Disciples Path: Week 3:Day 2 – A Figment of All Our Imaginations

Matthew 6:24-34, The Message

“You can’t worship two gods at once. Loving one god, you’ll end up hating the other. Adoration of one feeds contempt for the other. You can’t worship God and Money both.

“If you decide for God, living a life of God-worship, it follows that you don’t fuss about what’s on the table at mealtimes or whether the clothes in your closet are in fashion. There is far more to your life than the food you put in your stomach, more to your outer appearance than the clothes you hang on your body. Look at the birds, free and unfettered, not tied down to a job description, careless in the care of God. And you count far more to him than birds.

“Has anyone by fussing in front of the mirror ever gotten taller by so much as an inch? All this time and money wasted on fashion—do you think it makes that much difference? Instead of looking at the fashions, walk out into the fields and look at the wildflowers. They never primp or shop, but have you ever seen color and design quite like it? The ten best-dressed men and women in the country look shabby alongside them.

“If God gives such attention to the appearance of wildflowers—most of which are never even seen—don’t you think he’ll attend to you, take pride in you, do his best for you? What I’m trying to do here is to get you to relax, to not be so preoccupied with getting, so you can respond to God’s giving. People who don’t know God and the way he works fuss over these things, but you know both God and how he works. Steep your life in God-reality, God-initiative, God-provisions. Don’t worry about missing out. You’ll find all your everyday human concerns will be met.

“Give your entire attention to what God is doing right now, and don’t get worked up about what may or may not happen tomorrow. God will help you deal with whatever hard things come up when the time comes.

                Peterson’s translation of this teaching from Jesus is doing most of the heavy lifting for me today.  I encourage you to read it a couple of times and imagine Jesus speaking them directly to you.  If that is all you do today in this devotional time, it is indeed enough. 

                But as a bonus, let me add this one thought.  As worked up as we get sometimes about money, we need to be reminded that money isn’t even real.  Money is an idea that we humans came up with to better facilitate the exchange of things that are real.  The source of all real things is God.  And among all the real things, LIVING things are what God has lifted up above all others.  Further, among living things, God has rated us the most precious of all earthly creation. 

Question:  How silly does it seem now, that God is often competing with money for our hearts? 

Song:  Cochran & Co – Money Can’t Buy