Sept 20, 2010
I was reading Matthew 6 today and really felt like the Lord was asking me to listen to verses 19-34. They’re familiar verses where Jesus is calling his followers to let go of their lives that are focused on comfort and earthly security. These verses call us to not be distracted from the “kingdom focus” we are supposed to have in this life. It’s a scary concept for many of us as we feel the need to desperately cling to the belief of self-preservation and our desire to feed our insatiable appetite for comfort. These verses have been hard for us to embrace because we are fearful to let go of our control and being “stuck” with God’s idea of what our needs are. While many of us cringe at these verses, they actually open a door to freedom and purpose for our lives that allow us to prepare a stage that will put God on display in our lives.
How different would our lives look if we truly didn’t worry about making sure our wants and needs were provided for? What would it look like to let go of our wants and trust God for all that we need? What would that look like in our lives? I’m not talking about not working but I’m talking about asking God to help us change “why” we work. For us to step into this new life we need to be able to answer yes to the basic question, “Do we believe God is good?”
Can we really trust God to really provide for our needs? Can we trust God’s goodness if he restricts our diet of the rich things of comfort that have made us obese and useless? What if God’s goodness provided us with lives that were lean, strong and responsive?
Who were we meant to be before the values and distractions of this world got a hold of us?
It’s never too late to make a change. Embracing a life that is “sold out” to trusting God for all that we need is possible as the Spirit of Christ empowers us to surrender to God’s goodness. His Spirit will empower us to live without fear and be content as God takes care of our basic needs of food, clothing and shelter. We can live lives so different from those around us and bear witness to a life that actually delivers the fulfillment and peace everyone is looking for. We can be empowered to live lives that are wholly focused on loving God and loving others. It’s an amazing offer of freedom and power that is for follower's of Christ and it will equip us to answer his call to make disciples. It’s time we showed the world what it looks like to be servants of our Father, the Good and Faithful King.
