19 “Do not lay up for yourselves treasures on earth, where moth and rust destroy and where thieves break in and steal; 20 but lay up for yourselves treasures in heaven, where neither moth nor rust destroys and where thieves do not break in and steal. 21 For where your treasure is, there your heart will be also.22 “The lamp of the body is the eye. If therefore your eye is good, your whole body will be full of light. 23 But if your eye is bad, your whole body will be full of darkness. If therefore the light that is in you is darkness, how great is that darkness!24 “No one can serve two masters; for either he will hate the one and love the other, or else he will be loyal to the one and despise the other. You cannot serve God and mammon. 25 “Therefore I say to you, do not worry about your life, what you will eat or what you will drink; nor about your body, what you will put on. Is not life more than food and the body more than clothing?

Matt 6:19-25

Photo by Executium on Unsplash

Cryptocurrencies are the rave today, although their rising popularity and value are driven more by the fear of missing out (FOMO), than the real problems that they solve – yes, they do solve some problems. However, as it is with new found ‘gold’, which presses men into the mines, many, if not most, with greed in the heart, and a glint in the eye, the frantic rush to grab a wisp of this new gold creates a very volatile market.

However, not all crypto currencies are subject to the level of volatility that you might find with something like Bitcoin. In fact, there are some that are pointedly differentiated as ‘stable coins’, because their value is tied to some other asset class which is considered stable, but one should ask, “just how stable?”

“A “stable coin” is a type of cryptocurrency whose value is tied to an outside asset, such as the U.S. Dollar, or gold, to stabilize the price”

Alyssa hertig

The way to think of the stability of stable coins is as when you have dinner on a cruise ship. If the sea rolls gently, your wine stays still in the goblet, but when the sea roils…

It is good then to remind ourselves often that we only call certain things stable here on earth, because we look at them in relation to other things here. Indeed, the roast fish on the platter is stable when compared with the wine in the glass; for the wine will swirl gently as the see rolls a bit. In reality, the wine, and fish, and table, and diners, and the very ship, all lie in great peril if the wind merely but changes, and roils the waves.

What then? Should we possess nothing here on earth, seeing as it all lies in peril? No, the warning is to be possessed of nothing here – whether lands, or houses, or gold, or crypto, we are to allow none of these to possess us. Jesus said (Matt 6:21) that a man cannot set his heart in two places; wherever the things he treasures are, that’s where he will set his heart. Again he says that if a man has a single eye (focus), his entire body (affairs) will be full of light. What he means by these sayings is that, if our heart is set on the treasures of heaven, our focus will be on heaven and that will fill our souls with light, but if on the other hand, our heart is set on earthly treasures, it will darken our focus and great darkness will fill our souls.

What then? Should we possess nothing here on earth, seeing as it all lies in peril? No, the warning is to be possessed of nothing here – whether lands, or houses, or gold, or crypto, we are to allow none of these to possess us.

The crippling FOMO on gaining the things of this world, and having gained them, of losing them (to thieves, bear markets, inflation etc.) thrives in the darkness that fills the soul when we look through eyes that are clouded by trying to keep focus on two separate places. What is the cure?

  • It is to set your sights on the rich treasures and joys of heaven where he sits beside God in the place of honor and power.
  • Let heaven fill your thoughts; don’t spend your time worrying about things down here.
  • You should have as little desire for this world as a dead person does. Your real life is in heaven with Christ and God.
  • And when Christ who is our real life comes back again, you will shine with him and share in all his glories. (Colossians 3:1-4)

We must beware, for the ladder of (what the world calls) success, leans firmly against the walls of hell.

Beware then, for as C.S. Lewis says, “Prosperity knits a man to the world. He feels that he is finding his place in it, while really it is finding its place in him.” We must beware, for the ladder of (what the world calls) success, leans firmly against the walls of hell.

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