Day 12: What Is Jesus Changing in Me?
Friday Rhythm
Bible Reading
Devotional
Journaling
Bible Reading: Matthew 6:19–34
Lay Up Treasures in Heaven
19 “Do not lay up for yourselves treasures on earth, where moth and rust destroy and where thieves break in and steal, 20 but lay up for yourselves treasures in heaven, where neither moth nor rust destroys and where thieves do not break in and steal. 21 For where your treasure is, there your heart will be also.
22 “The eye is the lamp of the body. So, if your eye is healthy, your whole body will be full of light, 23 but if your eye is bad, your whole body will be full of darkness. If then the light in you is darkness, how great is the darkness!
24 “No one can serve two masters, for either he will hate the one and love the other, or he will be devoted to the one and despise the other. You cannot serve God and money.
Do Not Be Anxious
25 “Therefore I tell you, do not be anxious about your life, what you will eat or what you will drink, nor about your body, what you will put on. Is not life more than food, and the body more than clothing? 26 Look at the birds of the air: they neither sow nor reap nor gather into barns, and yet your heavenly Father feeds them. Are you not of more value than they? 27 And which of you by being anxious can add a single hour to his span of life? 28 And why are you anxious about clothing? Consider the lilies of the field, how they grow: they neither toil nor spin, 29 yet I tell you, even Solomon in all his glory was not arrayed like one of these. 30 But if God so clothes the grass of the field, which today is alive and tomorrow is thrown into the oven, will he not much more clothe you, O you of little faith? 31 Therefore do not be anxious, saying, ‘What shall we eat?’ or ‘What shall we drink?’ or ‘What shall we wear?’ 32 For the Gentiles seek after all these things, and your heavenly Father knows that you need them all. 33 But seek first the kingdom of God and his righteousness, and all these things will be added to you.
34 “Therefore do not be anxious about tomorrow, for tomorrow will be anxious for itself. Sufficient for the day is its own trouble.
Devotional
What Is Jesus Changing in Me?
Matthew 6:33 ESV
“But seek first the kingdom of God and his righteousness, and all these things will be added to you.”
This week Jesus has been taking us beneath outward behavior and into the places where our motives, desires, anger, approval, honesty, forgiveness, and trust are formed. Matthew 6 continues that same work by turning our attention toward treasure, money, and worry. These are not random topics. They reveal what has captured our heart and what we are depending on to make us feel secure. As we come toward the end of this week on transformation, the question is not simply whether we learned something new. It is worth asking whether Jesus has been showing us something about ourselves that He wants to change.
Jesus begins this section by talking about treasure. He warns us against building our lives around things that can be lost, destroyed, or taken away, and then He says, “For where your treasure is, there your heart will be also.” Money, possessions, careers, homes, accomplishments, and plans for the future are not automatically wrong. Many of them are good gifts from God. The problem begins when we expect those things to provide the security, identity, or satisfaction that only God can give. Anything in this world can change, and even good things become dangerous when our ability to feel okay depends on keeping them.
That gives us a helpful way to look back over this week. Instead of only asking what we say matters most to us, we can look at what has actually been receiving our time, attention, energy, and thought. What have I been thinking about when my mind has a few quiet minutes? What am I afraid of losing? What situation has taken up so much space in my thoughts that everything else seems to revolve around it? Those questions can reveal our treasure because what we value most often becomes the thing our minds repeatedly return to.
Sometimes what has our heart is not obviously sinful. A career can be a good gift while quietly becoming the place where we prove our worth. Providing for our family is responsible, while money can slowly become the thing that makes us feel safe. Relationships are gifts from God, while another person’s approval can become so important that we begin making decisions based on keeping them happy. Transformation requires us to ask more than whether something is good or bad. We also need to ask what place it has been given in our lives and what it is doing to our heart.
Jesus continues by talking about the eye as the lamp of the body, drawing our attention toward what we allow to shape the way we see. That feels especially important in a world where there is almost no limit to what can compete for our attention. Our phones can give us an endless stream of news, opinions, entertainment, advertising, outrage, and glimpses into other people’s lives. We can consume all of it without realizing how much it is shaping our emotions and expectations. If I continually fill my mind with things that make me angry, I should not be surprised when anger becomes easier. If I constantly compare my life to someone else’s, contentment becomes harder. If every quiet moment is immediately filled with noise, it becomes difficult to notice what is happening inside me.
Jesus then makes His teaching even more direct when He says that we cannot serve both God and money. He does not condemn money itself. Money is useful, necessary, and capable of doing tremendous good. What Jesus exposes is how easily something we are supposed to use becomes something that begins ruling us. Serving money can certainly look like greed, but it can also look like fear. We can become convinced that once we reach a certain number, earn a certain amount, or have enough stored away, then we will finally feel secure. The number can keep changing because money was never designed to carry the weight of being our source of security.
From there Jesus moves directly into worry, and the connection makes sense. The things we treasure and trust are often the same things we worry about losing. Jesus tells His followers not to be anxious about their lives, and He points to ordinary needs like food and clothing. He is not pretending that those needs are unimportant. For many of the people listening to Him, they were serious daily concerns. Jesus points them toward a Father who already knows what they need.
