You can tell someone's priorities by looking at two things: their checkbooks and calendar. Simply put, where a person spends their money and their time reflects what they truly value. Simply saying the phrase, "this is important to me," is hypocrisy if it's not backed up with how your life is lived.
Today's verse of the day goes straight to the heart of Jesus' teaching in the Sermon on the Mount (Matthew 5:1-2). At the time that Jesus delivered the Sermon on the Mount, most people were raised to believe that what mattered most to God was performance (i.e., action, behavior, and then words). This is where a lot of the Pharisees' societal standing came from, as they were thought to be the most spiritual because of how closely the followed behaviors that were tied to rules, regulations, and traditions. Yet Christ started teaching that what God cares most about is how His people are feeling and thinking. Or in other words, righteous actions matter, but they're only righteous when they are accompanied by a devoted heart (Matthew 6:1-2, 5-6, 16-17).
Jesus further applies this to help fix our perspective of money. He taught not to stockpile riches and material possessions on earth, as all of those things could be lost in an instant. They're temporary. Instead, we're to stockpile rewards in eternity through our true, inner devotion to God (Matthew 6:19-20). I want to make this very clear: His point is not that Christians cannot have wealth, as that is absolutely not true. Rather, this is in reference to our priorities - in which we can only have one ultimate priority (Matthew 6:24), which should be God.
Let's take a minute to think about the overall themes of the commercials and ads that you've seen lately. There's a common theme: "you owe it to yourself," or "you deserve the best." We live in a world and culture of self-help nonsense, and I say that as a person who used to eat it all up - buying every book I could about how to be the best version of myself possible. How did we ever live before some person decided to write a book telling us how we should live? We do whatever it takes, whatever the price, to keep up with our neighbors. Why? Because there is a constant buzz in our ears subconsciously telling us that we'll be looked down upon if we're not living up to today's standards of living.
Instead, the answer has been there all along. The key to overcoming it has been there all along. We need constant reminders of how our life in the here and now has eternal significance, and we get this by soaking ourselves in the truth of God's Word (Matthew 6:19-21). Therefore, we are to lay up treasures in heaven by using the gifts, talents, and money that the Lord has given us here on earth to serve His kingdom, not our human desires.
