Keep Track of Your Heart
Toni M. Babcock
Money and its goods can become a rival god—a god that requires sacrifice and devotion. Jesus understood the power of this rival god when he taught “No one can serve two masters, since either he will hate one and love the other, or he will be devoted to one, and despise the other. You cannot serve both God and money.” (Matthew 6:24 CSB)
The glory of the gospel is not that it liberates us to serve idols. Far from it. We’re liberated to serve Christ, and allow our abundance to further His kingdom. Wealth becomes a tool to advance His mission instead of becoming an idol to divert our devotion from that mission.
Zacchaeus was a good example of what it means to be set free from the love of money. Read his story here: (Luke19:1-10 CSB).
Zacchaeus was a man who was not merely sorry for his sin, he did something about it by employing his riches to fulfill the will of God in his life. He made himself pay for once in his life, instead of extracting the last penny from others, and used his skills to devise a creative plan to give back and enhance other people’s lives. He didn’t do this to impress God. He did it because he no longer served himself.
Clearly, Zacchaeus had become a new man in Christ. In one divine encounter with Jesus, he learned the meaning of Christ’s teaching, “Don’t 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, where neither moth nor rust destroys, and where thieves don’t break in and steal. For where your treasure is, there your heart will be also,” (Matthew 6:19-21 CSB).
The story of Zacchaeus reminds us — always keep track of where your heart is.
Toni is author of Reflections from the Heart in Light of the Gospel of Jesus, and The Stone Writer, Christian Fiction for Young Readers and Teens. Contact
