In episode two of season eight of the Loveshaped Life podcast, Nathan, Bob, and special guest Jan dive into Jesus’ revolutionary teaching on wealth from Matthew 6:19-21, exploring what it means to build treasure that actually lasts. Rather than treating this as a simple warning against materialism, the hosts unpack how Jesus offers a complete reframing of what constitutes real wealth - moving from earthly possessions that decay and disappear to eternal treasure that transforms both present and future.

The conversation explores three core areas of lasting wealth that Jesus identifies: character development (who we’re becoming when no one’s watching), blessing others through service and generosity, and experiencing genuine relationship with God. Bob emphasizes the crucial distinction between reputation (how others perceive us, especially on social media) and character (who we actually are behind closed doors), noting that character determines destiny in ways that earthly wealth never can. Jan shares a powerful personal story of discovering that true forgiveness - and the capacity to love like Jesus loves - only came through daily time with God, revealing how heavenly treasure isn’t just about the future but transforms how we live today.

The hosts offer practical guidance for building this lasting wealth, starting with accepting Jesus’ offer of forgiveness for the guilt and shame that weighs us down, then developing the rhythm of receiving God’s love and sharing it with others. Perfect for anyone who’s felt the emptiness of chasing worldly success markers or wondered what really matters in the long run, this episode reframes wealth as the capacity to love well, know God deeply, and invest in what can’t be taken away.

We carry guilt and shame, these are the things that are oppressing us and holding us down, and God is offering us forgiveness in the Savior. Maybe we don't understand the rest of the story. Maybe you're listening today and you don't understand the rest of the story. It's okay, but I think you can relate with the fact that we have guilt or shame that's bogging us down, or whatever the case may be, and that God is offering to forgive you.

Welcome to the Loveshaped Life podcast. We're in season eight, episode two, and it's titled wealth that counts, by the way, before you can forget, make sure to like and subscribe here on the Loveshaped Life podcast. Our dream is to see, experience and live in the wonder of God's love. I'm Nathan, and I'm in the studio today with my good friend Bob and our special guest for this season, Jan. It's good to have both of you. Good to be back for a second episode. How are you

I'm doing really well. Excited about this discussion.

Yeah, ditto, yeah. So wealth that counts. We're just in episode two, so our last episode, the big kind of the big idea was fast, but we called it power and pause. Power and pause. Thank you. Power and pause. So, so, yeah, the word kind of that really came up over and over and over again was fast. But what was like? The big takeaway from that

last episode, there's power and fasting and pausing and making the space to do it.

Yeah, right, living in a fast paced society, just carving time out in your life for those pauses to experience the power that God wants to give us, right? That's my takeaway, yeah, and I think it's really important for all of us to develop those habits.

And my big takeaway is this section of Jesus speech is about religious, performative religion, which is doing religious things for basically, external benefits, charity, charitable work. Because if I post it on social media, I'll get a bunch of likes, because people will be like, Wow, they went to such and such a place, and they're such a cool person, such a giving person. The religious leaders in Jesus day were all about religious practice for attention. And this section, this middle section, of Jesus speech, is all about spiritual practice for transformation, not for attention. So over and over again, whether it's prayer, whether it's charity and or whether it's fasting, Jesus is shifting the focus from external religious practice for attention to spiritual practices that lead to a reshaping of our lives. What do you guys think about that? Yeah, is that an accurate take spot on. Okay, so we're gonna, I'm gonna jump right in with the text, and then we're gonna get into our discussion. So this is in that middle third of Jesus speech. 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 moth nor rust destroys, and where thieves do not break in and steal For where your treasure is there, your heart will be also. What's the big idea? What's the first thing that hits you as we come into this teaching of Jesus, don't lay it for yourselves. Treasure on earth.

