Matthew 6:19, says, “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 mom nor rust destroys and where thieves do not break in and steal for where your treasure is, there your heart will be also.”
It is profoundly important and fascinating to me that Jesus didn’t say this the other way around. In other words, “where your heart is, there your treasure will be.” Instead, he said, “put your treasure in heaven, and your heart will inevitably and allow.”
I’ve talked to scores of people who tell me they wish they could have the heart spiritual greats have for the Lord. Some even seem fearful that they just don’t have enough love in their heart to begin with—that they weren’t wired that way, “why don’t I love Jesus like I’m supposed to do?” They say. It could be (doesn’t have to be but could be)—that they do not know anything about the practice of, “heart manipulation.” Now I’m not a big fan of manipulation in general, usually it’s wrong—but our heart is a stubborn thing—therefore if we can redirect it toward the right things, I’m all for it.
Typically, that is not the direction of most people’s hearts. Look at what God said about the condition of the human heart in Jeremiah 17:9,
“The heart is deceitful above all things and beyond cure. Who can understand it?”
Sounds kinda hopeless, doesn’t it?
With man it is—but nothing is impossible with God. He says our hearts can be redirected toward good and godly pursuits. We just need to do a little heart manipulation—and the kind He describes is as effective as defibrillation for some people. It’s shocking at first, but eventually, your heart starts beating in a new rhythm for the things of Christ rather than the things of this world.
Why not give it a try?
If your dissatisfied, disillusioned and discouraged with the dead end roads our culture takes us down toward happiness, then redirect. Turn your heart in a new direction by laying up treasures in an entirely different place—heaven.
I know of no other way to save a dying heart.