of earthly belongings and wealth is just a means to gaining more earthly belongings then we do in fact treasure earthly things.
Your treasure is what you fix your eye upon and what your eye is fixed upon becomes your master. If you have been treasuring earthly things then this passage is an invitation to confess your sin, ask the Lord for forgiveness and trust Jesus to be the treasure that will not disappoint you. What do you treasure? Do you treasure money or do you treasure Christ?