The Greatest Treasure

03.21.2023

Written by:

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Executive Director

School & Youth Ministries

FLGA District

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Daring to Make a Difference... Let's Talk About Jesus!

Just as a candle in a dark room is easily seen and draws the attention of all who are around, even faith the size of a mustard seed, when planted, can make an eternal difference in the lives of the lost and those who love them.

So, the theme of our 2023 FLGA Lenten Devotions is: Daring to Make a Difference…Let’s Talk about Jesus! May the Lord use these daily devotions from Ash Wednesday through Easter to encourage, engage and equip you to make an eternal difference!

“Do not lay up for yourselves treasures on earth, where moth and rust destroy and where thieves break in and steal, but lay up for yourselves treasures in heaven, where neither moth nor rust destroys and where thieves do not break in and steal. For where your treasure is, there your heart will be also.

The eye is the lamp of the body. So, if your eye is healthy, your whole body will be full of light, 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!

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" Matthew 6:19-24 (ESV)

“Guard your heart above all else” we’re told in Proverbs, “for it is a well spring of life” (4:23).

Our heart, we’re told in Matthew, is the storehouse for our treasure.

Our treasure, we’re told by Webster, is what we delight in and what we cherish. It is the thing we value above all else.

The highest value, the greatest commandment, we’re told in the Law, is to “love the Lord your God with all your heart” (Matt 22:37).

For those listening on the hillside of Galilee, Jesus’s words were a heart check. The requirement of the law is undivided loyalty to a jealous God who demands a heart filled with nothing but love for him. Jesus’s words weigh the value of an earthly treasure which does not last against the heavenly treasure of living an abundant life serving God wholeheartedly.

The Sermon on the Mount was a call for them, and a call for us, to reevaluate priorities and refocus values. Jesus wants his followers to be filled with light and to shine that light into the world. He wants us to turn our passions and our ambitions away from earthly gain and toward service for his kingdom. 

When we try to cling to our own merit with one hand and to the cross with the other, we attempt to serve two masters, and in the process, truly serve only ourselves. When we abandon ourselves and take up the cross, our greatest treasure, Jesus accepts our service as love for him. 

So guard your heart and live an abundant life as you tell others about Jesus.