Monday

Related Verses
Matt. 6:19-20
19 Do not store up for yourselves treasures on the earth, where moth and rust consume and where thieves dig through and steal.
20 But store up for yourselves treasures in heaven, where neither moth nor rust consumes and where thieves do not dig through nor steal.

Matt. 5:3
3 Blessed are the poor in spirit, for theirs is the kingdom of the heavens.

Matt. 13:43
43 Then the righteous will shine forth like the sun in the kingdom of their Father. He who has ears to hear, let him hear.

Heb. 13:5
5 Let your way of life be without the love of money, being satisfied with the things which are at hand; for He Himself has said, “I shall by no means give you up, neither by any means shall I abandon you”;

1 Tim. 6:10-11
10 For the love of money is a root of all evils, because of which some, aspiring after money, have been led away from the faith and pierced themselves through with many pains.
11 But you, O man of God, flee these things, and pursue righteousness, godliness, faith, love, endurance, meekness.

2 Tim. 3:2-3
2 For men will be lovers of self, lovers of money, boasters, arrogant, revilers, disobedient to parents, unthankful, unholy,
3 Without natural affection, implacable, slanderers, without self-control, savage, not lovers of good,

Related Reading
“In Matthew 6:19 and 20 the King decreed that the kingdom people should not store up for themselves treasures on earth but treasures in heaven. To store up treasures in heaven is to give material things to the poor (19:21) and to care for the needy saints (Acts 2:45; 4:34-35; 11:29; Rom. 15:26) and the Lord’s servants (Phil. 4:16-17). 

Matthew 6:21 says, “Where your treasure is, there will your heart be also.” The kingdom people must send their treasure to heaven so that their heart can also be in heaven. Before they go there, their treasure and their heart must go there first. (Life-study of Matthew, p. 255) 

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Our eyes can focus on only one thing at a time. If we endeavor to see two things at once, our vision will be blurred. If we focus our eyes on one thing, our vision will be single, and our whole body will be full of light [Matt. 6:22]. If we store up our treasure both in heaven and on earth, our spiritual vision will be blurred. For our vision to be single, we must store up our treasure in one place. 

Verse 23 says, “If your eye is evil, your whole body will be dark. If then the light that is in you is darkness, how great is the darkness!” To look at two objects at the same time, not focusing on one object alone, is to make our eye evil (cf. 20:15; Deut. 15:9; Prov. 28:22). In such a case, our whole body will be dark. If our heart is fixed on treasure stored up on earth, the light that is in us will become darkness, and great will be the darkness. 

Matthew 6:24 says, “No one can serve two masters, for either he will hate the one and love the other, or he will hold to one and despise the other. You cannot serve God and mammon.” In Greek, hold to one and despise the other means to be devoted to one and be against the other. The word mammon is an Aramaic word signifying wealth, riches. Mammon stands in opposition to God, indicating that wealth, or riches, is the opponent of God, robbing God’s people of their service to Him. 

Verse 25 says, “Because of this, I say to you, Do not be anxious for your life, what you should eat or what you should drink; nor for your body, what you should put on. Is not the life more than food, and the body than clothing?” In this verse the Lord told us not to be anxious for our life. The Greek word translated “life” here is soul, referring to the soul-life, where the desire, the appetite, for food and clothing resides (Isa. 29:8). Our life is more than food, and our body is more than clothing. Both our life and our body were brought into existence by God, not by our anxiety. Since God created us with a life and a body, surely He will care for their needs. The kingdom people do not need to be anxious about these things. 

Matthew 6:31 says, “Therefore do not be anxious, saying, What shall we eat? or, What shall we drink? or, With what shall we be clothed?” Here we come to the crucial matter in verses 19 through 34. Apparently, in this section of the constitution, the Lord was speaking about the material riches of the kingdom people. Actually, He was dealing with the matter of anxiety…In these verses the word anxious is used six times (vv. 25, 27, 28, 31, 34). It may also seem that the Lord is touching our heart, for where our treasure is, there our heart is also. However, our heart is related not only to riches but to many other things. 

In His speaking in chapter 6 of Matthew, the Lord apparently was dealing with the matter of riches. In reality, however, He was touching the matter of anxiety, the basic problem of our human living…Verses 19 through 34 seemingly touch our wealth, our riches; actually, the Lord’s intention here was to touch anxiety, the source of the problem of our daily living. The whole world is involved with anxiety. (Life-study of Matthew, pp. 256-257, 259) 

Further Reading: Life-study of Matthew, msg. 22