Dallas Willard in his book The Divine Conspiracy: Rediscovering Our Hidden Life In God walks us through the temptations that block us from the flow of Kingdom life.

In Matthew 6 there are two major obstacles. One is the approval of others. The second is the bondage of wealth.

Treasures are not things that have monetary value necessarily. But if we take great pains to protect them, they become “treasures.” It could be our reputation, our relationship to another person, or the security we think is provided through our job or our country.

Loving God is treasuring him. We hold him and his dear.

The obstacles in our lives will be found out when loving God becomes a problem because we are holding on to something else. That “something else” will be more dear to us than God.

We too often have the “something else” as our treasure. It is not just monetary, but it is often monetary.

In my own religious tradition, Pentecostalism, we had a tough go of it early on. Pentecostals were “on the other side of the tracks.” Not much money. Buildings were not very attractive. We were separated from the world’s activities so we didn’t have that great a reputation in the community.

Not so anymore. We have beautiful buildings, influence, and more. And it’s not always good news when that happens. In many cases it has led us to treasure the gifts God has given us much less than the donor who can bring him in some huge monetary gift.

Material goods can certainly be used for God. We can certainly use money to glorify God when we give. That is not the issue.

It is the matter of treasure.

Too often we see the “treasure” of God as something that is for the sweet by and by. We don’t see the power of eternity in our own space and time. Too often we are consumed with how our accounts are with this world far and above how are accounts are with God.

If we had to choose between having good credit with a bank and having good credit with God, which way would we go?

We just battle anxiety! Jesus tells us we have no reason to be anxious, but anxious we are! We worry about provision. We worry about the stuff we have and wring our hands over the things we don’t have.

If “mammon” is our value, we already have our reward. It is anxiety.

If Christ is our value, we already have our reward. It’s not in the sweet by and by. It is Kingdom power here and now. We have “manna” every day.