Wednesday, October 16, 2013

If you could choose

Which is better? 

A billion dollars in the bank 

or 

the opportunity to trust God each day 

for the needs of that day? 


If you could choose one of these two options which one would you pick? In a culture where money is the god of our day it's a very difficult choice for most!

One means never having to "worry" again.  The other means that each day, instead of trusting the god of your bank account, you must trust the God you cannot see to meet your needs.

It means, in all practical ways, you become God dependent in the most real way possible....for the bread on your table.

And yet, the words from Jesus invite us to this second kind of life, in spite of our desire to never worry again because we have money in the bank...God invites us to never worry again because HE has all the money we need in his bank.  Read these words slowly and contemplate the invitation Jesus is extending...it's an invitation to live by faith, trusting God even when you have nothing in the bank account,

“Therefore I tell you, do not worry about your life, what you will eat or drink; or about your body, what you will wear. Is not life more than food, and the body more than clothes? Look at the birds of the air; they do not sow or reap or store away in barns, and yet your heavenly Father feeds them. Are you not much more valuable than they?  Can any one of you by worrying add a single hour to your life?
“And why do you worry about clothes? See how the flowers of the field grow. They do not labor or spin.  Yet I tell you that not even Solomon in all his splendor was dressed like one of these.  If that is how God clothes the grass of the field, which is here today and tomorrow is thrown into the fire, will he not much more clothe you—you of little faith?  So do not worry, saying, ‘What shall we eat?’ or ‘What shall we drink?’ or ‘What shall we wear?’  For the pagans run after all these things, and your heavenly Father knows that you need them.  But seek first his kingdom and his righteousness, and all these things will be given to you as well."

Did you notice Jesus' questions?  His questions go right to the heart of our self-sufficient culture and say simply...you don't need to worry, my Father knows what you need and will provide for you.  Will you trust him?

That's the question, isn't it? Will we trust God or not?  He says he is our Father and fathers take care of their kids.  Imagine a child saying to their father, "Oh dad, I'm so worried about having food for dinner.  What are we going to eat?"  The Father would be shocked and grieved, because that is his job, not theirs.  It would, in a real way, be an attack on the kindness of Father to even ask such a question.  In fact, if you have kids, you know they never worry about that....they simply ask, "WHAT'S FOR DINNER?"  They never worry about supply, that's not their job.  And it's not our job either.

Which is better?  Have I convinced you that having nothing with God as your Father is much better than having a billion dollars in the bank account?  The truth is that a billion dollars is pocket change to God. Why would you want so little when God offers so much more?




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