Narrow Way Series: Week 4 — Where Your Treasure Is

Matthew 6:19–24

Welcome back to Week 4 of the Narrow Way Series, and it is officially Q-School week!

My caddie and I are here in Woodland, California, and after months of preparation, practice, travel and everything else that has gone into getting here, we're ready to show up to the course prepared, not perfect. At this point we're not trying to reinvent anything. The work has been done. Now it's time to trust it, enjoy the opportunity in front of us and compete.

If you've followed along for a while, you know how much I want to play on the PGA TOUR. I'm chasing this dream with everything I've got, but one of the biggest things Jesus has been teaching me is that golf can't be the reason I do any of this. My mission is to know Him and make Him more known. Golf is what I do, Christ is why I do it, and professional golf happens to be the mission field He's placed in front of me.

Which makes this week's passage pretty timely.

Over the last few weeks we've been walking through the Sermon on the Mount and asking what it actually looks like to follow Jesus. We've talked about being salt and light, loving our enemies and, last week, prayer and the invitation to come as we are. This week Jesus goes after our treasure.

He says:

“Do not store up for yourselves treasures on earth, where moths and vermin destroy, and where thieves break in and steal. But store up for yourselves treasures in heaven... For where your treasure is, there your heart will be also.”

Matthew 6:19–21

Where your treasure is, there your heart will be also.

I've been thinking about that sentence a lot because Jesus is being incredibly practical. He's talking about what we do with the things that are valuable to us. Our money, our time and our resources. Where those things continually go, our hearts have a tendency to follow.

Jesus isn't talking about treasure because He needs something from us. He's talking about treasure because He's after our hearts.

Treasure Looked Different Then

When Jesus taught this, treasure looked different than it does today. People weren't checking investment accounts on their phones. Wealth could be stored in clothing, crops, precious metals and physical possessions. Those things could also disappear pretty quickly. Moths could destroy expensive clothing, stored goods could spoil and thieves could break in and take what someone had accumulated.

So when Jesus talked about moths and thieves, the people listening knew exactly what He meant. He was pointing toward things people spent their lives accumulating and protecting and reminding them that none of it was permanent.

Thousands of years later, our treasure might look different, but I don't think our hearts are all that different. Our treasure might be a bank account, a house, a business, a career, status, followers or, in my case, maybe even a PGA TOUR card.

Where I'm Spending My Treasure

I've been thinking about this a lot recently because I mentioned in a video just how expensive professional golf actually is.

People see the tournament and the scorecard. Maybe you see some practice videos or pictures from the course. What you don't always see are the flights, hotels, rental cars, gas, entry fees, coaching, practice and everything else that comes with traveling week after week trying to play professional golf.

It adds up really fast.

The truth is, I'm only able to keep chasing this because of the incredible team the Lord has placed around me. People have believed in me, prayed for me, encouraged me and invested their own money and resources into this journey. That's something I don't take lightly.

Standing here at Q-School, I can see God's provision all around me. There are a lot of people represented in the fact that my caddie and I are even here.

And that gives me a really practical picture of what Jesus is talking about.

If I told you becoming the best golfer I can possibly be was incredibly important to me, but I never practiced, never trained, never traveled and wasn't willing to invest anything into getting better, you'd probably question how important golf actually was to me. What I said I valued wouldn't match where I was putting my time and resources.

Our faith can be the same way.

We can say Jesus is the most important thing in our lives, but where are we actually putting our treasure? Where does our money go? Where does our time go? What gets our best energy, and what gets whatever happens to be left over?

I know how easy it is for me to invest into golf. I'll get on an airplane, drive across the country, spend hours practicing, get up early, train and rearrange my schedule because I care deeply about it. That's where I have to be careful.

Golf can be something I invest my treasure into without allowing golf to become my treasure.

Stewarding the Gift

I believe God has given me the ability to play this game, and I believe He's opened doors and placed people around me that have allowed me to continue chasing the PGA TOUR. Because of that, I want to steward this opportunity as well as I possibly can.

I want to practice hard, prepare well and compete my butt off. I want to find out how far I can take the gifts He's given me.

But there's a big difference between stewarding a gift and worshiping it.

I've gotten that wrong before.

There was a time when a good score made me feel valuable and a bad score made me question who I was. Someone's opinion about my golf could stay in my head for days. Golf had way too much access to my heart because I was asking the game to give me something it was never capable of giving me.

Jesus has been changing that.

Following Him hasn't made me want the PGA TOUR less. It's changed why I'm chasing it.

If my ability, opportunities, finances and even the people God has placed around me are gifts from Him, then my responsibility is to steward those gifts faithfully. Instead of constantly asking, “What can I get out of this?” I'm learning to ask, “Lord, what do You want me to do with what You've given me?”

That applies to golf, but it also applies to our money, businesses, relationships, careers and time. We can work hard, build things, save money and chase huge dreams. We just have to remember who owns it all.

Who Gets Your Heart?

Jesus finishes this section with some incredibly direct words:

“No one can serve two masters... You cannot serve both God and money.”

Matthew 6:24

Jesus doesn't say we can't have money. He says we can't serve it.

The same thing is true for success, recognition, careers and golf. These things can be incredible gifts, but they make terrible masters.

That's something I want to remember walking onto the course this week.

I desperately want to play well. I want to advance. My caddie and I are going to show up prepared, trust the work we've put in and compete. But I don't need that golf course to give me something Jesus hasn't already given me.

I don't need a scorecard to tell me who I am, and I don't need a PGA TOUR card to give me an identity.

My mission doesn't change based on what I shoot.

Know Him and make Him more known.

Golf is what I do. Christ is why I do it.

So I'm going to chase this dream as hard as I can while holding it with open hands. I'm going to try to steward every gift, dollar, opportunity and relationship He's placed in my life well, without allowing the gift to take the place of the Giver.

That's where I want my treasure.

And that's where I want my heart.

Prayer

Jesus, thank You for everything You have placed in our hands. Thank You for our abilities, opportunities, finances, relationships and the dreams You've allowed us to chase. Thank You for the people You place around us and the ways You provide that we don't always see.

Teach us to steward what You've given us without worshiping it. Show us where we're putting our treasure and where our hearts are following. Give us wisdom with our money, make us generous and help us hold the things You've given us with open hands.

When a gift starts becoming more important to us than the Giver, bring our eyes and our hearts back to You. You are our treasure.

In Jesus' name, amen.

Take It to the Tee

This week, take an honest look at where you're spending your treasure. Look at your bank statement. Look at your calendar. Think about what gets most of your attention and energy.

Then ask yourself:

If my heart follows my treasure, where am I leading my heart?

Maybe something good God has given you has slowly started taking a place in your heart it was never supposed to have. That doesn't mean you have to stop chasing the dream, building the business or pursuing the opportunity. It means we need to learn to hold those things with open hands.

Be a good steward of what God has placed in your hands. Use it, enjoy it and be generous with it, but don't let the gift replace the Giver.

Fix your eyes on Jesus, put your treasure where you want your heart to go and let your heart follow Him.