In Matthew 6:21, Jesus says, “For where your treasure is, there your heart will be also.”

Where is your heart today?

I don’t mean, of course, that beautiful beating heart pumping blood and keeping you alive. We often talk about the heart in terms of emotion; it feels. Our hearts overflow with love. Our hearts can feel deep and painful grief, or loneliness, or joy, or anger, or shame … sometimes we feel many things at once.

Our hearts can grow, our hearts can be broken, our hearts can heal.

Where is your heart today?

In the Bible, the heart is used metaphorically. It is a source of courage and hope: In the New Testament, Paul encourages people in his letters not to lose heart. There are also references to our hearts becoming hardened, against God and one another. Ezekiel even talks about a heart transplant – that God will turn hearts of stone into hearts of flesh.

No matter how stubbornly we turn from God and each other, God is always there with a new heart on standby.

In scripture the heart is also considered the source of our understanding, our intentions, our will. Our hearts orient us. They can be inclined toward sin – Jesus talks about the heart being the source of evil intentions; or they can be inclined toward God’s law and love – Jesus talks about forgiveness coming from the heart.

Sometimes we say we have our hearts set on something, or that our heart goes out to something or someone. We mean that’s where we are oriented. What we care about, that’s what we are turned toward. That is what Jesus is talking about when he says where your treasure is, there will be your heart. He is making a claim that what you most value has the largest claim on your intentions and your will. What you treasure has your heart. What matters most to you orients your life, the way God orients God’s life around all creation.

Where is your heart today?