God’s Got This

by Elaine Poproski

Sunday is coming far more quickly than I’d hoped, this week. There’s something about stat. holidays that seem to mess with my ability to keep track of what day it is.

This week, as we continue our journey through the Sermon on the Mount, we arrive at Matthew 6:19-34 which reads in part, “Do not store up for yourselves treasures on earth…but store up for yourselves treasures in heaven. For where your treasure is, there your heart will be also.” Let me begin by saying that when I planned this series of sermons and mapped it out, we had no inkling of the timeline around selling our building. It just so happens that on the first of three meetings all about voting to accept an offer for the building, we arrive at the part of the Sermon that talks about treasures. Hmmm. Coincidence????

When Jesus talks about treasures, He talks not just about money, or even possessions, but about anything we value that is of this world. Sure, He does talk about money and we’ll come face to face with that this Sunday. But I’m also reminded of the troubling thing he said in Luke 14, which speaks to this idea of treasures as well. In that reference, Jesus said, “Whoever comes to me and does not hate father and mother, wife and children, brothers and sisters, yes, and even life itself, cannot be my disciple” (v. 26). I read that to mean that Jesus is warning against anything and anyone taking the place of God in our lives. It makes me wonder what we treasure. What do we treasure as a church? What do each of us individually treasure? Maybe we treasure possessions or buildings. Maybe we treasure people – family, friends, those we serve. Maybe we treasure our preferred mode of worship or a particular way of life. As you prepare for Sunday, both to meet God in worship and as we continue gathering together for Lunch & Conversation, I invite you to ask God to reveal to you what you treasure. What treasures is He asking you to let go of?