I have heard preachers say, “Show me your checkbook, and I’ll show you what you treasure.”
There is certainly some truth to that. How we spend our money can reveal a great deal about our priorities. But I’m beginning to think our treasure is revealed by much more than our spending habits.
Jesus said:
“For where your treasure is, there your heart will be also.” — Matthew 6:21
What I treasure is also revealed by what I value, pursue, protect, think about, make room for, and ultimately desire most.
And that made me think of Jack Sparrow’s compass.
If you’ve seen Pirates of the Caribbean, you may remember that Jack carries a rather unusual compass. It doesn’t point north. Instead, it points toward what the person holding it desires most.
Imagine carrying one of those around. Not a compass that points toward what you say you want. Not what you know you should want. Not even necessarily what you think you want.
What you actually desire most.
Where would the needle point?
The Compass Is Always Pointing Somewhere
This idea has been following me through two very different studies lately. In Women in the Word, we have begun Kelly Minter’s No Other Gods, which challenges us to recognize the things competing with God for our hearts. At the same time, my biblical counseling coursework has me studying the heart—particularly the relationship between our desires and our worship.
And the two collided for me in that compass.
We are all worshipers. Our hearts are always oriented toward something. We love. We desire. We treasure. We pursue.
Jack Sparrow’s compass doesn’t create his desire. It reveals what is already there.
Our lives can do the same.
How I spend my time, what receives my attention, what I pursue, what I am willing to sacrifice for, and what repeatedly wins when priorities compete can reveal what my heart values.
So perhaps the question isn’t simply:
What do I say matters most to me?
Maybe the better question is:
If my heart had a compass, where would the needle point?
When the Compass Points to an Idol
Maybe that is one reason idols can be so difficult to recognize. We don’t usually wake up one morning and announce, I think I’ll replace God with something else today.
It is much more subtle than that.
Something matters to us.
Then it matters a little more.
We begin organizing our decisions around it. Protecting it. Worrying about losing it. Looking to it for something we desperately want.
Eventually, without realizing it, our lives begin following the needle.
Jesus said plainly:
“No one can serve two masters.” — Matthew 6:24
But the fact that I deeply desire something does not automatically make it an idol. God created us with desires, and many of the things we desire are good gifts from Him.
The issue isn’t simply what I desire. It is what place that desire holds in my heart.
What happens when I want this quietly becomes I must have this?
That is when the compass becomes particularly revealing.
A good desire can begin to rule my heart. Something I value can become something I believe I need in order to be satisfied, secure, significant, or whole. At that point, I am no longer simply enjoying a gift from God. I may be asking the gift to give me what ultimately only the Giver can provide.
Check Your Compass
So maybe we need to borrow Jack Sparrow’s compass for a moment.
If you held it in your hand today, where would the needle point?
And perhaps an even harder question:
Do you want to know?
Identifying an idol is not simply an exercise in feeling guilty about our desires. In fact, what the compass points toward may be something very good. The question is whether that good desire has begun to rule my heart.
The goal isn’t merely to change our behavior.
It is heart transformation.
Heart transformation isn’t simply about identifying what the compass should stop pointing toward. It is about reorienting our hearts toward God. We don’t stop being worshipers when an idol is removed. Our hearts will continue to treasure, desire, and pursue. God teaches us to hold His good gifts in their proper place while turning our hearts toward the Giver—the One who alone is worthy of our worship, trust, and deepest devotion.
Jack Sparrow’s compass was useful precisely because it didn’t tell him where north was.
It told him what he wanted most.
Maybe that’s the compass check I need too.
Not simply, Am I headed in the right direction?
But:
What does my heart want most?
What has captured the needle?
And ultimately, is my heart pointing toward the gifts—or toward the Giver?
