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Storing up treasures on earth means doing whatever it takes to get whatever you can of the physical blessings God has filled the earth with. The problem is not in the thing, but in our priorities. If you seek fulfillment in pleasure or possessions, you will eventually start making choices that lead you away from God’s purposes.
When you don’t have whatever it takes to get the earthly joys that you desire, you will realize two things. First, you will have alienated yourself from a God who loves you and from the rest of humanity. Second, you will soon realize that the things you value aren’t actually secure because they don’t last. They can be broken or consumed or taken away from you. You will end up alone with nothing.
Storing treasure in heaven means investing your life in what God is doing: Seeking His kingdom, learning
to live in obedience to His commands, trusting that the God who made you knows what will ultimately bring you joy. Laying treasure in heaven is to treasure all of the aspects of heavenly life, including all of what God is doing on the earth. It is ironic: focus on the earth, end up with nothing. Focus on heaven, get earth thrown in as part of the bargain. That is precisely the promise Jesus will make in a few verses: “But seek first His kingdom and His righteousness, and all these things will be added to you (Matthew 6:33).”
Be Careful What You See (vv. 22-23)
The next words of Jesus in the passage are very enigmatic. Jesus talks about lamps, eyes, bodies, and darkness. Most people just skip over them because they have a hard time figuring out what they mean, or how they relate to what comes before and after. The truth is that this passage is about how are focus determines what we value. When we continually set our eyes on something, we fill our minds with it. In Matthew 12:35, Jesus says, “For the mouth speaks out of that which fills the heart.” If our words reveal what is in our heart, how did what is in our hearts get there? This passage shows us that every time we focus our attention on something, we are filling our souls a little bit with it.
What we focus on ends up consuming us. If you focus on what frustrates you, you will become more angry.
If you focus on what you fear, you will become more afraid. If you focus on something you think will bring
you fulfillment, you will convince yourself that you can’t live without it. The world bombards us with images of things that it promises will bring us fulfillment. In 1 John 2:16, John divides them into 3 categories: “lust of the flesh and the lust of the eyes and the boastful pride of life.” “The lust of the flesh” means seeking fulfillment in pleasure. “Lust of the eyes” means seeking fulfillment in possessions. “Boastful pride of life” means seeking fulfillment in position.
The biblical solution is to shift your focus. Colossians 3:2 says, “Set your mind on the things above, not on the things that are on earth.” It is the same distinction as above: heavenly vs earthly treasure. When we focus on earthly treasure, we fill ourselves up with destructive desire. When we find ourselves consumed with destructive desire, the solution isn’t to try to expel the bad desire from us, but rather to fill ourselves up with correct desire, to shift our focus and flood the darkness of our soul with the light of life.
Be Careful What You Serve (v. 24)
This last verse serves almost as a conclusion of this section. It underscores everything in this study by reframing it one last time. We all serve something or someone. You may think you don’t serve anybody except yourself, but you are wrong. We are all needy and we look to something to fill up what is lacking in ourselves. Here, Jesus calls God’s chief rival as “mammon,” which is probably best translated as “stuff.” Mammon is
the earthly treasures Jesus was telling His followers not to hoard. The point here isn’t what mammon is. The point is where our loyalty lies. You can only serve one master. Jesus says that the man who pretends to have to masters “will hate the one and love the other; or he will be devoted to one and despise the other.” There is one voice that we listen to more than any others, one voice that has the power to command our obedience no matter what. That is who or what we serve.
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