What hits me first is that the same problem with humanity. Then, is the same problem with humanity now, right? That we have this hunger and thirst for gaining wealth earthly treasures, there just seems to like in our society, the wealthier a person is, the more people seem to look up to them, right? You know, it's like it's a hungering thirst. People are always trying to get it. There's a little saying that the poor worry about how they're going to get in the rich now, the poor worry about how they're going to get in. The rich worry about how they're going to keep it right. So it's this vicious cycle. And Jesus is just saying, look, it's not about earthly treasure. There's more to life than right here and now. We all have to work. There's money to be gained. There's nothing wrong with that. But he's saying that you know where your heart needs to be is with with Kingdom, principles, Heaven principles, a different kind of treasure, a different kind of treasure, right? One so it lasts one that lasts, yeah, what hits

you first as you hear these words of Jesus,

I was contrasting this idea of earth and heaven and, well, I like maybe people have different ideas of what heaven means, but I think about Earth, where it's this thing we can see we. Can perceive it with our senses, but then you have this heaven, which is, you can't, you can't really see it. Maybe you've heard different things about it, but it's this idea of focusing on what you can't really see. Hmm, I

like that. The other contrast I like in that is Earth is this place right now, at least, Earth is this place where the stuff we have is susceptible to breakdown and decay. So there's like the active decay agents, like the bugs. Literally, bugs can eat your here in Florida where we're recording, bugs are big deal, right? Because you can get infested with what slipped my mind, if you have a wood house, termites, right? Termites are a big deal here in I have a generator in in my house, in Maine, my generator is we use it like once a year, which is pretty common, a pretty, pretty regular, compared to kind of the average place we'll get snow storms, wind storms. And one year, I had mice that got inside the electric circuitry, and I had to take it to the shop. So all the stuff we have here is really susceptible to break down, to decay, or, as Jesus says, breaking and entering, someone can come in and take your 75 inch flat screen. So for me, the contrast is earth and heaven. Heaven being the place where your wealth is untouchable versus earth being the place where your wealth is susceptible to being taken or decay. For me, that's the contrast that I see here.

And remember, in Jesus' time, wealth was in grain or precious metals or animals clothing or, yeah, but, but in, you couldn't hide your animals, but the other one that they hid, right? Thanks. Like today, right? Like we have banks and vaults and those kind of things, these, they had to hide their treasure. So it was much easier to dig a hole on a wall and steal somebody's treasure, perhaps, than it is today. But the principle was that this world is not our home. Royal is not your home. You know, there's something greater. Jesus was lifting the crowd's thoughts to something bigger. You know that there's a bigger picture here than just living in this world for like 70 years,

right to live that long

without being taken away by disasters or disease or whatever might befall

you, right? Right? Yeah, yeah.

So Jesus is directing their thoughts. Remember, they the crowd was still thinking he was going to set up an earthly kingdom, conquer the Romans. And he's talking about this kingdom, His kingdom, yeah, and it's a spiritual kingdom. And he's directing them to something greater, you know, which is beautiful thing, something that lasts again, wealth that lasts, not wealth that deteriorates, and somebody can break in and steal, but wealth at last, right? That heavenly treasure, yep,

yep, yep. You know one the concept that I think of in life is, I can use an hourglass to illustrate. This is a classic kind of old school timer. So you flip the hourglass. It's a nice hourglass, yeah, and the sand. So the sand is coming down. And you know how these work for the games, those little plastic ones are used in the game. So I like to think of, this is my life today, right? And this is the moment I'm living that narrow neck. This is the moment I'm living, and this at the bottom is, is what on my life is becoming so let's say, Here's my life, and this is my job. I'm working eight hours a day, and I'm producing something with my life. So the something I'm producing with my life maybe is paying the mortgage. Maybe it's getting that boat, maybe it's getting the maybe it's getting some more stock. So my life, this, my life, as I spend it, is becoming stuff potentially. And what I say Jesus talking about is be really thoughtful of what your life is becoming. Is my life being converted from something that's really special, a gift from God? Is it being converted into something that's really susceptible to decay and loss, or is my life being converted into something that will last? And for me, that's the big question, because every day I live, my physical energy and my time are literally being traded for something, and Jesus says, instead of trading it in for these things in life that are susceptible, susceptible to loss and decay. Trade your life in for something that lasts.

By the way, your life is almost over.

Yep, thankfully, my life is longer than this time or will last. But what? So what's the wealth? I think for me, that's the big question we can talk about. What. Wealth is here. What's the wealth Jesus is talking about? What is he getting at when he says, Don't lay up for yourselves. Treasure here. What is the treasure he's talking about? Because, as you said, Heaven, we think of as this intangible place. So how do I convert a very physical body, the very you know you work in the legal field, so you're spending hours doing something right? You're spending these hours Bob, you do some coaching as well. So we spend our life and it's becoming something at what point, in what way does what we're spending our life doing get converted to this eternal treasure? What is that treasure? What is it? What is this we're talking about?

