In the greatest message ever preached, Jesus addresses the believer’s proper relationship to money and possessions:
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, where moth and rust do not destroy, and where thieves do not break in and steal. For where your treasure is, there your heart will be also.
The eye is the lamp of the body. If your eyes are good, your whole body will be full of light. But if your eyes are bad, your whole body will be full of darkness. If then the light within you is darkness, how great is that darkness!
No one can serve two masters. Either he will hate the one and love the other, or he will be devoted to the one and despise the other. You cannot serve both God and Money. (Matthew 6:19-24)
Scripture dismantles the illusion of money’s permanence and security. When spent on earthly treasure, money is only of temporary value—unless it’s spent with a view toward heavenly treasure. Moths destroy fabric, rust destroys “precious” metals, and thieves can steal almost anything. Jesus could have gone on—fires consume, floods destroy, inflation erodes, governments tax, enemies attack, investments go sour. No earthly treasure is safe.
In reading Matthew 6, many people see something negative and miss the positive. They think that Jesus is categorically against the storing up of treasures. In fact, Jesus didn’t tell us not to store up treasures. On the contrary, He commanded us to. He simply said, “Stop storing them up in the wrong place, and start storing them up in the right place.”
Christ’s primary argument against amassing material wealth isn’t that it’s morally wrong, but simply that it’s a poor investment. Material things just won’t stand the test of time. Even if they escape moths and rust and thieves, they cannot escape the coming fire of God that will consume the material world (2 Peter 3:7).
Christ’s position on wealth is not that it should be rejected, but that true wealth should be pursued. It’s an understatement to say that God doesn’t object to an investment mentality. Jesus isn’t saying it’s wrong to invest. He’s saying, “Don’t make a stupid investment, make a smart one.”
A few months ago, I had the privilege of speaking to a group of InterVarsity students about money and giving. In this clip, I share a real-life illustration of someone whose earthly treasure was literally eaten by moths:
Watch my full presentation, “You Can’t Take It with You, But You Can Send It on Ahead”:
