2.292 There Will Your Heart Be Also

In Matthew 5:13, Jesus calls us the salt of the earth, a bold reminder that our lives are meant to carry his flavor, his truth, and his love to the world. Join me each day to explore one verse of scripture and one thought, striving to stay full of savor and truly live as Savory Salt. Hello, my friends, it's great to have you with me.

Today, let's be anxiously engaged in a good cause and bring to pass much righteousness. Question for you today, where is your treasure? We've been reading this week Doctrine and Covenants sections 115–120, as well as 3 Nephi chapters 11–14.

And before you get too defensive saying, hey Allen, why are you asking me about where my treasure is? Remember that Savory Salt is all of our journeys about being the best that we can possibly be and bringing that savor into our lives. So as I ask you that question, know that I'm asking myself that question as well.

I love that Jesus Christ, when he comes to the Nephites inside of these chapters that we're reading in 3 Nephi, I love that one of the first things he does is to teach the Nephites prayer and fasting. And he does that in 3 Nephi chapter 13. I feel bad that we're not going to get back to Doctrine and Covenants this week, and we're not going to get through 3 Nephi 14, but at the same time, I just try to stay with the verses that I feel like — I kind of feel like — I should share.

And so today, that's one of those verses. It's another short one. This week's been some powerful, but short ones as we've gone through.

But let's take a look after the Lord teaches the Lord's Prayer and reminds the Nephites what fasting is like and how important it is to do the two of those together. He talks a little bit about treasure and then he gives this verse. It's very short, but very, very insightful for each one of us.

It's 3 Nephi chapter 13, verse 21. It says, "For where your treasure is, there will your heart be also." Now the reason that's kind of a two-edged sword is sometimes I think we can lose sight of the treasures in our lives and we might be saying that our treasure is, you know, our family, and therefore we do all the things that we do for our family, for example, or whatever it may be. And yet sometimes I know for me, as I hold the mirror up in my life, there's absolutely been times in my life where my treasure is not my family.

It's not my testimony. It's not my focus on the Lord Jesus Christ. My treasure has been other things.

I can certainly point to a time, it's been many years ago now, early on in my teaching career, when part of my treasures if we were to define them was the accolades and the rewards of being awesome in the field that I had chosen to be in. Early on in my career, I won several awards in Texas. I won an award at the high school level, and then I won an award at the district level, and then I won an award at the state of Texas level.

And man, I was surfing pretty high and it was nice to hear my name over the microphone as people talked about Allen and how awesome he was. And there certainly was a time where my heart was absolutely focused on the treasure of accolades and rewards. Now, don't get me wrong, it didn't take me down a path of great sin and whatnot, but it was absolutely a time where my focus was not entirely on my testimony and my relationship with Jesus Christ.

So my friends, for you and for me, an opportunity to take today is to pause, look at your life around you, look at the tangibles in your life, look at the intangibles in your life, and ask yourself, what is it you truly treasure? Because those things are the things that your heart is absolutely set on. Do you treasure your temple attendance?

Do you treasure the opportunity to pay tithing as we talked about earlier this week? Or are your treasures focused on what's currently in your garage or in your movie room or wherever you are? Are those treasures the treasures that I want to be focused on?

Are those treasures the treasures of my testimony, my family, my covenants with the Lord, and practicing repentance on a daily basis through the Atonement of Jesus Christ? Those are treasures I want in my life more. And I hope that as I focus on them more, it will then turn my heart there also.

That's all for today, my friends. Lift up your hearts and rejoice. Cleave unto the covenants you have made and together we will be Savory Salt.