Stability for the heart

Giving alms, giving to the poor, requires a choice to give to others. What is given could have been kept; whether it was saved or spent to gain something, it could have been used in this world. Jesus again used the language of the familiar to express the spiritual.

"Do not lay up for yourselves treasures upon earth, where moth and rust destroy, and thieves break in and steal. But lay up for yourselves treasures in heaven, where neither moth nor rust destroys, and where thieves do not break in and steal; for where your treasure is, there will your heart be also." Matthew 6:19-21

Treasures in heaven will last; treasures on earth may not even endure through our life.

But the treasures in heaven have been stored up for the same reason someone would store up treasures on earth. A high value has been placed on what is stored up. Those who store up treasures in heaven have just placed a high value on something different than the person who is accumulating possessions.

Those who lay up treasures in heaven are placing a high value on pleasing God; His reward is given for what has pleased Him. The action itself is without value if it does not please God; those who give to the poor in order to gain honor from men do not please God even if they gave more. The widow who gave a tiny amount of money pleased God far more than any of the men who gave great gifts; she gave all that she possessed. We are not obligating God by our good works; God was not obligated to give anything to the hypocrites, even though they gave to the poor. We are simply giving God pleasure by our good works. This is our treasure, that we have pleased God in this life in the things that we have done.

The impact of this is that if we treasure pleasing God, our heart follows this choice. Our thoughts are shaped by what we truly treasure. Our decision to please God feeds back into our heart. Our heart can find stability in this, a stability that it cannot find in the transient things of this world.

Pleasing a generous God is a good investment. The work of pleasing a generous God is good medicine for the heart.