What's In Your Heart? (3-2-2022 Ash Wednesday) Matthew 6. 1-6, 16-21

It is Ash Wednesday. A time when we look at our sins. And we may wonder just what sins do we have on our minds. There might not be some sins that are on our minds or we may say that we have no sins to confess, that all that has been done already. But we do have sins. We have sins that are on our hearts.

Capital One credit card has a phrase that says “What’s in your wallet?” I believe the God asks us sometimes “What’s in your heart?” See, oftentimes we are like the hypocrites of whom Jesus speaks when he speaks to his disciples about prayer, about alms giving and about prayer. He wants them to know that it is what is in their heart that matters, that what is in the heart is what shows how one truly believes.

Now you may be thinking “What is all this about sin and how we act and what is in our hearts?” This is the time of year when many people will “give up something for Lent.” It may be chocolate, it may be social media, it may be anything that we have in our lives that means something to us. Often times we will announce this fast in grand terms, “I have given up (insert item here) for Lent so that I may make a sacrifice for the Lord.” And if we are honest, we are wanting others to notice, especially if it is something near and dear to our hearts. This is what Jesus was talking about when he said to do things not like the hypocrites did, but to do them in secret. If someone sees our “sacrifice” and is impressed by it because we have announced it, then we have our reward. But if we do our sacrifice in secret, then God will recognize that sacrifice. It is God for whom we do the good deeds or say the prayer or do the fasting. If we announce it, if we look as though we are under duress when we fast (think of that this way: someone will look at a fasting person and say, “Goodness you need to eat something. You look terrible.’ To which the reply would be ‘Oh no! I can’t do that! I am on a fast for greater spiritual strength!’) if we make sure to use the “right words” when we pray, then we are being the hypocrite.

Jesus tells us about all these things because he knows that in our hearts we want to be recognized. We want to be thought of as good people who do good things for God. In so doing we make an idol, one to ourselves. Calvin said that the mind is a perpetual factory for manufacturing idols. I believe that he would agree that most of the idols are to ourselves. And in making an idol to ourselves we show where our hearts are.

We are told to not “store up for yourselves treasures on earth, where moth and rust consume and where thieves break in and steal.[1]” You may say that nothing in this world is more important to you than God and the treasures you have in heaven. But think about this: how often do we get upset when something happens to one of our possessions? Do we go into a funk when we cannot upgrade to the larger TV or have a “better” car? Where our treasure is, there our heart will be.

We still sin. It is in our human nature. But thanks to Jesus our sins have been forgiven and we can live a life that is pleasing to God through him. Yet every day we need to examine ourselves. This is why Lent is so crucial to us. It helps us to focus on what is important in our lives. Like the commercial says, “What’s in your heart?” Amen.

[1] The Holy Bible: New Revised Standard Version. Nashville: Thomas Nelson Publishers, 1989. Print.