JESUS TALKS ABOUT MONEY AND WORRY
Greetings in the name of Jesus:
What is it that makes you feel the most safe? For the most part the feeling of safety comes from a secure feeling, and many times that is tied in some way to money. Matthew 6:19-33 finds Jesus speaking to these very issues, but like many of the other things we have been discussing during this past week or so the conclusions that He reaches does not always jive with our feelings, and therefore some of these teachings become hard for us to receive.
Among the first things that Jesus deals with is what we consider to be of value in this life. Unfortunately for most of us there is a tendency to look at life from only the surface views we have. What I means is that we can easily get all snuggled into a frame of reference of things that causes us to loose all of the real value of things. We get easily manipulated into the worth and value of money in buying things and forget the real worth of those things that have nothing to do with money at all. If we see a 100 dollar bill on the ground we would very likely pick it up with the belief it is of great value to us, while in God's eyes all that really is consists of paper on the ground. What makes it worth the time to pick it up is what those around us are convinced it is worth and not the reality of it's worth. It a way we have effectively turned the truth of the worth of that paper upside down from the what the reality of its worth really is.
One of the things that Jesus was so effective in doing was to bring our minds back to what the reality of this life is all about; and to what our purpose is while we are in this condition. While we often get caught up in the thought of this being the permanent state of our life, God is looking at this life as a temporary place of decision and growth toward the purpose of understanding more of who we are in the whole process. Just as I have written before laying up treasures in Heaven is not the same value system that we use in this world and for the most part that value system is completely opposite from the other. God sees values in things that are not subjected to a dollar amount or attached to a system of profits and losses. God chooses to concentrate on that which we as people can carry inside of us and which can become a part of the whole person we are rather than to concentrate on the number of possessions we have physically and which can easily be taken away from us at any time through loss or theft. The things that we so Cherish here are prone to death and deterioration just as any temporary thing of this world is. It will eventually be returned to it's natural state of dust or element that it came from. We on the other hand are meant to be eternal in our nature and because of that will outlive the wealth and riches of this world anyway. Why should we be so concerned about those things which we already know will not last?
It is this concern that prompts Jesus to ask why are we worrying about these things? Why are we so concerned about the daily process of living here when we should know that this life is only temporary? Jesus continues to tell us more about the difference between what we face in reality and what we face in the temporary state we are in by comparing this life to God's view of it. Jesus compares us to the birds of the air, or the flowers of the fields and tells us how much more worth we are than those things which we see around us. Jesus tells us that we are ourselves only here for a very short time in comparison to the creation that is around us, and we are here for the expressed purpose of making a decision about where we will spend our eternal life. Will we chose God's love for us or will we chose self and this temporary life? The consequences are dire for one is with God and all that He offers, and the other is simply without God and His loving protection from the pain and hatred of this world. The choice is ours...may you richly bless God through your life in Him.
THE UNWORTHY SERVANT
Among the first things that Jesus deals with is what we consider to be of value in this life. Unfortunately for most of us there is a tendency to look at life from only the surface views we have. What I means is that we can easily get all snuggled into a frame of reference of things that causes us to loose all of the real value of things. We get easily manipulated into the worth and value of money in buying things and forget the real worth of those things that have nothing to do with money at all. If we see a 100 dollar bill on the ground we would very likely pick it up with the belief it is of great value to us, while in God's eyes all that really is consists of paper on the ground. What makes it worth the time to pick it up is what those around us are convinced it is worth and not the reality of it's worth. It a way we have effectively turned the truth of the worth of that paper upside down from the what the reality of its worth really is.
One of the things that Jesus was so effective in doing was to bring our minds back to what the reality of this life is all about; and to what our purpose is while we are in this condition. While we often get caught up in the thought of this being the permanent state of our life, God is looking at this life as a temporary place of decision and growth toward the purpose of understanding more of who we are in the whole process. Just as I have written before laying up treasures in Heaven is not the same value system that we use in this world and for the most part that value system is completely opposite from the other. God sees values in things that are not subjected to a dollar amount or attached to a system of profits and losses. God chooses to concentrate on that which we as people can carry inside of us and which can become a part of the whole person we are rather than to concentrate on the number of possessions we have physically and which can easily be taken away from us at any time through loss or theft. The things that we so Cherish here are prone to death and deterioration just as any temporary thing of this world is. It will eventually be returned to it's natural state of dust or element that it came from. We on the other hand are meant to be eternal in our nature and because of that will outlive the wealth and riches of this world anyway. Why should we be so concerned about those things which we already know will not last?
It is this concern that prompts Jesus to ask why are we worrying about these things? Why are we so concerned about the daily process of living here when we should know that this life is only temporary? Jesus continues to tell us more about the difference between what we face in reality and what we face in the temporary state we are in by comparing this life to God's view of it. Jesus compares us to the birds of the air, or the flowers of the fields and tells us how much more worth we are than those things which we see around us. Jesus tells us that we are ourselves only here for a very short time in comparison to the creation that is around us, and we are here for the expressed purpose of making a decision about where we will spend our eternal life. Will we chose God's love for us or will we chose self and this temporary life? The consequences are dire for one is with God and all that He offers, and the other is simply without God and His loving protection from the pain and hatred of this world. The choice is ours...may you richly bless God through your life in Him.
THE UNWORTHY SERVANT
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