September 2024 - Choices of the Heart

 

"Every choice you make has an end result."

- Zig Ziglar -

"For where your treasure is, there will your heart be also." (Matthew 6:21) This months verse is typically used to remind you to invest in heaven: focusing on where your heart is. But I would like to look at it from the another direction: not as a way to see where your heart already is, but rather as a way to direct your heart to where you want it to go. You may have your heart invested in things you don't want to be invested in, but as long as you still have time to work with, you can focus on changing your outcome. Using this viewpoint we get to combine two of my favorite subjects: Bible and Budgets :)

1. Accounting: you can't get to where you want to go if you don't know where you are. Start by taking a look at where you currently are. If you have an income, look at where you are spending it. I love to budget, so for me it is a simple process to look back through my app and see where all of my pennies are going. If you also do a budget, review that. If you don't, check out your credit card or bank statements. And if you have no way of backtracking, try marking down what you are spending, and where, for a week, and see what your habits show. For time, I love a good old fashioned planner. If you have a planner or calendar, check that. And if, like the budget, you just never got into that type of stuff, try marking down your time frame while tracking your money for the next week. Lastly, mark down a list of your talents and assets. If you struggle to know what they are, ask a family member, mentor, or close friend. And remember, a good education, your health, good family, influence, etc. all count as assets. 

2. Assessing: what treasure do you have to invest? This can include your time, money, talents, or any other resources you might have. This also includes availability. As Caleb Garraway put it, "The greatest ability is availability." 

3. Appraising: now you have to decide where you want to end up. It's says 'where your treasure is, there will your heart be also." You get to decide where you invest your treasure, which equals deciding where your heart ends up. Just like you can't reach your destination without knowing where you are, you can't reach your destination if you don't know where you're going. So choose your treasure box. If you want to love God more you'll need to invest in His work. If you want to be a builder of people, you'll need to spend your time helping others. The treasure box choices are limitless. One warning, when choosing remember Romans 14:12 "So then every one of us shall give account of himself to God." and Ecclesiastes 12:14 "For God shall bring every work into judgement, with every secret thing, whether it be good, or whether it be evil." 

4. Applying: go out and do it. There's no time like the present. Give to missions, pay for a child to go to camp, buy a Christmas present for a bus kid, reach out to someone who's lonely or hurting, write a note of encouragement, help an older person who struggles to get around, practice so you can play your instrument for others, eat healthy and exercise to retain your health... no matter your age, income, talents, or schedule, there is always something that you can do to invest in your chosen destinations.

5. Achieving: watch your treasure box fill. God promises if you invest, your heart will follow. You get to choose, so choose wisely!  "For where your treasure is, there will your heart be also." (Matthew 6:21)