Where's your treasure?

I don't want to get preachy or anything, but sometimes news items seem so directly to relate to the Gospel. Jesus taught, "Where your treasure is, there will your heart be also." Yesterday's issue of The New York Times carried a story on Dr. Nicholas Bartha's long divorce battle which ended in his suicide attempt leading to the destruction of his beloved townhouse.

The Times article has a one-time attorney for Dr. Bartha say about the purchase of the townhouse, "Dr. Bartha’s joy over the purchase was intense and immediate...For him, it symbolized validation, proof of success."

If newspaper accounts are accurate, Bartha invested much more of himself and his identity in the townhouse than in his wife and daughters. I don't write this to bash a man while he is down, but to point out to myself how important it is that I invest my time, energy and money in my family, friends and most importantly with my God.

Bartha's despondency seems to stem from the great importance he placed on the building. It makes me wonder what is that important to me? If how I spend my time, energy and money show what I value, then where are my priorities? For it is not the case that my own priorities will necessarily drive my life. If I don't guard against it, I can let other needs and the needs of others take precedence over my own priorities. Perhaps that is why Jesus did not say, "Where your heart is there will your treasure be also." Instead he warned that the places where we spend our time, energy and money will where our heart will be found. So where do I want my heart? Certainly not in some thing, even if that thing is a wonderful building.

The sermon in the archives For where your treasure is looks at this saying alongside the life and words of Disney's #1 Fan.

peace,
Frank+
The Rev. Frank Logue, Pastor + King of Peace Episcopal Church