Is What You Want Controlling Your Life?

Devotional

Day 1: When Treasures Become Dog Toys

Jesus compares earthly treasures to underwear destroyed by moths – or overzealous pets. Earthly security wears out, gets stolen, or becomes useless despite our efforts to preserve it. What we repeatedly invest in – whether possessions, comfort, or control – inevitably claims our hearts. Yet these temporary treasures cannot bear the weight of being life’s ultimate purpose. Lasting investments require aligning our resources with what matters to God’s eternal kingdom. True freedom comes when we hold earthly things loosely. [35:15]

“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, where moths and vermin do not destroy, and where thieves do not break in and steal. For where your treasure is, there your heart will be also.”
(Matthew 6:19-21, NIV)

Reflection: What possession, habit, or pursuit have you been “chewing on” like the pastor’s dog – something temporary you’re treating as essential? How might reallocating time/money toward eternal things loosen its grip?

Day 2: Eyeglasses for the Soul

Just as blurred vision requires corrective lenses, our spiritual sight needs recalibration. What we fixate on – others’ achievements, scarcity, or discontent – shapes our inner world. A neighbor’s need can look like either a burden or a divine appointment. Gratitude becomes the prescription that sharpens our focus on God’s daily gifts. Like the pastor’s deteriorating eyesight at 40, what once felt clear spiritually may now need adjustment. [38:17]

“The eye is the lamp of the body. If your eyes are healthy, your whole body will be full of light. But if your eyes are unhealthy, your whole body will be full of darkness. If then the light within you is darkness, how great is that darkness!”
(Matthew 6:22-23, NIV)

Reflection: Where have comparison or resentment distorted your vision this week? What specific practice could help you see God’s provision more clearly today?

Day 3: The Backseat Driver in Your Soul

Autonomous cars illustrate how unchecked desires steer us into dead ends. We claim control while being driven by hidden masters – approval, comfort, or self-sufficiency. Like the Waymo car circling obstinately, we repeat destructive patterns while insisting “I’ve got this.” Jesus exposes the myth of self-mastery: we either serve God or whatever we’re trying to manage on our own. Surrender isn’t passivity – it’s choosing a trustworthy Driver. [46:22]

“No one can serve two masters. Either you will hate the one and love the other, or you will be devoted to the one and despise the other. You cannot serve both God and money.”
(Matthew 6:24, NIV)

Reflection: What “backseat driver” (fear, people-pleasing, etc.) keeps grabbing the wheel? Where do you need to hand over the keys completely today?

Day 4: Birds, Lilies, and Panic Attacks

Anxiety thrives when we mistake our role as providers rather than children. The pastor’s post-pandemic panic attacks reveal how self-reliance collapses under life’s weight. Birds don’t stockpile seeds; lilies don’t stress about next season’s fashions. Trust grows when we shift from asking “How will I fix this?” to “What can I entrust today?” Like the stoplight analogy, sometimes God says “Wait” not to punish, but to parent. [53:17]

“Look at the birds of the air; they do not sow or reap or store away in barns, and yet your heavenly Father feeds them. Are you not much more valuable than they? Can any one of you by worrying add a single hour to your life?”
(Matthew 6:26-27, NIV)

Reflection: What specific worry have you been “stockpiling” like grain in a barn? How would receiving it as a child – not a CEO – change your prayers?

Day 5: The Core Values of Eternity

Churches aren’t the only ones needing focused priorities. Our daily “yeses” reveal what we truly value. Every choice to seek God’s kingdom – through honest speech, inconvenient generosity, or uncomfortable forgiveness – realigns us with heaven’s core values. Like the church filtering ministries through their mission, we must ask: Does this activity/store purchase/relationship reflect Christ’s reign? First things first isn’t a slogan – it’s the architecture of freedom. [57:41]

“But seek first his kingdom and his righteousness, and all these things will be given to you as well. Therefore do not worry about tomorrow, for tomorrow will worry about itself. Each day has enough trouble of its own.”
(Matthew 6:33-34, NIV)

Reflection: What one “yes” to God’s kingdom would require saying “no” to a lesser priority this week? How can you take that step before sunset today?

Sermon Summary

Jesus calls His disciples to put first things first by looking beneath schedules, spending, and everyday choices to the desires that are really directing life. Incentives are powerful. People can believe honesty, generosity, and obedience matter, yet bend those convictions when comfort, approval, plans, or fear of loss pull harder. Jesus brings that competition into the open: “Where your treasure is, there your heart will be also.”

