Do not be afraid, little flock, for it is your Father's good pleasure to give you the kingdom. Sell your possessions, and give alms. Make purses for yourselves that do not wear out, an unfailing treasure in heaven, where no thief comes near and no moth destroys. For where your treasure is, there your heart will be also.
How often do you think about money? I'm guessing quite a bit. Those of us who don't have a lot of money worry about when we are getting the next paycheck and how we can stretch what we have to pay for rent or buy food. Those of us who do have a lot of money think about how to spend it in other ways - what investments to make or perhaps where our next vacation will take us. People from all socio-economic backgrounds spend a lot of time thinking about money.
We spend all this time thinking about money or talking about it within our immediate family unit, but society has taught us that it's not polite to speak about money outside of those small confines. We shouldn't ask our coworkers how much they make, for instance, or ever mix friends and money such as with a loan. Money is usually a very touchy subject for people, and we tend to avoid it altogether.
Even as a pastor it is hard to overcome that societal pressure to never talk about money. I remember the first time I had to give a stewardship sermon - aka talk about how people should give money to the church - I was so uncomfortable and dreaded that sermon for weeks. But as Christians, we can't not talk about money. Because Jesus talked a lot about money. And if how we spend our money is important to Jesus, it should be important to us.
Jesus tells us this basic truth - where your treasure is, there your heart will be also. We might want to deny it. We might want to think that how we spend our money doesn't really reflect on our hearts all that much - after all most of us feel pressured overtly and covertly by society to spend money in certain ways. Plus, we read scripture, and volunteer our time, and pray and do so many other things that reflect our heart, what does money have to do with it?
Well, everything. Where your treasure is, there your heart will be also. Or, to put it perhaps more crassly - you need to put your money where your mouth is. You want to talk about loving God, following Jesus, and listening to the Spirit? Make sure that how you handle your money reflects those values.
God of all resources, we know that love of or lack of money can sometimes come to dominate everything in our lives. Help us to see that how we spend our treasure reflects our heart, and help our hearts to reflect you. In Jesus' name, we pray, Amen.