Today’s scripture: Matthew 6:19-24 (ESV-text and audio) (KJV) (The Message) What might God be saying to me? My thoughts (Steve Adams): These words of Jesus are not sunny and optimistic, are they? To the contrary, they’re stern words of warning. It’s almost as if Jesus is saying, “You might think you can worship two Gods at the same time, but don’t fool yourself! You can’t!” Of course, Jesus is talking about material possessions becoming our master in place of God. He contrasts the healthy and unhealthy eye in verses 22 and 23. The eye, I think, refers to the process of focusing on something, of treasuring it to an extremely high degree. The object you treasure is what you expend your energy and invest your abilities in. Financial accumulation becomes unhealthy when we exalt it above God. Working hard to provide for my family is an honorable thing. But, if I get carried away and do something unethical, such as lying — in order to get more money — then greed has pulled me away from God. And, no matter how much my windfall glitters, I’m actually in darkness, “. . . and how great is that darkness!” How ironic that, if I give too much of myself to building my own financial security, I’m opening the door for thieves to break in and steal! I get the picture of the Simpsons’ Mr. Burns standing in a bank vault, worshipping his millions — only to unwittingly leave the door wide open as he leaves because his gloating has so consumed him. The thieves will steal something far more valuable than our money, though. They’ll try to take away our relationship with God by causing us to worry so deeply that fear crowds out our intimacy with God (verse 25). The Amy Grant song “Shadows” depicts the battle we experience as temptations try to pull us away from closeness with God:
Every path I take / Roads I go down / Choices I make / Take me right between / Patches of light and / Darkness in me / We have to keep / A watch on our shadows / Every move / They secretly make / We try to be / So close to heaven / But then our shadows / They run away / They pull us away.
Shadows are baffling because they so often catch us off guard. Just when we think the sky is totally blue and we can see with crystal clear vision, a big, dark cloud sneaks up on us. I’m sure you know the remedy, though — it’s to treasure God with all of your heart, soul, mind, and strength! Then we’re in position to receive as much Godly light as possible. Thought for the day: In Luke 8:15, Jesus speaks of how valuable an honest and good heart is. Lord, help me cultivate a heart like this, so material things won’t become my master. We encourage you to include a time of prayer with this reading. If you need a place to get started, consider the guidelines on the How to Pray page.