Jesus connects treasure, eyesight, and masters because each one exposes what has hold of the heart. Earthly things are not bad gifts, but they wear out, get stolen, get lost, or get eaten by a dog. Possessions, relationships, ministry, reputation, and comfort can all become idols when they become ultimate. Jesus does not say that treasure merely follows the heart. He says the heart follows treasure. Time, money, and energy invested somewhere will slowly make that thing matter more and more.

The eye also shapes the soul. A healthy eye sees a neighbor’s need and asks how to help. A darkened eye sees the same neighbor and asks what it will cost. Constantly looking at what others have feeds dissatisfaction, while gratitude helps a person see God’s gifts rightly. What gets put before the eyes does not just affect focus. It shapes what is happening on the inside.

Jesus then makes the issue plain: no one can serve both God and money. Money itself is useful, but love of money masters people. Approval, control, comfort, and getting one’s own way can master people too. Nobody lives without a master. The question is whether Jesus will be the good Master, or whether desires will keep driving life like a car trying to move forward without a driver.

Jesus follows this warning with “therefore, do not worry.” Anxiety often reveals what a person depends on and fears losing. Financial insecurity, disapproval, and uncertainty become unbearable when money, approval, or control have become the source of peace. Yet the Father knows what His children need. Birds and flowers show God’s care, not because needs are unimportant, but because the Father is more attentive than anxiety allows a person to believe.

Jesus gives the pursuit that puts everything else in order: seek first the kingdom of God and His righteousness. That pursuit reaches into money, family, work, honesty, generosity, mercy, and every yes that requires a no somewhere else. God does not promise an easy life or instant outcomes. God calls His people to take the next faithful step, wait on Him when they cannot fix the situation, and leave tomorrow in the Father’s hands.

Key Takeaways

1. Treasure directs the heart’s deepest love. Jesus reverses the usual assumption that spending simply reveals what the heart already loves. Investments also train the heart to love what receives repeated money, time, and energy. Good gifts become dangerous when they carry the weight only God can carry. [36:06]
2. Eyesight shapes desires and gratitude. The eyes can turn a neighbor into a burden, a gift into an entitlement, and another person’s life into a reason for dissatisfaction. Gratitude is not denial of hardship. Gratitude is a way of seeing God’s actual gifts rather than being ruled by what is missing. [39:43]
3. Every life serves some master. Freedom does not mean having no master. Control, approval, comfort, money, and desire can all make slaves of people while promising freedom. Christ alone is the good Master whose authority brings life into its proper order. [42:33]
4. Anxiety reveals misplaced sources of security. Worry becomes consuming when a person believes peace depends on money, control, or another person’s approval. The Father does not dismiss real needs, but He knows them before His children can solve them. Waiting on God is not passivity when faithful action is no longer possible. [50:27]
5. Seek the kingdom, then take steps. Seeking first God’s kingdom changes what gets priority when good options compete. God does not hand over the whole road map, but He gives grace for the next faithful step. Obedience means entrusting outcomes to the Father instead of trying to carry every ball in the air. [56:09]

Youtube Chapters

[00:00] - Welcome
[28:26] - Incentives and Competing Desires
[32:39] - Putting First Things First
[33:02] - Treasure, Eyesight, and Masters
[34:33] - Earthly Treasure Cannot Last
[37:28] - What the Eyes Feed
[40:47] - God or Money as Master
[43:00] - When Desires Bend Convictions
[45:57] - The Driverless Car Illustration
[48:13] - Do Not Be Consumed by Anxiety
[51:49] - Learning to Wait on God
[56:09] - Seek First the Kingdom
[58:47] - Three Questions for the Week

Bible Study Guide

Bible Reading

Matthew 6:19-34
“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, where moths and vermin do not destroy, and where thieves do not break in and steal. For where your treasure is, there your heart will be also. The eye is the lamp of the body. If your eyes are healthy, your whole body will be full of light. But if your eyes are unhealthy, your whole body will be full of darkness. If then the light within you is darkness, how great is that darkness! No one can serve two masters. Either you will hate the one and love the other, or you will be devoted to the one and despise the other. You cannot serve both God and money. Therefore I tell you, do not worry about your life, what you will eat or drink; or about your body, what you will wear. Is not life more than food, and the body more than clothes? Look at the birds of the air; they do not sow or reap or store away in barns, and yet your heavenly Father feeds them. Are you not much more valuable than they? Can any one of you by worrying add a single hour to your life? And why do you worry about clothes? See how the flowers of the field grow. They do not labor or spin. Yet I tell you that not even Solomon in all his splendor was dressed like one of these. If that is how God clothes the grass of the field, which is here today and tomorrow is thrown into the fire, will he not much more clothe you—you of little faith? So do not worry, saying, ‘What shall we eat?’ or ‘What shall we drink?’ or ‘What shall we wear?’ For the pagans run after all these things, and your heavenly Father knows that you need them. But seek first his kingdom and his righteousness, and all these things will be given to you as well. Therefore do not worry about tomorrow, for tomorrow will worry about itself. Each day has enough trouble of its own.” [28:30]

