I love tax season. Wait. Hear me out. I love personal assessments. (Not to be confused with psychological assessments, which I hate with the passion of a thousand suns). I genuinely like to pause and reflect on things and see how well something is working. I enjoy planning new goals at the beginning of the year and I enjoy checking in on them as the year progresses. Tax season is sort of a report card for adults when it comes to money. It’s a spending assessment that lets you know what you value. 

My favorite thing about the season is receiving receipts from different things I have invested in. I love to see the giving that the Lord led me in for the year. I always find it exciting to see how faithful God is in the money he allows in my care, and how he leads me to use it. As I was driving yesterday, I started laughing because I received all of my important receipts and the one thing I haven’t received or will never receive is the giving receipt for Hot Cheetos. I don’t see Jack in The Box sending me a W2, 1099, or an 8283 (those are the only forms I know, lol). I don’t see the yearly tally of my wasteful and sinful use of the Lord’s money. Or the receipt of my disordered eating, my rebellion, or the thing I treasure most. 

Jesus said it this way. “Do not lay up for yourselves treasures on earth, where moth and rust destroy and where thieves break in and steal, but lay up for yourselves treasures in heaven, where neither moth nor rust destroys and where thieves do not break in and steal. For where your treasure is, there your heart will be also” (Matthew 6:19-21 ESV). 

I’m not sure I (we) understand what treasure means. This passage is referencing money, but I think we often have a narrow understanding of treasure to be only money related. Imagine if your broadened that definition. God gifts his creation with beautiful things to care for and value. A treasure of sorts. He gave this earth, we polluted it. He gives children, we abandon them. He gives spouses, we abuse them. He gives money, we worship it. He gives wisdom, we ignore it. He gives work, we idolize it. He gave himself; we refused him. 

We don’t understand what treasure means. This list is not about treasuring these things, rather it’s about recognizing their God given worth and stewarding them (using them, being responsible for) to the glory and praise of the Lord. Yet what we have done is distorted all the good He’s given and ruined it with our greed, selfishness, and pride. 

Have you ever seen an adult who still has a childhood blanky? (How do you spell blankie?) That piece of mangled fabric once represented their most treasured possession. It is usually a shadow of what it once was, but to the person who holds onto it, that fabric represents their life. Moments of joy, moments of fear, moments of growth. It holds sentimental value. It is something they treasure. 

Sin has a way of telling on us. As children, it’s obvious what we treasure. That collection of Pokémon cards, those action figures, the Barbie’s, the trinkets that a loved one gave us. Treasures can be good blessings we have been given. Our sinful hearts, however, have a way of distorting all the good the Lord gives. As we age, our love of innocent treasures turns inward and becomes distorted and secretive. Outwardly we are model citizens. We pay those pesky taxes. We love our family. We vote. We say please and thank you. Yet inwardly, our sinful hearts choose our wicked desires daily. We replace action figures with a porn addiction. We replace Barbie’s with vanity, we replace worship for God, for worship for self and our treasure of pleasure. I hate to admit this. But, when I think about my struggle with food and weight, I can see that food has been my treasure, my whole life. I don’t think a person can get to weigh 500 lbs. without that being a reality. If you’ve been a reader for any amount of time, you know the Lord is mighty and has given me great freedom in this area and I am no longer at that weight or mindset (hallelujah, indeed!) 

Nevertheless, in this faith walk, there are remnants of sin that still have roots in our hearts because sanctification takes our whole lives. The beauty of a new heaven and a new earth (Revelation 21) is that we will one day be fully complete, fully restored and fully renewed. We get a foretaste of it here, because of the victorious work of Christ on the cross. But this flesh is still weak, even though the spirit is willing and while we await that glorious day, we must die daily to ourselves and press on to discipline the flesh that separates us from God, who alone redeems all things. What does that mean? We must, as children of God, choose to obey the Lord’s commands.

It. Is. A. Choice. 

Secrets have a funny way of deceiving us that no one will ever know. It’s the greatest tactic of the devil. Deception. It started in the garden when he distorted the word of God to Eve (cf. Genesis 3). Satan distorts and deceives humanity because as Jesus states it, “He was a murderer from the beginning, and does not stand in the truth, because there is no truth in him. When he lies, he speaks out of his own character, for he is a liar and the father of lies” (John 8:44 ESV). Deception is at the heart of sin. The Lord shows us that our hearts, the things we’ve been lied to about following, are wicked and deceitful (cf. Jeremiah 17:9). He even reminds us as believers “exhort one another every day, as long as it is called “today,” that none of you may be hardened by the deceitfulness of sin” (Hebrews 3:13 ESV).  Why do we have to be warned about deceitfulness? Because the father of lies deceives us toward sin so that we can be separated from God. Therefore, sin is secretive. And secrets give a counterfeit safety that tells you that if you don’t say it, people won’t know it. Yet again I say that sin has a way of telling on us. And sometimes without even recognizing it, one day, somehow, you weigh 500lbs and the whole world gets to see your secret sin on display. 

I rejoice that I am no longer 500lbs. Now a quick digression here. Body weight is not the barometer for measuring someone’s heart or secrets. It’s not a way to judge one another for the things we do, alone. I’ve often lamented (if you’re a reader of mine you know this) that I hated that my struggle and journey was a public one. I’ve hated the fact that I can’t hide my sin. People with other addiction issues can hide (mostly). But the Lord showed me early on in my walk that mine was to be public and that may sound unfair and cruel, but friends it’s been such a merciful blessing. Because I get to give all glory to the Lord for the work and redemption that He alone has done in a heart that for so long sought safety in rebellion. 

Who we are in private, is who we really are. Our secret sins, the lies we believe, the things we treasure will always tell on us. Perhaps you’re like me and have invested too much time and money into disordered eating. Perhaps you’ve been covering up pain and hurt that you haven’t healed from. I firmly believe that fat is the armor of a wounded soul. So, friends, I wonder what you’ve been protecting by treasuring pleasure in place of freedom. And if food is not your issue, I wonder what you’ve gained by treasuring secret porn pleasure, secret gambling pleasure, secret judgement and vanity, secret self-harm or promiscuity? How has Satan convinced you that you can find secret pleasure in escapism, alcoholism, or control issues? What sin is telling on you right now? What receipt would you fear finding its way back to you? 

The things we treasure will show in our lives. Friends, Jesus calls us to treasure what He has made and called us to. His word, His rule, His way. The lie of the enemy is that that is a prison. In a day in age when “me-ism” and “my truth” reign supreme, we must revolt against the lies and see that the truth is in honoring God as He calls us to, and in this truth, in King Jesus, there is immense freedom. Where your heart is, there your treasure will be also. Consider choosing to treasure the Lord and his call for your life in place of any distortion. Imagine the possibilities and what your end of the year receipt would look like. Imagine what your end of life receipt will look like when you face the Lord Jesus (and everyone will, cf. Revelation 22). Imagine what your life would look like if you treasured what He treasures? Imagine if we trusted Him and awaited Him with anticipation rather than fear. Imagine what your life would look like if instead of believing the lies, you banked on the truth.

Freedom comes from choosing truth.

More on that later…