For where your treasure is,
there your heart will be also.
—Luke 12:34 NIV
So … where is your treasure?
You know, if anybody had asked me that question a few years back, it would have been a no-brainer. Because the natural answer that comes to mind for most people is that our treasure is in our family and those we love, right? But are we so sure that’s the answer?
I’ll be honest, when I first got published seven years ago, I didn’t realize it at the time, but my “treasure” was in my writing because suddenly I had a contract for three books and deadlines galore, so I had to focus on that, many times to the exclusion of my family.
Or so I thought.
It wasn’t until I had an eye-opening conversation with my daughter when she was in college that I realized she resented the time I devoted to “my other family,” the O’Connors. The moment I learned that, I started praying about it and then took great pains to change my focus from the books to my family. For instance, anytime my daughter would walk into the room, I would immediately shut my computer and talk to her because I never wanted her to think the books were more important than her. And I’m ashamed to say that my husband went biking alone more times than I can count because I had a deadline, which is something else I worked to change too. Thus my 8-month sabbatical last year, when I pulled back to devote myself more fully to God, family, and writing for the sheer joy of writing.
And it worked! Suddenly my family came into sharper focus, like a lens to a blind eye, and I realized my priorities were askew. That’s the day my writing stopped being my treasure.
But God wasn’t through with my education yet.
Nope, he showed me something interesting, another translation of our Scripture quote above, which is as follows:
The place where your treasure is,
is the place you will most want to be and end up being.
— Luke 12:23 Message Bible
Translation: WE GIVE OURSELVES TO WHAT WE TREASURE.
Whoa! Suddenly my treasure was in my husband, my kids, my grandkids, my family, and my friends, but guess what? If they are my treasure, then I want to be with them and love them as well as I can. The problem is I can’t without God.
Because it was God’s Word that taught me to not “exasperate my children” —Ephesians 6:4.
It was God’s Word that taught me to “be subject to my husband” — Ephesians 5:22
And it was God’s Word that taught me to be a “friend who loves at all times” — Proverbs 17:17.
So guess what? Even if our treasure is in our family and friends, we are at risk because we cannot be all we need to be for them unless we do it God’s way. And we cannot do it God’s way unless He is our focus, our source, our motivation.
Our “treasure.”
The place we want to be and end up being … and the thing we give ourselves to.
For the first time in my life, I can honestly say that I long for that more than anything in this world. More than writing, more than success, more than my family. Because I now know like I have never known before that treasuring Him above all else is the only way to treasure those we love and those things we love to do.
So I leave you today with the pray of my heart for myself and for you:
Lord, please—let our treasure be in You first and foremost, so we can be all we need to be for those we treasure on earth.
Hugs,
Julie
AND SPEAKING OF TREASURE!!!
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