Yeah, again, you know Jesus? He talked about eternal life like it was just something that should be common connotation, right? And he talked about, later on, we see in the 17th chapter of John, Jesus said, This is life eternal, that they might know thee, the only true God, and Jesus Christ, whom thou has sent. Jesus was describing eternal life, not as an expansion of time that will not end, but that really is right. That's part of it. But he was also describing eternal life, or this wealth, as knowing God,

so quality of relationship, quality of time versus length of time as the primary emphasis,

and that the wealth comes from knowing God and experience God, right? True wealth. It starts off with experiencing God. Jesus came into this world. They give human beings an opportunity to have a new life with a new purposes, new motives, new desires, something that wasn't just to gain earthly wealth, but was to gain heavenly treasure, and that starts with knowing God. So if you were to ask me, where does it all begin? It begins with that step of of experiencing what Jesus came down

I think, um, I think a question maybe someone might ask, especially, especially if maybe you're in, like a depressed mood or something is, well, why know God right? Like sometimes in the legal system, you see people who make split second decisions. Maybe there's a murder or something like that, and they're, you know, lives are ruined from that split second decision. And it's like, did they value their own life? Did they value the other person's life? So sometimes, when I think about it, I think of if we had some type of fancy object, and you just sort of rush into it without sort of consulting the like the instructions for it, and so this understanding maybe that like this we were created for so much more and who best to, who best to go to to understand that, than our Creator. So even understanding, well, why would I want to go to God? Maybe someone's asking, or they're just so buried in things they're not making that space, but understanding like, you know you're loved just because of who you are, you're important just because of who you are, and there's someone longing to have a relationship with you and give you meaning. So that's just something I think about with that as well.

That's huge. And I like, Yeah, I like that idea. And for me, what comes to mind is this somebody's not just like a neighbor across the street, even though we need that connect, like that human connection, this is, this is like supernatural being who takes a personal interest in you, me that relationship, that's a pretty crazy thing for me to think about, like we're talking about a relationship with a supernatural being

in ultimately, this is what God is inviting every one of us into, right to be known, right to To actually have the opportunity to experience him right and to live in his presence, you know, and we're talking about building a wealth that lasts right. The promises is that even though we may die in this world, that we will rise again. We will rise again and live eternally.

So the idea is then, which isn't necessarily the center of this podcast, but the idea is that our life now we get, you know, 100 years, if we're one of the fortunate ones, is just a really small slice of our potential life that we're meant to live. Jesus talks about eternal life. And there's the eternal life, that's the relational piece, the quality, but then there's the literal quantity that that our life has the potential of extending for eternity. See that there's a sense in which we're very much created to live forever. There's a reason why that's not happening at the moment, different podcast topic. But the idea is that we're thinking about this life is an anticipation of an eternal life, like literal eternal existence to come. So our decisions should reflect some sense that what's happening now is precursor to the best life that I can imagine.

Even if maybe you don't agree on eternal life or anything like that, I think everyone can agree that something is off in this world, like, right? Even if you had the perfect legal system in place, something would still not be right, right? So it's like there's something there has to be something more so, so taking the time to really search that out, right?

And then I think with that, you we can look just in conversations with almost anybody, there is this longing to have some kind of enduring presence, whether it's through legacy, whether it's through some kind of belief in the life beyond, I think across the board, with the exception of, you know, maybe a handful in society, the vast majority of us do think of my life living on in some way beyond this moment. So there is a sense in which we humans. We want to have an enduring presence, regardless of what we kind of think about, what that technically looks like, right?

I don't believe we were created to die, so it should leave a hole. It leave a sense of what is going on, because we weren't created, right?

So I want to talk more about this, but we're going to take a pause, and we've got a message for you, and then we'll be right back after the break.

Life is a journey, and at Loveshaped Life, we believe it is a journey best taken with God's love as your guide.

As a crowd funded organization, we're committed to helping you navigate this journey. Our growing suite of resources offers insights for spiritual growth. These resources include a weekly inspirational email, engaging podcasts, insightful blogs, coaching support, a growing online course library and more, each designed to give you guidance for life.

But we can't do it alone. Your support helps us reach more people with a message of God's Transformative love.

Visit love shaped dot life today to join our community and join our growing crowd of financial supporters. Together, we can experience the shaping power of love.

Love shaped life your partner in the journey of seeing, experiencing and living God's love.

