THE YEAST OF THIS WORLD
Greetings in the name of Jesus:
When Jesus spoke about yeast in Matthew 13, and Luke 12 His purpose was to give us a warning about letting ourselves be influenced by people who had a hidden agenda in their lives and teachings. In Luke 12:15 " Watch out ;be on your guard against all kinds of greed. A man's life does not consist in the abundance of his possessions".
The real point of this statement is not whether or not you have wealth; but what kind of influence that wealth has upon your decisions and life. I heard someone say once " the most miserable people in this world are rich people because they are in constant fear of loosing that wealth". I believe that Jesus was making much the same point when He spoke to us about the gate being narrow and the way being straight. In general people will do all kinds of things to maintain wealth from cheating someone to deception of unspeakable proportions. The whole object of this world with things is that once we attain something that we thought we could not live without...very soon we will see the next bigger thing that we want, and the process of the greed of want that is cultivated by this world into a false sense of need becomes so great that we invent a goal that takes first place in our lives to get what ever it is...and then the process starts all over again.
When does having enough become having more than enough, and then when does having more than enough become a sense of hording? In Luke 12: 16-21 Jesus speaks another parable of a man who was caught up in this very problem. Jesus called him a fool because of his attitude about possessions. He was already rich enough and had plenty, but like the yeast of the world dictates " WE CAN NEVER HAVE TOO MUCH" and he immediately thought about increasing for himself rather than using some of his wealth to help others.
I like what the word says here in one translation " Then he said in his heart" what shall I do? I will tear down my barns and build them bigger...the real yeast or (influence ) of this world will always say to us unless we have more next year than we do this year we have not been successful...but is that really true? God continues to be the owner of the cattle on a thousand hills, and yet everyday he dispenses that wealth throughout this world to us to be good stewards of. Absolutely nothing that we possess is really ours, nor will it ever be ours. If we can ever get the concept of ownership correctly we will also have a completely different attitude about the influence of things over us in this life. Jesus used this idea to bring reality to the listener by saying " And God said: this night your very soul will be required of you and then who's will these things belong to?"
That becomes the very sobering question that God asks of each one of us in our attempt to store up the goods of this world for self. The very heart of the matter is in what we have placed as being first. It is no longer a matter of simple priority, but of what we see as the most important thing to our existence. God speaks directly to that by saying " It is our soul that we should be the most concerned about and the most protective of". Jesus came to us to address the need for our minds to be placed on a correct priority that places our life before anything else, and if we do that there is only one thing that we need to place at the very top of our list of priorities; and that is our relationship with God.
My dear friends every thing else within this world will die or decay in some form to the point that it has not real value except for our life. The only part of us made to be eternal is our spirits, and the only thing that God has ever been interested in saving is our souls. There is not one place where God has been concerned with telling us about a physical form. Perfection is not found in the physical form of life, but in the spirit. Our concerns then should be on that which cannot be taken from us in this life. We are developing every day new and wonderful pieces of who we were meant to be in our creation, but none of those pieces are physical. Life that is within us carries with it that which we have learned and experienced. Our mind and heart are filled with memories, and joyful, sad, or even troubled things that have taught us about who we are as a creation. The gifts that we carry within us and the passions that we have which dwell within our hearts have been building up in this lifetime to become something that men and this world cannot take from us. Only God can take our spirit from us by creating or destroying it's destiny. We can either choose to be with God and in the wonder of His love and creation...in His Kingdom...or we can choose to be separated from Him and exist in a place without His protection, love, mercy, and forgiveness. The choice is ours as to whom we shall allow to influence us or become yeast to our lives. Choose carefully. May you richly bless God through your life in Him.
THE UNWORTHY SERVANT
When Jesus spoke about yeast in Matthew 13, and Luke 12 His purpose was to give us a warning about letting ourselves be influenced by people who had a hidden agenda in their lives and teachings. In Luke 12:15 " Watch out ;be on your guard against all kinds of greed. A man's life does not consist in the abundance of his possessions".
The real point of this statement is not whether or not you have wealth; but what kind of influence that wealth has upon your decisions and life. I heard someone say once " the most miserable people in this world are rich people because they are in constant fear of loosing that wealth". I believe that Jesus was making much the same point when He spoke to us about the gate being narrow and the way being straight. In general people will do all kinds of things to maintain wealth from cheating someone to deception of unspeakable proportions. The whole object of this world with things is that once we attain something that we thought we could not live without...very soon we will see the next bigger thing that we want, and the process of the greed of want that is cultivated by this world into a false sense of need becomes so great that we invent a goal that takes first place in our lives to get what ever it is...and then the process starts all over again.
When does having enough become having more than enough, and then when does having more than enough become a sense of hording? In Luke 12: 16-21 Jesus speaks another parable of a man who was caught up in this very problem. Jesus called him a fool because of his attitude about possessions. He was already rich enough and had plenty, but like the yeast of the world dictates " WE CAN NEVER HAVE TOO MUCH" and he immediately thought about increasing for himself rather than using some of his wealth to help others.
I like what the word says here in one translation " Then he said in his heart" what shall I do? I will tear down my barns and build them bigger...the real yeast or (influence ) of this world will always say to us unless we have more next year than we do this year we have not been successful...but is that really true? God continues to be the owner of the cattle on a thousand hills, and yet everyday he dispenses that wealth throughout this world to us to be good stewards of. Absolutely nothing that we possess is really ours, nor will it ever be ours. If we can ever get the concept of ownership correctly we will also have a completely different attitude about the influence of things over us in this life. Jesus used this idea to bring reality to the listener by saying " And God said: this night your very soul will be required of you and then who's will these things belong to?"
That becomes the very sobering question that God asks of each one of us in our attempt to store up the goods of this world for self. The very heart of the matter is in what we have placed as being first. It is no longer a matter of simple priority, but of what we see as the most important thing to our existence. God speaks directly to that by saying " It is our soul that we should be the most concerned about and the most protective of". Jesus came to us to address the need for our minds to be placed on a correct priority that places our life before anything else, and if we do that there is only one thing that we need to place at the very top of our list of priorities; and that is our relationship with God.
My dear friends every thing else within this world will die or decay in some form to the point that it has not real value except for our life. The only part of us made to be eternal is our spirits, and the only thing that God has ever been interested in saving is our souls. There is not one place where God has been concerned with telling us about a physical form. Perfection is not found in the physical form of life, but in the spirit. Our concerns then should be on that which cannot be taken from us in this life. We are developing every day new and wonderful pieces of who we were meant to be in our creation, but none of those pieces are physical. Life that is within us carries with it that which we have learned and experienced. Our mind and heart are filled with memories, and joyful, sad, or even troubled things that have taught us about who we are as a creation. The gifts that we carry within us and the passions that we have which dwell within our hearts have been building up in this lifetime to become something that men and this world cannot take from us. Only God can take our spirit from us by creating or destroying it's destiny. We can either choose to be with God and in the wonder of His love and creation...in His Kingdom...or we can choose to be separated from Him and exist in a place without His protection, love, mercy, and forgiveness. The choice is ours as to whom we shall allow to influence us or become yeast to our lives. Choose carefully. May you richly bless God through your life in Him.
THE UNWORTHY SERVANT
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