01/16 - A Business Model for the Spiritual Life

Matthew 6:16-24

Humans are economic amphibians, living in two very different economic systems at the same time.

Jesus said a person could invest in and build up treasures in either the earthly or the spiritual economic system. Because earthly treasures are easily damaged or lost, he said to only collect them in the spiritual economy. As economic amphibians, we might assume we can strive for treasures in both systems, but this is not possible. Jesus said, “You cannot serve both God and Money.”

Although Jesus did not say exactly what spiritual treasures are, he taught in other parts of the sermon how to invest to get them: be faithful in marriage, even in the heart; keep promises; treat everyone well, including those who are not kind in return; and give gifts, pray, and fast to please God, not others.

From Jesus’ economic concepts, we get two strategies for how a person can change his heart. He said “Where your treasure is, there your heart will be also.” In other words, a person can change his heart by changing the location of his treasure.

Sometimes this passage is interpreted as if Jesus said, “Where your heart is, there will your treasure be,” which is probably true. However, in this passage, Jesus said the heart follows the treasure.

Another strategy for changing the heart is to change what the eyes look for.

Financial talk has a lot of vision-related language: An investment sage is on the lookout for a good buy and looks over financial records of a company to decide its value. A sales rep takes a look at a car or piece of property to decide its worth. An antique collector spots a priceless heirloom.

Likewise, the spiritual investor can be on the lookout for spiritual opportunities. He can look over a situation to determine its spiritual potential. He can spot the opportunity to do a good deed.

Jesus said, “The eye is the lamp of the body,” meaning that what we search for determines our spiritual condition. If a person only looks for bargains in the earthly economy, his inner being “will be full of darkness.”

The spiritual investor is on the lookout for spiritual opportunities, and Jesus said his “whole body will be full of light.”