Hey, welcome back. So we're talking about wealth that lasts, and as we talk about wealth that lasts, one of the things that I think about is this encounter Jesus had with a really wealthy we call him, sometimes the rich young ruler. He was some kind of wealthy leader in the community, and he comes to Jesus with this fascinating question. He says, Teacher, what do I need to do to inherit eternal life? So he was concerned with this idea of living forever. He's like, what did it take for me to get that kind of life? And Jesus looked at him, and he said, sell everything you have, give to the poor, and you will have treasure in heaven. So somehow, in this transaction, Jesus said, If, if you get rid of what you have, sell it and then give it away, that action, that process of giving what you have to the poor, is converting your physical treasure into eternal treasure. So there's something about character. I think there, and I think that when we that when we bring goodness into the life of others, that that's also a kind of enduring treasure, that that that heaven values loving well, so when my life, when whatever I have in treasure, or whatever I'm doing with my life, whenever the end result of that, the end goal of that, the end outcome of that, is the betterment of the people around me, and is the shaping of my life into someone who loves well and has an experience with God. I think those three areas, those are kind of the core areas for me of what it means to have heavenly treasure or enduring treasure. What do you guys think about that?

Well, I want to go back to the rich young ruler for a moment. Yeah, you remember as the story when he walked away sad because he doesn't do it, which was really a revelation of Himself, that there was a deeper issue there. It appeared that for him, wealth was an idol, you know, because from God's perspective, when you read the story, there's nothing wrong with wealth, right? There was many wealthy people in the Bible. There are many wealthy people throughout history and today that live for God, but his problem was that he he loved what his possessions more than he loved God. So Jesus. Was trying to help him break that, right, you know. So said he could have the real wealth, right, which was an eternal wealth. And I think he's trying to do the same in all of our lives, right, to break perhaps where we're focused, you know, and make sure that it's not just about earthly things, that is about heavenly things, right? That our main focus about heavenly things, making sure that lines up so and then you mentioned

three things. Can you mention? Well, I said that one is like character, who we are is a kind of enduring wealth. And then how we lift others up, like when we invest in the lives of others, give ourselves a way to serve and to bless. I think that's a kind of enduring wealth. And the third piece is that we mentioned before the break, is this knowing God is like the core of that wealth. There's a passage in scripture that talks about bragging, and the author says, if there's anything I'm going to brag about, it's knowing God that I have the privilege of knowing God like that is so I think those are three cores. I don't know if that's it, but I would say those as kind of the core areas for me of eternal or heavenly.

Well, I just want to mention the importance of the first one, right character building, right in our society. You don't hear that reference very much. For from God's perspective, character is huge, you know, because who you are, you know, your character defines who you are, right? There's little saying so a thought, reap an action, sow an action. Reap a habit. So a habit. Reap character, so character, reap destiny. You know, so who we are, we can't take anything with us. All this wealth of material wealth doesn't go with us, you know, when we leave this world. But who you are as a character will determine your destiny. Wealth that lasts, yeah, wealth that lasts and and building Jesus taught later on in this sermon that our character needs to be built on the principles that he taught. Right? So the principle is he taught about forgiveness, the principle he's taught about giving to others, right, lending to others, right? It's this principle of service that is developing the character the individual, right? See, self centered living develops a character too, but others. But it's, it's a character that will, will come to an end, right, right, where we're when we're adopting Jesus's way and allowing him to live in our heart. We're developing, we're following his principles of other centered living. And that's really, even in this world, is where we'll find true wealth. Jesus said that, you know, the Son of Man came not into this world to be served, but to serve. Right? So he was living his life from the everything that he did, from the perspective of servanthood. He live to help and bless other people. That's what made Jesus so beautiful. That was the key. That was the key part of character that shined out of Jesus, right? Was the heart. The heart was that he was a servant of servants. The Creator is the greatest servant of all right? And that's what he's desiring us to say. I'm choosing to adapt this principle to live from a perspective of serving, and as I do that, you'll find true riches in this world, and you'll find riches that will last forever, right? And I think it's really important for us to remember that, from God's eyes, you're rich by just when you're following his ways, he doesn't care whether you got a million dollars in the bank, or he doesn't care whether you got no money in the bank. It just doesn't matter to him. What matters to him is you? Yeah, good. So I think character is huge. I don't know. I'm throwing that out there on what you think about character.

I agree. I agree. I think people are looking for like, good sound, authentic character.