Matthew 6:24
“No one can serve two masters. Either you will hate the one and love the other, or you will be devoted to the one and despise the other. You cannot serve both God and money.” [33:44]

Matthew 6:33
“But seek first his kingdom and his righteousness, and all these things will be given to you as well.” [49:45]

Observation questions

What three connected areas does Jesus address in Matthew 6:19–24, and how does each one reveal what is directing a person’s life? [34:16]
What examples show why earthly treasures are temporary or unreliable, even when they are good gifts? [34:41]
In the passage, what contrasts are made between a healthy eye and a darkened eye, and how are those contrasts illustrated by the way someone views a neighbor’s need? [38:56]
What reasons does Jesus give in Matthew 6:25–34 for not being consumed by worry? [50:01]

Interpretation questions

Jesus says that the heart follows treasure. How does repeated investment of money, time, and energy in something gradually make that thing more important to a person? [36:06]
Why can good things such as relationships, ministry, possessions, reputation, or comfort become idols? What changes when a good gift becomes ultimate? [36:37]
Jesus says no one can serve both God and money. How can approval, control, comfort, or getting one’s own way function like money by becoming a competing master? [43:20]
How does the connection between Jesus’ warning about masters and His command not to worry help explain why anxiety can reveal misplaced security? [50:22]

Application questions

What has been receiving a repeated share of your money, time, energy, attention, or emotional concern lately? What might that pattern reveal about your treasure? [47:41]
Is there a desire for comfort, approval, control, financial security, or a certain outcome that makes obedience harder right now? Where are you tempted to say, “I know what God says, but…”? [44:57]
What has your attention been fixed on that feeds dissatisfaction—perhaps another person’s lifestyle, possessions, opportunities, or approval? What specific practice of gratitude could help you see God’s gifts more clearly this week? [39:36]
When you see someone’s need, what is usually your first response: “How can I help?” or “What will this cost me?” What would it look like to take one wise, practical step of mercy? [38:56]
What worry feels especially heavy right now? Is the fear connected to losing money, approval, control, comfort, or something else that has become a source of security? [50:27]
Is there a situation in which you have taken the faithful steps available to you but cannot control the outcome? What could it mean to wait on God rather than keep trying to carry what only He can handle? [54:19]
What one decision this week—at work, at home, in spending, in relationships, or in your schedule—would change if God’s kingdom and righteousness truly came first? What is the next faithful step? [59:18]

Sermon Clips

46s

#TreasureShapesTheHeart

“We might expect him to say, where your heart is, your treasure will follow. But Jesus shows us that our investments, what we what we treasure actually direct our actions and also our affection. What we end up treasuring, we end up loving. Put money, time, energy into something and you begin caring deeply about what happens to it. You just do. You've made an investment. Invest into a relationship, that relationship matters more to you. Invest in a ministry even, and you begin noticing that it consumes you to some extent.”

51s

#TrustOverAnxiety

“The therefore, in verse 25, connects what Jesus has said and with what follows. He addresses our treasure, our vision, our master, and then he says, therefore, he tells us, don't be consumed by anxiety because there is a lot to be anxious about in life, But don't be consumed by it. There's a connection between what we depend on and what we fear losing. If my security rests entirely in money, every every threat to my finances becomes a threat to my peace. If my identity rests in approval, someone's disappointment will shake my whole world. If I depend on having control, uncertainty makes life unbearable.”

39s

#KingdomFirst

“We do this as a people invited into a relationship with the Father through Jesus. Our obedience grows from grace and care by him. So this week, I wanna consider three questions for you. What am I pursuing so strongly that I'm tempted to bend my convictions? What outcome am I carrying that I need to entrust to the father? And what choice would change if God's kingdom truly did come first in my life?”

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Is What You Want Controlling Your Life? | Matthew 6:19–34