Article: Where Do You Do Your Banking?

Location:	Giving / Tithing

Where Do You Do Your Banking?
by Gordon MacDonald for Generous Giving

“Do not store up for yourselves treasures on earth, where moth and rust destroy, and where thieves break in and steal. But store up for yourselves treasures in heaven. For where your treasure is, there your heart will be also” (Matthew 6:19-21).

Most of us are forever collecting things—treasures, if you will. Children collect stuffed animals, toys, lucky stones, and special mementos. Teenagers collect music CDs, baseball cards and caps, celebrity pictures. And we adults? Money, expensive playthings, and trophy homes.

And why do we do this? Perhaps it has something to do with the attempt to add to our own personal sense of value. Or maybe it has to do with our perceived need for security. If I have this much at my disposal, I can protect myself from any catastrophe. Then again, having more than we really need may be bound up in the issue of power: The more I have, the more weight I can throw around.

Wherever Jesus went, he saw people acquiring wealth the way squirrels store up nuts for the winter. He saw the farmer (the rich fool?) build bigger barns to store greater volumes of crops. He knew of Pharisees who worked to find loopholes in their religious obligations--even denying their parents financial support to hoard away just a little more. One rich young community leader Jesus knew was afraid to part with what he had in order to follow Christ.

Jesus saw each of these individuals, and many more like them, storing up what they had: secreting it, protecting it, expanding it, bragging about it. However, this is not the kind of treasure Jesus encouraged his followers to store. His warning rings in our ears today: “Don't do it!”

Holding on to earthly treasure makes you increasingly vulnerable. By their very nature, these treasures are only temporal. For that reason, putting your main attention into acquiring these things is not a prudent investment. In the final analysis, God is our security, our provider, our judge.

Falling into the kind of perspective of which Jesus warns us is not difficult. Often it grows on us gradually, until one day all we can think about is, How can I get more? How can I protect what I’ve got? How can I make sure that everyone knows how much I’m worth?

Not a good way to live, our Lord says.

© Generous Giving, 2002. Used by permission of Generous Giving. All rights reserved.

Generous Giving is an educational stewardship ministry that seeks to encourage givers of all income levels—as well as ministry leaders, pastors and teachers and professional advisors—to fully understand and embrace what it means to live generously, according to God’s word and Christ’s example.

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