Luke 12:24-34
Then Jesus said to his disciples: “Therefore I tell you, do not worry about your life, what you will eat; or about your body, what you will wear. 23 For life is more than food, and the body more than clothes. 24 Consider the ravens: They do not sow or reap, they have no storeroom or barn; yet God feeds them. And how much more valuable you are than birds! 25 Who of you by worrying can add a single hour to your life? 26 Since you cannot do this very little thing, why do you worry about the rest?
27 “Consider how the wild flowers grow. They do not labor or spin. Yet I tell you, not even Solomon in all his splendor was dressed like one of these. 28 If that is how God clothes the grass of the field, which is here today, and tomorrow is thrown into the fire, how much more will he clothe you—you of little faith! 29 And do not set your heart on what you will eat or drink; do not worry about it. 30 For the pagan world runs after all such things, and your Father knows that you need them. 31 But seek his kingdom, and these things will be given to you as well.
32 “Do not be afraid, little flock, for your Father has been pleased to give you the kingdom. 33 Sell your possessions and give to the poor. Provide purses for yourselves that will not wear out, a treasure in heaven that will never fail, where no thief comes near and no moth destroys. 34 For where your treasure is, there your heart will be also.
As the new year approaches, this is a good time to regroup, reassess, take inventory, self analyze, reflect on who am I, what am I living for, what motivates me, what consumes me, and what worries me, and then make some adjustments. We are told in this passage that there is one thing that should be filling our minds and that is the Kingdom of God. This is the reality outside our reality that takes faith (vs.28) to know it is there. Are you living for The Kingdom of God or the Kingdom of Earth? Am I?
I love movies that illustrate this fact. There are two off hand that I think of, The Truman Show and The Matrix. In the Truman Show a concept for a TV show is cooked up where a central character is raised from birth in a huge dome with actors playing parents, friends, co-workers, wife, towns people,etc., and the whole fascination is watching this guy grow up not knowing everyone is watching him, while thinking that this is the real world. They can only keep the secret so long until Truman starts getting inklings that there is something else outside his reality and he is so consumed with this that he nearly dies trying to find it but finally does and leaves his bubble. The Matrix is similar in that all of humanity is trapped in little pods from which the computers generate electricity to run as they have artificial intelligence and have taken over the world. In order to keep the humans in this state, their minds are hooked into this make believe world called the Matrix where they they "live" and think is real. Some have figured out that there is a reality outside their reality, have broken out of their pods, and seek to find others in the Matrix that are also questioning that there may be a reality outside this reality.
It fascinates me that some in Hollywood have stumbled on the fact that there is a "world" outside our world, which is called The Kingdom of God. There is a king called Jesus who came into our world to make a way to deliver us out of the world in which we are living, and living as if this were the ultimate reality. In this world, the goal is comfort, ease, relaxation, pleasure - and we get this with money. Therefore if you work hard, make wise investments, marry well or are lucky enough to be born into wealth or power, you will have a good life. If you don't have or do any of the above, you will have a bad life and be looked down on and be miserable and hate those who have more. This is the reality that people living on this Earth have bought into whether they admit it or not. Jesus came, and we as those who have "figured it out", to tell those on this Earth that there is a reality outside this fake reality controlled by Satan, that we can be delivered into. We don't leave this Earth - like Truman - but walk among everyone else having been given the Spirit from above inside of us, and live for totally different goals - we live to please our God and don't worry about money, stuff, pleasure, ease, comfort, etc. because we have all that waiting for us for all eternity when we leave this planet. Our needs are met by our king until the day we die at which time we go to the ultimate reality where we are children of the king and live forever in pleasures forevermore.
As we take inventory of ourselves at the end of the year, look at your finances. Where is the bulk of your money going - toward pleasure, comfort, ease, and amassing buffers to prevent the loss of those - or is it going towards bringing people into the kingdom and helping those who are suffering in the injustices of this world. Are we amassing or maintaining. Our we grasping tightly to our money with both hands clenched or are we holding God's money with an open hand allowing it to come in and go out. One thing I plan on doing before the end of the year is to go through my checkbook and look at my charitable donations. Normally I do this the following year nearing tax time, and then I think," I am giving more next year." This is "next year". I need to give intentionally not haphazardly. What about you??
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