Where Your Treasure Is

About 63 years ago, while Odell was working for some Jewish business people, he came across this Scripture passage in Luke chapter 12 that really impacted his life. During that time, he was really attached to money. At that time he was working as the accountant for all the businesses they ran, and they kept him on for many years. One of these men was a very Orthodox Jew who strictly adhered to Jewish laws and customs. I'll call him Mr. H. since I'm not sure about the spelling of his name. With influence of these Jewish business men, Odell reported,

I set a goal to be a millionaire by the time I was 40. Even though that didn't really work out, I learned a lot about maneuvering money, hedging money. When money was tight with them, these Jewish folks would help one another. I saw big checks pile in. This Mr. H. would get on the phone and say, "I need a half million dollars." And it would come in! I got caught up trying to make money and made a lot of mistakes." These men knew how to make money and how to keep it. I saw money as power, and I saw myself as a success because I was thrown in with a group of people who taught me how to pocket the money and not to spend it. Through those years I really did not take my Christianity as seriously as I should. My treasure was elsewhere. It was not with my wife, my family, the church, and places it should be. In this passage in Luke 12, I learned that where your treasure is, there your heart is. Verse 34 speaks to your intentions, where you're going. I had really been headed in the wrong direction. Now I was turning around. I began to turn back toward my family, and in doing so, my finances took care of themselves. Sure there were hard times, but God took care of me. I want you to hear something here. Unless God turns the switch, nothing turns out right, unless he opens your heart up. I began to see that the most important things were my wife, my friends and my church. My wife stuck with when the sticking wouldn't stick.

Where are your treasures? Are they laid up where moth and rust do not corrupt and thieves do not break through nor steal? God has awesome blessings for us when we learn how to invest our treasure.