He uses birds and flowers as examples of God’s care, not because He wants us to become irresponsible, but because He wants to expose the belief that everything ultimately depends on us. Scripture values work, planning, wisdom, and responsibility, but none of those things gives us control over every possible outcome. Worry can make us feel productive because our mind is constantly working on the problem, yet much of the time we are simply rehearsing possibilities we cannot control.
That is why Jesus asks what anxiety actually adds to our lives. We can spend hours mentally living in a future that has not happened yet and still be no more prepared when tomorrow arrives. This does not mean that anxiety always disappears because we read one verse or say one prayer. There are real emotional and physical struggles associated with anxiety, and Jesus is not shaming someone for experiencing them. His words invite us to notice what our worry is revealing and bring those places into the care of the Father.
Maybe worry is showing me that I am trying to control an outcome that I cannot control. Maybe it is revealing how much of my security has become tied to a particular job, relationship, financial situation, or plan for the future. Maybe it is exposing the belief that if I do not keep thinking about the problem, somehow everything will fall apart. There are responsibilities that require action, but there are also burdens we carry simply because we are afraid to place them into God’s hands.
Jesus gives us a different direction when He says to seek first the kingdom of God and His righteousness. Seeking first does not mean neglecting our responsibilities. We still go to work, pay bills, make plans, have difficult conversations, save money, care for our families, and deal with the realities in front of us. What changes is the order underneath those decisions. Instead of first asking how we can make everything work out the way we want, we begin asking what faithfulness to Jesus looks like in the situation we have been given.
Sometimes that faithfulness means taking action. Other times it means waiting. It may mean telling the truth when dishonesty would make life easier, being generous when fear tells us to hold tighter, forgiving when resentment feels safer, or resting when constant activity has become another attempt to control everything. Seeking the kingdom first means Jesus gets to determine what obedience looks like, even when His way does not immediately make us feel more comfortable.
As we look back over this week, transformation may be quieter than we expected. Maybe Jesus exposed anger beneath the surface that we had been ignoring. Maybe we noticed how deeply we want other people’s approval. Maybe we realized that worry has been directing more of our decisions than we thought. Perhaps money, comfort, control, recognition, or another person’s opinion has occupied a place in our heart that belongs to God.
Seeing those things can feel discouraging, especially when we think we should be further along by now, but awareness can actually be evidence that God is already working. We cannot surrender something we refuse to see. When Jesus exposes an area that needs transformation, His purpose is not simply to point out another way we have failed. He brings things into the light so that we can give Him access to them.
Think back over the last several days and consider where Jesus has been pressing on you most personally. Maybe a passage stayed with you, a conversation revealed a reaction you did not like, or you noticed a gap between the person others see and what has actually been happening inside. Pay attention to that place rather than rushing past it. Then consider what has been feeding worry in you lately and whether that worry is revealing something you have been trying to control.
You do not need to pretend that the situation does not matter. Bring the real concern to Jesus and tell Him exactly what you are afraid of. Then ask what faithfulness looks like today. Jesus ends this section by reminding us not to carry tomorrow before it arrives. We cannot live tomorrow yet, and we cannot obey Jesus tomorrow today. We can follow Him in the day He has actually given us.
At the end of this week, the most important question is not whether we managed to behave perfectly. It is whether Jesus is changing us. Maybe we are noticing an old pattern sooner, apologizing more quickly, becoming more honest about our motives, catching ourselves when worry begins taking over, or becoming less controlled by what other people think. Those changes may not feel dramatic, but they are part of the slow work of transformation. Jesus is working beneath the surface, teaching us to seek His kingdom first and trust our Father with everything else.
Prayer
Jesus, thank You for continuing to work in the parts of my life that other people cannot see. Show me where my treasure has been and what has been shaping my attention, decisions, and sense of security. If I have allowed money, approval, comfort, control, or anything else to take a place that belongs to You, help me see it clearly and surrender it to You.
Show me what has been feeding worry in me. Give me wisdom to act faithfully where I have responsibility and faith to trust You with what is outside my control. Teach me to seek Your kingdom first in my finances, relationships, schedule, decisions, and the way I respond under pressure. Thank You that You do not expose these areas simply to make me feel guilty, but because You love me enough to continue changing me. Keep transforming me from the inside out so that more of my life reflects You. In Jesus’ name, amen.
Journaling
Looking Back
Jesus has taken us beneath outward behavior and into the private places where motives, worry, money, approval, anger, and desire are formed. Transformation is usually quieter than we expect. It often begins when we stop protecting one area of life from the presence of Jesus.
Journal Questions
What part of the Sermon on the Mount challenged me most?
Where did I notice a gap between my public behavior and my private thoughts or motives?
What has been feeding worry in me?
What private practice helped me pay attention to the Father this week?
What is one teaching of Jesus I need to put into practice instead of only agreeing with?
One Response to Carry Forward
Complete this sentence: 'Jesus is changing the way I...