Do people know what character is like? I don't mean that like crassly, but I don't know if it's is it a word that's like in the common vernacular?

I don't know, but it's always good to throw out like what you're thinking it is. You want

to share well, before you go there, I want to say that in the world we live in, there's reputation and there's character. So right reputation is who people perceive me to be, right? Because I can be perceived you mentioned social media in our last episode, right? You can be perceived on social media as being somebody and get a bunch of likes, but that's not really who you are, right? So that's really big in our world. You is having a good reputation. If you're in the political scene, you want to make sure that you have a certain reputation that people buy into, that you'll get votes from, right? Yeah, but from God's perspective, it's not about reputation. It's about character, because it's about who you are, who you are behind the door, and who you are outside the door. And this is really when you if you want. Experience joy and fulfillment in life, and that is experiencing God so that you're, you're, you're you're, he's allowing you're allowing God to develop his character within you, right? Right? So sorry. Back to you, Jan's question for your defining character, right?

Character is the inner topography. The moral topography of of my person. So if you were to do like a moral scan, character is what that shape looks like when everything's stripped away. Who am I as far as the choices I make about how I interact with other human beings. Who am I, and, and, and the character idea is that it's it is not for pretense, not for show when, when it doesn't matter, who I am, how I show up, is what I would say, is character when it doesn't matter, no stakes. I'm not impressing anybody. This is just the natural me, that's our character. And so biblically, the idea is that God wants our life to be shaped in ways that are defined by love, giving ourselves away in for the betterment of those around us.

Yeah, no, I think that's a good I think it can go down not a rabbit hole, but just sort of deciphering it a bit more. But I think maybe, like characters, what's going on under the hood, right? And I think we could look at Jesus and see how he treated others, how he acted. It's basically revealing what's in your heart, right? We saw that perfection of

Jesus's care. So as a as a human being, how did Jesus build his character?

This is great, taking it to the practical side of things. Well, one thing Jesus said here is where your treasure is there. Your heart will be also. So we talked about character revealing within the heart. So where's your treasure, right? We they say, you want to know someone's treasure. Like, look at how they spend their time. Look at their bank account. That's usually a great reveal of what's really going on in some

pictures in their house, the thing they talk about first.

So I think those are ways, like, where are you spending your time? What are you What seeds are you sowing? How are you taking care of what you're doing? Because eventually you're gonna reap something, right?

Exactly, so, but that you mentioned this concept of where your treasure is, that's where your heart's going to be. So I think part of Jesus isn't just that you want to have treasure in heaven because it lasts longer, but that if where, wherever you're putting your effort is the thing your life is going to follow. And so when I'm thinking about, how do I develop eternal treasure, my mindset and the way I live my life here is oriented toward eternal ideas, eternal lasting decisions, long game, rather than short term gains,

I believe heaven can start here. There is, it's, it's, right, yeah.

So Evan being, okay. So heaven starts here. In what sense would you say heaven the character you're building, in terms of the character

choices, your relationship with God Free Will you have that relationship you're building.

You know, one of the writers in the Bible, he Paul. He wrote the book of Romans. He said that the kingdom of heaven is righteousness and joy, and in the Holy Ghost, that's how he described the Kingdom of Heaven was righteousness or or loving like God, right? Joy, right? Because that'll bring you joy when you experience God. You love like God and and peace, peace that the Holy Spirit would give to people by living a life in harmony with God. And that's how he described heaven, right, right? So that's that's developing the treasure that will last for eternity.

Here. Did we really answer the question, well, though, how do we lay like? How do we build like, bank away treasure in heaven? Do we really answer that, like, effective, like, practically? Did we really sure unpack that?

