
As I mentioned two weeks ago, Wendy and I have been running a kids holiday club at North Bradley Baptist Church and throughout this week the kids were all encouraged to find the clues that led to the treasure.
To sum up on the Sunday morning family service we used the well known verse from Luke 12: 34, "For where your treasure is, there shall your heart be also." The question that arises from this verse is, "Where is your treasure?"

What or who has first place in our lives? As I pondered this further, I mused that there are many questions that come our way relating to the priorities that we give certain things or activities. The answer to these questions can show where our priorities lie.
As I think through my own life, there have been many times when I have had to think about where my treasure is:
- whether I would play with a football team who played their matches on Sundays;
- whether I would move up to the Company Section of the Boys Brigade or continue attending the Singing Company practices;
- whether I would study for my exams on a Sunday morning, or attend the meetings;
- whether I was prepared to work on Sundays;
- whether I would be willing to tithe 10% of my income to the Lord;
- whether I would seek the Lord's plan for my life or keep to my own ways;
- and many more examples.
Often where we have got these matters wrong is thinking about them in terms of being the right or wrong thing to do. The gospel of grace reminds us that God is willing to forgive all our wrongdoings ... therefore our answer to the above question of "where is our treasure?" becomes a matter of devotion.
How I respond to questions like these shows, not whether I have made the right or wrong decision in a legalistic sense, but shows the depth of my devotion to Christ.
Albert Osborn writes:
"More than all my lips may utter, more than all I do or bring,
Is the depth of my devotion to my Saviour, Lord and King.
Nothing less will keep me tender, nothing less will keep me true;
Nothing less will keep the fragrance and the bloom on all I do!
In the secret of Thy presence, in the hiding of Thy power,
Let me love Thee, let me serve Thee, every consecrated hour."
May God bless you this week as you consider your response to the question, "Where is your treasure?"
Graeme Parkhill