2007-09-21
Good Morning Cherished of God,
For the last several weeks, I have been led to write about mammon. You'll remember that the meaning of this word changed from "material possessions, wealth entrusted to another's possession"-a passive expression, to "that in which trust is placed"- an active one. This happened by popular usage and became a negative connotation, making this wealth become an idol. It would help to review Christ's teaching in MT 6: 24-34 [part of His Sermon on the Mount], which includes teaching on not being able to serve two masters, placing our riches in heaven, and why we shouldn't worry about God supplying our needs. It's implied that we should gain His wisdom on differentiating between needs and wants. Today, the Holy Spirit directs me to write about setting priorities. The question is asked: Does seeking God and relying on His provision of our needs mean that we don't have to earn a living?
Believe it or not, there have been some people who took this to mean that all they had to do was go up on a hill and wait for God to take them into heaven! This kind of reasoning reveals little understanding of what God has been saying to us in His word right from the beginning. From the time of man's disobedience in the original sin [GN 3: 1-6], God knew He was forced to take some kind of action. Thus, comes the judgment of GN 3: 14-20, both of the serpent [Satan] and of mankind. It might surprise the beginning reader of the Scriptures to find out that God "leaks" the story and even it's outcome of the entire Bible in GN 3: 15! [God speaking to the serpent] "I will make you and the woman hate each other; her offspring and yours will always be enemies. Her offspring will crush your head, and you will bite their heel." This is the first announcement of the conflict to ensue between good and evil. Getting one's head crushed is eventual death for the evil serpent; being bitten in the heel is a lot of pain for mankind, but not its total extermination. Verses 16-20 outline how women will be subject to their husbands [later illuminated in EPH 5: 21-33] and will suffer pain in childbirth. To men, God says, in GN 3: 17b, "Because of what you have done, the ground will be under a curse. You will have to work hard all your life to make it produce enough food for you." Later in (20), God explains His judgment saying, "You will have to work hard and sweat to make the soil produce anything, until you go back to the soil from which you were formed. You were made from the soil, and you will become soil again." While we may think that's God's only words on this subject of setting necessary priorities to keep ourselves and our families going, it isn't by far.
The responsibility for earning a living is spoken of often in the wisdom God gives to Solomon in the book of Proverbs. PR 10: 2, "Wealth you get by dishonesty will do you no good, but honesty can save your life." PR 12 :24, "Hard work will give you power; being lazy will make you a slave." Sadly, I've seen this come true for more than one lazy person in my life. The kind of power that greedy mankind sees in this is not the kind of power that God means. Real power comes from being in submission to God and being obediently faithful to Him. That has nothing to do with greed. We need only look at people like the those who walked away from floundering companies, like Enron, etc., to see examples of what happens. God will always fairly adjudicate such cases in the end. PR 12: 27, "If you are lazy, you will never get what you are after, but if you work hard, you will get a fortune." This one makes me think about Bill Gates and Warren Buffet, some of the hardest workers you will ever encounter. They seem to be godly men, who use their fortunes to benefit others, while at the same time enjoying a happy lives. It so happens that they are good friends and enjoy playing bridge together. They are not the only two very wealthy people who use their wealth to benefit others, just the two that came into my mind first. PR 13: 4, "No matter how much a lazy person may want something, he will never get it. A hard worker will get everything He wants." At the time Bill Gates dropped out of Harvard, others might have thought he was a waster of his talents. Therein lies the danger in making human judgments from limited perspective. PR 13: 25, "The righteous always have enough to eat, but the wicked are always hungry." PR 18: 10-11, "The Lord is like a strong tower, where the righteous can go and be safe. Rich people, however, imagine their wealth protects them like high, strong walls around a city. People who swindle others out of their hard-earned money without remorse and repentance will pay the ultimate price- conscious torment in hell for eternity. God has given the sole right to judge to His Son, Jesus Christ [DN 7: 13-14]. It's not our right to be the judge, and I, for one, am happy not have that responsibility. Think about how you feel about this.
PRAYER: O Lord, Your word reveals the content of Your heart. Those of us who spend daily time with it and listen for Your wisdom given in prayer are the ones who are beginning to be faithfully obedient to You. Our willingness to alter our old, self-centered ways of thinking is a measure of our faith in Your teaching. The next step is to put Your teaching in practice in our lives. RO 12: 2 reveals Your power to "transform us inwardly by the renewal of our mind," so that we can know Your will –"what is good and pleasing to You and what is perfect." No man has Your wisdom, compassion, power, and ability to redirect lives to a path toward blissful eternal life with You. You ask us to look at old issues, like setting priorities in our lives about mammon, in a way opposite to ways of the world. You give us a Spirit to dwell within us that is "more powerful than the spirit in those of the world" [1 JN 4: 4]. That Spirit, the Holy Spirit, teaches us not only what Your will is, but how to apply Your teaching to our lives. That Spirit encourages us when we are in line with You and rebukes us when we are not, because He reveals the truth to us [JN 14: 16-17]. When we accept the guidance You give us, we are protected from the snares that have been set for us by the evil one [PS 31: 3-4]. You reward the righteous. PS 89: 14-16, "Righteousness and justice are the foundation of Your throne; love and faithfulness go before You. Blessed are those who have learned to acclaim You, who walk in the light of Your presence, O Lord. They rejoiced in Your name all day long; they exult in Your righteousness." We dedicate ourselves to submitting to You, knowing full-well that You will help us align our priorities with Yours. PS 31: 5, "I place myself in Your care, You will save me, Lord; You are a faithful God." As we study Your word, Your loving kindness, wisdom, and other wonderful attributes are revealed to us. Our sorrow is for those who reject You. For they can't appreciate the things of Your Spirit and must suffer such awful consequences [1 COR 2: 14]. Dearest Abba, we know from Christ's words in MT 5: 3 that the poor in spirit [those who know they can't be righteous without God's intervention] will be blessed and will inherit the Kingdom. We look to You for leadership in our lives, for guidance on setting priorities, and for an on-going relationship with Your Son which is real and personal. We offer You thanks and praise for always being there for us. These things we utter in the name of Jesus Christ, the One Who died on the cross, so that we can have the blessing of salvation and the Holy Spirit. Amen.
Next week I'm led to go on writing about setting priorities with more of God's wisdom from the Scriptures to guide us. Since the issue of laziness comes up so often in the book of Proverbs, I'm given cause to think about the model our Lord Jesus set for us. He was never lazy. There were people around him for most of His earthly life who were eager to provide for Him. He chose to live in what we might see as poverty from a material point of view. Yet, our Lord was rich beyond our imagination. He was rich in the things that transcend the grave. He had enough obedience to God that He willingly gave His physical life up on the cross for the salvation of others. His attitude is seen in LK 22: 42, "'Father,' He said, 'if You will, take this cup of suffering away from Me. Not My will, however, but Your will be done.'" There was nothing lazy about the Son of God! There should be nothing lazy about us either. A friend reminded me being too busy to do what is right is Being Under Satan's Yoke. We don't have to worry about that kind of busyness, if we live out the Lord's teaching and His model in setting our own priorities. He is always there to help us [PS 16: 11]. It's appropriate to end with this reminder about "the First among many brothers" to be resurrected [RO 8: 29]. This explains why we should keep our eyes fixed on Him. HE 12: 1-2, " Let us run with perseverance the race marked out for us. Let us fix our eyes on Jesus, the Author and Perfecter of our faith, Who for the joy set before Him endured the cross, scorning its shame, and sat down at the right hand of the throne of God." Praise be to Him!
Grace Be With You Always,
Lynn