I want to answer two things, right? So Jesus tells a story about a man who found treasure in a field, because that was what would happen like if an enemy was coming to take over, say, your country, they would, they would hide their wealth in a field somewhere where the hopes come back and get it someday, right? Sometimes they never came back. So some people would come along and they would be working in a field, and all of a sudden they find this treasure. So he tells a story about a man who finds this treasure, and he goes and he sells everything that he has, and he buys that field because he wants that treasure, because he knows that what he found is greater than what he had. Yeah, right. So what Jesus was saying was. That humanity was in need of a Savior, which was him. And that was the the ultimate treasure, right? So, so the man was willing to sell all that he had in order to gain this treasure. What Jesus is offering to us is priceless, not only life in this world, but life to come. So how to where do we build again? I'm going back to where we build again. It starts by accepting him as the Savior and Lord of your life. That's where it starts. You talk about forgiveness of sin, right? People carry guilt shame. We carry guilt and shame. These are the things that have been oppressing us and holding us down, and God is offering us forgiveness in the Savior. Maybe we don't understand the rest of the story. Maybe you're listening today and you don't understand the rest of the story. It's okay. But I think you can relate with the fact that we have guilt or shame that's bowing us down or whatever the case may be, and that God is offering to forgive you, right? So forgiveness, being forgiven by God and knowing that you're what you've done in your past is let go of is real treasure that is better than any silver or gold in this world. Right? Having peace with God and becoming one with Him. God is offering all of us to become one with Him and to live in his presence each day. That is, that's just beyond earthly treasure. So defining it, where do we begin? That was where I would say the first place is to to to lean into God, give God a chance in your life and accept Jesus as the Savior and Lord of your life. That was where I would say the beginning.

Can I ask? Can you unpack you said, become ONE with Him? Like, what would that mean, if someone didn't really understand that? Like, how would you

Yeah, well, thank you. Sorry. We're pastors, right? We can get off on these tangential oneness with the Creator. Jesus actually prayed that before he went to the cross, that we might be one with Him as He was one with a father. And later he described it as, you know he was in that prayer he was saying, I've made known the people who you are. You know your name, and I'm going to continue to make it known that the loves that I have might be in them. So oneness with God is is about experiencing the love that Jesus had in his life, that we can have that same right, that that that we become part of the heavenly family, because we're loving from a different perspective. See, when we're accepting Jesus as our Savior, he's offering this new heart so that we don't have to our core of our being is no longer this law of self preservation, me first, the core of our being now becomes I can love others first, and that's where that oneness with God comes. Does it

help you? No, that's wonderful, and I can actually give a quick example. Personally, I I thought I had forgiven someone, but through prayer and just time with God daily, he actually showed me that I was still seeing with this, these selfish eyes, where I had, like, you know, said, decided, Oh, I forgive you, but I still harbored something in my heart, and I feel like for me, becoming one with God was actually being able to love like he loved, where I was able to even go up a level and not take personal what that person had done to me, but instead pray and intercede on their behalf. So sometimes a good test for me is, am I loving like Jesus? Do I love my enemy, and God just sort of revealing that and healing me, and then me being able to love on someone who maybe I thought initially didn't deserve my love. And so it's, it's been beautiful to sort of have that freedom to love the way he does, and see with new eyes.

Yeah? So that's, that's treasure in itself, right? Yeah, you mentioned about God changing your heart, because it's a heart thing, right? And by the way, when the Bible is talking about hearts, not talking about a physical heart, and sense of just a physical heart is referring to the, like, the center of our being, right, where your conscience is, where your where your willpower is, that's, that's the center of a human being, just referring to the heart. So Jesus is saying, where your heart is there, where your treasure be also. But ultimately, because as we look at the story of the Bible, when sin entered this world, it affected our human character, how we relate to others, how we relate to others, and how we relate to God. So Jesus comes along to develop this character that can be faithful, can love like God loves other people and same thing, return to God, and that's what he's offering us. And when I hear your story, I see that that's what he's What did for you and is doing for you. He's giving you that heart to love from his perspective, and that's ultimately that oneness with God loving the same way God loves that. Why Jesus came to this world to restore in man what was needed. The world's in the biggest mess, though, as we look at it all because of self centered living, right? Which is unsustainable, yeah, from the environment to political tensions to human relationships inside people's homes, whatever the case may be, neighbors fighting with neighbors, it's all from self centered living, right, right? Well, Jesus came to set up something different. So my second point, sorry, my second point that I want to make is not only after you accept Christ as your Savior again, Paul was the one of the writers of the New Testament into the Colossians, the believers. He said this, therefore, if you've been raised with Christ, right to a new life, sharing his resurrection from the dead. This is talking about a person who've accepted their Christ in their life. They they've been baptized. Right? Baptism is about going underneath the water, physically symbolic of entering into Christ's death and coming up to this newness of life. I know that's that's a lot, and maybe perhaps a lot to unpack. Referring to this, right? Paul's referring to this. He said, If that's been your case, if, if you've accepted Christ, well, keep seeking the things that are above where Christ is sitting at the right hand of God. Set your mind and keep focused habitually on the things above, the heavenly things, not on things that are on the earth, which are only temporal value. So he's saying, Look, if you've given your life to Christ, put your affections on heavenly things, that doesn't mean there's that little saying a person so heavenly minded, the no earthly good talking about that. I'm talking about setting your affections on the principles that Jesus came to teach us on how to live, right, servanthood, perspective, following his principles of caring and compassion and loving others the way he loves them and respecting individuals, following his principles. This is where we need to put our affections right once we've given our heart to Lord. So I like what he said. There great, simple advice that keep seeking the things that are above, set your mind and focus habitually on the things that are above. In other words, he's not talking about having your mind just up in heaven that you're of no earthly good, but on the principles that Jesus came to establish, they're a part of His kingdom, right?

