In Matthew 6:21(NLT), our Master taught an astounding truth that is pivotal to our desire to make it into God’s Kingdom. This verse states, “Wherever your treasure is, there the desires of your heart will also be.” This truth is so important because it points to one of God’s requirements for pleasing Him. Because of what God accomplished for us through the sacrifice and resurrection of Christ, we owe God everything. We can never repay His tremendous act of love, not even in ten million lifetimes. There aren’t words big or deep enough to convey the depth of gratitude that we should have towards God. But although we may not have the words to express our gratitude or love for Him, God looks for this gratitude and love in our hearts. If He doesn’t find the treasure there that He’s seeking, then spiritually, we’re not where we need to be. Now is the time to correct this.
Our treasure is not always what God treasures. He treasures our love, devotion, and obedience, but sometimes we treasure other things, and place them above our love for Him. This is not the heart He is seeking, and we, as His children, must not be found with a heart that doesn’t seek God first.
The content and quality of our hearts determine where we will spend eternity. We live from the inside out, and the heart is the part of our insides that speaks volumes about who we are. The heart tells the true story. Our hearts reveal our desires, and our desires reveal to God and everyone else what it is that you and I treasure. If we do not consider our relationship with God and our walk in Christ the greatest treasure of our lives, then we still have a tremendous amount to learn about God’s requirements and about who He has called us to be.
God has given us life through Christ. He rescued us from darkness, and all of us belong totally to Him, but He will not force us to put Him first in our lives. This is our choice. We have to choose who we are going to be. We can choose to be of the world, or we can choose to be God’s children of the light.
To be a true child of God, a disciple of Christ, and a citizen of heaven, our treasure must be our relationship with God through Christ. Our relationship with Him must be the most important treasure of our lives, and if it is, not only will our hearts reflect this, but our actions will as well. Most of the people living in the United States today identify themselves as Christian, but a true Christian is someone that truly loves God. It’s not enough to say we love Him; God must be number one in our hearts. The things we do, think, speak, and feel must prove that God is number one to us.
Romans 12:2(NLT) states, “And do not be conformed to this world, but be transformed by the renewing of your mind, that you may prove what is that good and acceptable and perfect will of God.” This verse affirms that you and I have the tremendous pleasure and responsibility to prove the perfect will of God. His Will is E V E R Y T H I N G! It’s perfection and all love. We prove it when we do everything in our power to live love through Jesus Christ. And let’s be clear that it’s you and I who do the proving. God has already done His part. He gave us life. He put us on this planet and created everything for our provision and care, and most importantly, He gave us Jesus Christ. Again, we can never repay God for all He’s done for us, we can only demonstrate our gratitude to Him. One of the ways we do this is by tithing.
God said, in Malachi 3:10(NLT), “Bring all the tithes into the storehouse so there will be enough food in my Temple. If you do,” says the LORD of Heaven’s Armies, “I will open the windows of heaven for you. I will pour out a blessing so great you won’t have enough room to take it in! Try it! Put me to the test!” This is a tremendous truth, but for many, it still continues to be controversial. Some say that tithing doesn’t apply to those of us living today, but all of God’s Laws are immutable, perfect, and timeless. None can be ignored. In Matthew 22, the Pharisees were trying to trick Jesus to say something against the tax laws enforced by Caesar, the Roman emperor. Jesus Christ said to them in Matthew 22:21(ESV), “Therefore render to Caesar the things that are Caesar’s, and to God the things that are God’s.”
What are the things that belong to God? Everything belongs to Him, and He’s given us everything in Christ. God doesn’t need anything from anyone. Sowing into His Kingdom is the least that we can do to demonstrate our love and gratitude for all He’s done for us. Tithing has always been a show of faith. People say, “Well God’s blessings are not given to us based on what we give to Him?” This is true. We can never beat God’s giving, but God is not focused on what we give, but how we give, because ‘how we give’ tells Him what is in our hearts.
In Genesis 4, God’s Word tells us that Adam’s and Eve’s sons were Cain and Abel. Cain murdered his brother because he was jealous of how God had blessed Abel. Both of them understood it was necessary to demonstrate gratitude to God by offering sacrifices to Him. Abel’s sacrifice was accepted by God, but Cain’s was not. God accepted Abel’s offering because it came from his heart, and Abel had a heart to please God. Abel’s offering demonstrated his reverence for God’s sovereignty, majesty, holiness, and power. His intention was to offer God His best, and because Abel’s sacrifice was a tremendous show of faith, God saw it as a righteous offering.
Society teaches us to treasure money, and many of us do. We love it and dedicate our whole lives to the pursuit of getting more of it. As God looks at the hearts of people, this is what He sees. He doesn’t see a heart that is totally sold-out to Him. He sees our love for money. He sees our refusal to part with it because we believe money is power. Many of us hold onto it so tightly that we place more faith in money than we do in God. We cling to our pocketbooks. This sends a signal to the heavens and everything beneath it that the thing we treasure in our hearts is money. This is what Jesus Christ meant when he said in 1Timothy 6:10 that the love of money is the root of all evil.
As God’s children of light, we can never value dollars more than we value our relationship with God. We must show God that we put Him above our paychecks. Tithing shows God our hearts towards Him. It shows that we are putting Him number one in our lives, and when this is our heart, He promises to cover us and our loved ones, to provide for us and keep us safe. Tithing doesn’t buy God’s protection and provision. It’s proves that we have faith in it. It demonstrates that gratitude, obedience, and faith towards Him is anchored in our hearts, and this is the content of our hearts that He will be pleased to see. ■
English Standard Version (ESV)
The Holy Bible, English Standard Version Copyright © 2001 by Crossway Bibles, a publishing ministry of Good News Publishers.
Scripture quotations marked (NLT) are taken from the Holy Bible, New Living Translation, copyright © 1996. Used by permission of Tyndale House Publishers, Inc., Wheaton, Illinois 60189. All rights reserved.
“A Heart That Pleases God”, written by Reverend Fran Mack, edited by Kim Times, for Sundie Morning Sistas ©2022. All rights reserved. All done to the glory of God through Jesus Christ, our Lord!