Matthew 6:19-24

As he’s done with all the other commandments, so too with the command against stealing, Jesus addresses the heart issue; namely, greed. Jesus uses three metaphors to call us away from an inordinate love of material wealth—the metaphor of treasure (vv19-21), eye sight (vv.22-23), and serving a master (v24). With each metaphor we see that Jesus’ admonitions come from a heart of love that wants to protect us from insecurity, blindness, and slavery. The 8th commandment not only forbids stealing in its various forms, it also requires us to be stewards who faithfully use and invest the resources God’s given us toward the good of others and the advance of the gospel. The solution to greed is not to strive to love material wealth less. The solution is, as Jesus says, to strive to love eternal things even more. To store up treasures in heaven is to set our thoughts and our hearts on all the eternal riches that are ours in Jesus Christ. ‘For where our treasure is, there our heart will be also.’