Our only focus

By James Hoffman

Matthew 6:19-24 (NASB95)

19 “Do not store up for yourselves treasures on earth, where moth and rust destroy, and where thieves break in and steal. 20 “But store up for yourselves treasures in heaven, where neither moth nor rust destroys, and where thieves do not break in or steal; 21 for where your treasure is, there your heart will be also. 22 “The eye is the lamp of the body; so then if your eye is clear, 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 that is 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 one and despise the other. You cannot serve God and wealth.

dEVOTIONAL

Every once in a while I sit down and evaluate my motives and values. We all have sacred cows in our lives, things that we do not want to surrender to God. I am currently in a season of this introspection. There are things I don't want to hand over to God, because the worldly part of me wants to store up treasures here on earth. 

One such thing I don't want to surrender is my newly aquired house. This May will mark one year since me and my wife bought our first house. It is my place that I can do with as I please. So it's only natural I've become attached to it. If God told me to sell it today and buy a plane ticket to Russia, I'd be more than a little hesitant. Yet that is the kind of faith that Jesus expects of us. We are to store up treasures in heaven; our material wealth is to be held with loose hands and sacrificed on the alter should God ask us to.

Something else extremely valuable to me are the hours between 11pm and 2am. I am a night owl by nature and my wife is not. My wife will usually fall asleep around 9-10 o'clock, and that makes the late night exclusive me time. I can work on hobbies, play video games, or whatever I want without being questioned or made to feel guilty for not spending time with my wife. This is time I as a control freak greatly covet; it's time I can control and pursue my own passions till my heart's content. Yet even this cannot be fully mine. This is something else I must be willing to lay upon the altar and surrender to God should He ask for it. 

Our gaze must be set on God alone, and as a result we will be filled with light and life. Even if I must sacrifice those precious late night hours of freedom, God will repay me in much greater freedom and time spent in a much more fulfilling manner. When we surrender things to God, we may see an immediate loss, but those losses are always accompanied by eternal dividends that will pay out way more than our current loss could ever cost us. 

Take some time for introspection, dear reader. What are the things you have been hesitant to lay on the altar? What are you not willing to surrender to God? Make the intentional and conscious action (accompanied by prayer) to surrender them to Him, willing to sacrifice anything and everything that He asks of you. God demands all of you, but He also gives you all of Himself in return!

Prayer

Lord our God, we thank you that you have given all to us. You did not withhold even your very Son, allowing Him to die on a cross for my sake. I will not withhold anything from You my Lord. To you I submit everything, and may you show me things which I struggle to surrender to You so that those strongholds may be torn down. In the name of Christ I ask this. Amen.