“Do not store up for yourselves treasures on earth, where moth and rust destroy, and where thieves break in and steal. But store up for yourselves treasures in heaven, where neither moth nor rust destroys, and where thieves do not break in or steal; for where your treasure is, there your heart will be also.
“The eye is the lamp of the body; so then, if your eye is clear, your whole body will be full of light. But if your eye is bad, your whole body will be full of darkness. So if the light that is in you is darkness, how great is the darkness!
“No one can serve two masters; for either he will hate the one and love the other, or he will be devoted to one and despise the other. You cannot serve God and wealth.
“For this reason I say to you, do not be worried about your life, as to what you will eat or what you will drink; nor for your body, as to what you will put on. Is life not more than food, and the body more than clothing? Look at the birds of the sky, that they do not sow, nor reap, nor gather crops into barns, and yet your heavenly Father feeds them. Are you not much more important than they? And which of you by worrying can add a single day to his life’s span? And why are you worried about clothing? Notice how the lilies of the field grow; they do not labor nor do they spin thread for cloth, yet I say to you that not even Solomon in all his glory clothed himself like one of these. But if God so clothes the grass of the field, which is alive today and tomorrow is thrown into the furnace, will He not much more clothe you? You of little faith! Do not worry then, saying, ‘What are we to eat?’ or ‘What are we to drink?’ or ‘What are we to wear for clothing?’ For the Gentiles eagerly seek all these things; for your heavenly Father knows that you need all these things. But seek first His kingdom and His righteousness, and all these things will be provided to you.
“So do not worry about tomorrow; for tomorrow will worry about itself. Each day has enough trouble of its own." Matthew 6:19-34 NASB
Two of the greatest things facing us in life today are bound up in these two perspectives.
Anxiety about the world and apathy about the world.
Anxiety is off the charts as to impacting people everywhere because of the way the world now is for at least the last few years. People are entangled in constant stress about just getting through a day, let alone a week. Apathetic people are becoming more in number as well. I have heard conversations about what's impacting everyone's lives and it's not pretty. To lessen their stress and difficulty they are more than willing to just let people die in order to let it sort itself out and return to whatever is closer to normal.
Those who are in Christ are attacked for not going down these two paths.
It's supposed to be different for Christians in this life. Our faith and trust aren't bound up in the physical world. Faith and trust are rooted in a Spiritual life inseparable from God.
My greatest problems in life won't be what yours are.
My greatest needs, however, are the same as yours.
It matters not where on or off this planet you live, a right relationship with Jesus is everyone's dilemma. It's the same everywhere. Matters not what country in which you live or even if you are on the International Space Station. Your life is a reflection of where you are in Christ.
You cannot live two lives. Read what Jesus said about it in Matthew 6 again.
You can also see an example of God living out His own words of truth in the book of Genesis regarding Abraham's relationship with his Wife's slave, Hagar. On account of His promises to Abraham, the Lord kept watch over Hagar and indeed provided for the needs of her and Ishmael her son.
We are often both the smartest and dumbest of people on this world. We are often a lazy people too. Looking for the way out, looking for the shortcut that removes us from work and responsibility, and accountability.
"Not my problem!" "Not my fault!" "Don't look at me!" "Why me?" ""Oh, it's not all that..."
We downgrade the impact of sin in our lives and wonder of wonders we inevitably prove the truth of God. Sin kills people. Sin ruins lives, cannot make lives better. Sin is in direct opposition to the truth of God. Sin was why Jesus had to die on a cross, and be resurrected three days later. Sin is not to be trifled with. Sin isn't to be played with. Sin brings in Anxiety and Apathy. Sin leads people by the nose right into trouble and it takes a supernatural work of the Spirit to open the eyes of the guilty party. The light of Christ exposes the sins of the world.
You may get some impression that in writing this that I have arrived, that my life has it all together.
Truth is my recognizing all this just keeps me aware enough to rely on my Savior even more.
Truth is you and I cannot trust ourselves even if we are in Christ. Until we receive our glorified body in Heaven we will be battling sin and its consequences.
We deceive ourselves in what we have allowed into our lives. We refuse to acknowledge sin in all its sinfulness. We call it other things to keep from feeling guilty. We even tell others that what God says is sin is something else, so we actually incurr more guilt for misleading people. We call idolatry something else in order to keep the pleasures associated with it.
We? Yes, we. Look in the warnings in the New Testament. Most are talking about those WITHIN THE CHURCH. About false teachers. Look it up.
The greatest danger to believers is from within the Church. People who aren't inclined at all to pray and be immersed in the Bible. People who just take what is said, and don't apply it.
People tolerated a man like Billy Graham. God indeed was with him.
If a man like Paul preached today he would be one of the most attacked men of God in the world. Yet we have that preaching today and largely it's being pushed aside.
You can give in to sins seductive ways, you can give in to Anxiety and Apathy, but why?
We have an Advocate. We have the ability to withstand. We have the ability to let go and let God do what only He can do.
Your anxiety, your apathetic ways, give them to God to destroy.
Worry, fears, anxiety, things like this put believers in chains they were never meant to be bound up in. Pray earnestly. Pray often. Pray with sincerity of heart. Pray with thanksgiving. Pray in all things. Don't redefine sin as being a bad habit. Don't take what God says is an abomination and call it a choice. Don't allow shrines to be set up in your heart, let alone your home to things of this world.
A brutal truth is way too many men of God know far more about a sport than they do their Savior. Many women of God know more about a great many things than they do their Savior.
Passion is misdirected. Rather than being only for Christ it's been given to other people and things. Zeal is as well. People calling themselves Christians are more offended by a sports team being slandered than Jesus.
Get back to God.
Get your relationship fixed with Jesus and things like anxiety and apathy, idolatry, sin in every form and area will be seen as He sees it and help and assistance, assurance can come.
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