And that was what he was outlining in this mountainside address, which is why he was calling out the hypocrisy, which was religion for external gain, and contrasting that with the call to a life that is increasingly shaped after the shape of God's own kind big heart. So I and I think really that relationship with God and how we show up in the world. Those are the two kinds of wealth. And it's short term wealth, when who we are is so that we can get ahead in the world, versus who we are being shaped by the rhythm of God's love.

And I just want to say, because I know we're wrapping it up here, that Jesus said, you know, where your heart is there, will your treasure be when? If you're listening today, if you open yourself up to give God a chance to know Him for who He really is, your heart will be with him, right? There's a lot of pictures out there about God that it's hard to put your heart with God. If you see God as an authoritarian, that he's just gonna zap you if you step out of line. So you're you just want to follow because, out of fear, you'll never, you'll never, your heart will never be with him, right? Some, somebody can put a gun to your head and say, love me. And you can get down on your knees and say, I'll love you, but you don't love you don't right exactly, there's got to be that free space of loving so to know God, you'll love God.

Yeah, did you have anything you wanted to add before we wrap up? No, I think this is a great place to close. Okay, so let see experience and live. See what is the big C for us today? The like, like, what do we see about God? That's our big takeaway. I'll let you and I could go into thinking so for me, C is that seeing that the thing that has weight with God is who I am as a person in relationship to others. Because one of the things that was coming to mind as we're talking is how we value things today, the most important thing you can say to be seen as a person of success is, I'm busy. How's life going for you? I'm just really busy. That's like, that's like the code word for I'm super successful. So how do we value things? And the way God values things, the C again, for me is that the thing that has weight is who we are and how we love

that's good. So I want to say building a wealth that lasts is by choosing to follow Jesus and the principles that he taught and. Building of his kingdom, the principles that are part of His kingdom, the wealth, at last, that's the wealth.

Yeah, yeah. I think I would say you can give something you don't have. So first, like seeing that how much a creator loves you, and not running from that, embracing that, believing that, living in that, and then having that wealth to share.

Yeah, that's good. That's good. Yeah. So then when we're talking about that wealth to share is really sharing what God has put in your heart. You're sharing that wealth by loving others,

because you have the capacity to do it. There's a there's a lot of good intentions that are you're not rooted and right? So having the capacity to

so see your healthy relationship, that I'm loved by God, experiencing that, because you said, like, really believe it, that would be experiencing it, right?

And when we just went down to because sometimes when we talk about really believe it is just choosing to accept it, right? Is really? That is true?

Yeah. God really, truly loves you, yeah. And what about live? That last word, what about live? What's the takeaway for living this out?

I think Jan hit it when she talked about, you know, receiving it and then giving it. This is, this is the rhythm of life that God designed. Is that he's the Life Giver, and we receive life from him, and then we share that we have the privilege of sharing that by giving and caring, showing compassion that brings us joy. Yeah, that's awesome.

I think those loves and those truths, they can't be contained. That's right, all right,

that's a wrap for today. Be sure to like, subscribe, leave a comment. We'd love to hear what you're thinking. Ask questions and share with a friend, that friend you've been thinking about during the podcast. Go ahead and pass this along to them until next time lean in to a Loveshaped Life.

Ever wonder what it's like to truly experience God's love at Loveshaped Life. We're here to guide you on that journey through our weekly emails, podcasts, blogs, coaching and more. We're helping people just like you discover the transformative power of Divine Love,

Join our community at loveshaped.life and be part of a movement that's changing lives. Loveshaped Life. Your partner in the journey of seeing, experiencing and living God's love you.