Luke 12:27 “Consider the lilies, how they grow: they neither toil nor spin; and yet I say to you, even Solomon in all his glory was not arrayed like one of these. In Jesus’ sermon on the mount, he spoke of God’s revelation about living life in the kingdom of the King of Kings. Life in Christ is diametrically opposed to the kingdom of this fallen in sin world. The kingdom and kingdoms of this world will soon come to naught … they are here today and gone tomorrow. However, true life in the Spirit of the living God that lives and abides forever. The things of this world will soon be past, only that which is done in Christ shall last.
In Matthew 6:24 Jesus said, “No man can serve two masters: for either he will hate the one, and love the other; or else he will hold to the one, and despise the other. Ye cannot serve God and mammon.” Jesus said, you cannot serve worldly riches and God at the same time, because you can only serve one. People may say that they can serve both, but they are fooling their selves. The motto of the United States is “In God We Trust.” There is irony in this American motto inscribed on our coins and currency. The irony is that most Americans living in a material world trust in money as their god instead of the Lord God Jehovah. The great American dream is to pursue money and the things money can buy instead of pursuing God.
How do you worship God instead of material things? The pursuit of happiness is not in seeking the blessing, but in seeking the Blessor - God. Jesus continued in Matthew 6:25-29: “Therefore I say unto you, Take no thought for your life, what ye shall eat, or what ye shall drink; nor yet for your body, what ye shall put on. Is not the life more than meat, and the body than raiment? Behold the fowls of the air: for they sow not, neither do they reap, nor gather into barns; yet your heavenly Father feeds them. Are ye not much better than they? Which of you by worrying can add one cubit to his stature?So why do you worry about clothing? Consider the lilies of the field, how they grow: they neither toil nor spin; and yet I say to you that even Solomon in all his glory was not arrayed like one of these.
It’s easy to be distracted by the cares and the things of this material life. Worry over the physical things that sustain our mortal bodies drive men and women to anxiety. Doubt, worry, and fear separate our hearts from the pursuit of the Lord in soul and spirit. However, as Proverbs says, Trust in the Lord with all thine heart and lean not unto thine own understanding, In all thy ways acknowledge him and he shall direct thy paths. God is our sufficiency; He is the one who provides all our needs. God has given us the resources of this created world and has called us to steward the things with which He has entrusted us. Genesis 2:15 tells us that “the Lord God took the man and put him in the garden of Eden to tend and keep it.” We’re called to administer with our hands the material goods He has proved for us and then minister with a heart of love the relationships that He has called us to nurture. These things include: our work, our time, and our money. We serve with a heart of love our spouses, our families, and our brothers and sisters within the body of Christ.
When our heart is set on the things of the world, when is enough enough? Worldly things cannot satisfy. 1 John 2:16 “For all that is in the world—the lust of the flesh, the lust of the eyes, and the pride of life—is not of the Father but is of the world.” There is a constant craving, an insatiable appetite and a continuous hunger for the material things that we cannot obtain. The world says, “He who dies with the most toys wins”. However, from God’s eternal perspective, He who dies with the most toys is dead. You can’t take it with you.
Let's continue Michael's message on 'considering the lilies' in the next post.
In Christ, Brian
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