What Rules Your Heart? Treasure, Two Masters, and One Priority in Matthew 6

How do you know what really comes first in your life? Jesus says, "Where your treasure is, there your heart will be also" (Matthew 6:21). Whatever rules your heart directs your life. In Matthew 6, Jesus calls you to make His kingdom your one priority, not one priority among many.

Why does the kingdom of God feel upside down?

The kingdom feels upside down because we are the ones turned around. For example, Pastor Sean Sloan remembered hanging upside down from the monkey bars as a kid. From that position, it looks like you are the only one right side up and everything around you is inverted.

That is how the world looks to a follower of Jesus. What society celebrates as moral, God's Word calls immoral, and what the world considers wise, Scripture calls foolish. Everything is not lost; it is simply turned around.

The solution is as simple as it is profound: turn around. To repent is to turn around and go the other direction, returning to the King.

When Jesus talked about the kingdom of heaven, He did not mean a place on a map. The kingdom of heaven is wherever God's rule is present and people are submitted to His authority.

What does "where your treasure is" mean?

It means your heart follows what you value most. Jesus said it right after teaching His disciples to pray, "your kingdom come, your will be done."

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 to 21

Pastor Sean compared what Americans spend every year on categories such as health care, fitness, beauty, and clothing with what they give to their church. He said the average gift is around $300 a year. "I think the reality is we've got a wrong priority," he said.

He was not saying you shouldn't take care of yourself or own nice things. Jesus is asking you to evaluate your priority and the outcome that priority is producing. Your most valuable treasure is your time, so are you investing it in things that will last?

Can you have more than one priority?

No. The word priority comes from prior, meaning first, and only one thing can ever be first. If everything is important, then nothing is important.

But seek first his kingdom and his righteousness, and all these things will be given to you as well.

Matthew 6:33

You don't add God to your list of priorities, because He is the priority. That is why the greatest command is to love the Lord your God with all your heart, soul, mind, and strength. As Pastor Sean put it, "If He isn't Lord of all, He isn't Lord at all."

Seeking first is choosing God's rule as the single priority that shapes every other part of life. It doesn't mean praying all day without eating or sleeping. It means putting Christ first as a student, a parent, an employee, a business owner, or a minister. You stop waking up with a "gotta get mine" attitude. Instead you pray, "Give us today our daily bread."

Some translations of Matthew 6:22 describe a "single" eye, and a healthy eye represents a single, undivided focus. Jesus will not be King at church and absent at school, work, or the pub. At any moment, you are serving the King of kings or you are serving yourself.

Why can't you serve two masters?

You can't serve two masters because only one can be king, and every human being serves someone.

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

Here is the surprising part: the idea that you can direct your own life didn't originate with you. It came from a voice in the garden that said, "Eat this and you'll be like God." That voice belonged to the serpent. So when you live for yourself, you are following the deceiver, even when it feels like freedom.

That is why Jesus taught us to pray, "deliver us from the evil one." Greed is the lie that God won't provide enough. Lust is the lie that you can get more than God gives. Hatred is the lie that someone else's pain will relieve yours.

We still tend to believe our own direction is better than God's direction, yet "there is a way that appears to be right, but in the end it leads to death" (Proverbs 16:25). The King we walked away from sent His only Son to be the way back. Jesus invites everyone tired of striving and worry, "Come to me, all you who are weary and burdened, and I will give you rest" (Matthew 11:28).

The way back is humility. James 4 says, "Submit yourselves, then, to God. Resist the devil, and he will flee from you." And "Humble yourselves before the Lord, and he will lift you up" (James 4:7, 10). Jesus said whoever loses their life for Him will find it (Matthew 16:25).

What changes when Christ is King?

Everything you call "mine" becomes something you steward for Him. Pastor Sean put it this way: change your language, change your life.

• Your marriage. Marriage is an oath taken under God to honor, care for, and love your husband or wife and put their interests above your own. Your spouse is a son or daughter of the King and His gift to you.
• Your kids. You don't direct their lives. You steward a life God gave you and train them to know the God who made them on purpose.
• Your money. It comes from God's supply, and He entrusts a portion to you. In Malachi 3, God says, "Return to me, and I will return to you." The tithe shows whether you honor Him as the source.

The problem isn't your management; it's your heart. Return to the King, and you will discover all these things added to you.

Common questions

What does "seek first the kingdom of God" mean?

It means making God's rule the one priority that shapes every other part of your life. Matthew 6:33 promises that when you do, your heavenly Father will provide what you need.

What does "where your treasure is, there your heart will be" mean?

Jesus teaches in Matthew 6:21 that your heart follows what you value. Where you spend your money and time shows what really rules your heart.

Why can't you serve God and money?

Matthew 6:24 says no one can serve two masters, because each one demands your devotion. Only one can be king, and every person ends up serving someone.

What is a healthy or single eye in Matthew 6:22?

Jesus says a healthy eye fills the whole body with light. Some translations say a single eye. It describes a single focus on God instead of a divided, double-minded heart.