The Sermon on the Mount is intensive discipleship training. It is not for the faint of heart. Jesus is addressing his followers, and challenging them to live life according to the principles of a new Kingdom; the kingdom of heaven. It is full of teachings, admonitions, and even warnings, for those who intend to be his front-line followers. When you get to chapter 6:19-34, Jesus is admonishing us to set his kingdom, and his righteousness as the treasures of our life. One of the things that Jesus says in this section of scripture that’s very interesting is that we don’t follow where the heart is headed, but our heart follows where we are headed. Whatever we set as the treasure of our life; as a deliberate choice, our hearts will eventually follow. Jesus knew that whatever we treasure the most is where our heart is going to be; and if our heart is fixed on the treasures of heavenly things, then our hearts won’t be vulnerable to the attacks of anxiety the enemy comes at us with in this ever-changing, fallen world. Make no mistake, the thing the enemy is after is your heart, and anxiety is one of his greatest weapons. Four different times in these verses Jesus warns us about the trap of anxiety; as if he knew that if you’re going to be a front-line, lovesick follower, anxiety would be one of the of the greatest snares to be avoided.
