God is a greater treasure than money
Daily Scripture
Matthew 6:19-34
“Do Unto Others” campaign
This week, after the first sermon in the “Do Unto Others” series, we’re reading nearly all of Jesus’ “platform,” the Sermon on the Mount. Daily readings are a bit longer than usual, but we believe you’ll find it valuable to have an overview of the principles Jesus said build the best possible life.
19 “Stop collecting treasures for your own benefit on earth, where moth and rust eat them and where thieves break in and steal them. 20 Instead, collect treasures for yourselves in heaven, where moth and rust don’t eat them and where thieves don’t break in and steal them. 21 Where your treasure is, there your heart will be also.
22 “The eye is the lamp of the body. Therefore, if your eye is healthy, your whole body will be full of light. 23 But if your eye is bad, your whole body will be full of darkness. If then the light in you is darkness, how terrible that darkness will be! 24 No one can serve two masters. Either you will hate the one and love the other, or you will be loyal to the one and have contempt for the other. You cannot serve God and wealth.
25 “Therefore, I say to you, don’t worry about your life, what you’ll eat or what you’ll drink, or about your body, what you’ll wear. Isn’t life more than food and the body more than clothes? 26 Look at the birds in the sky. They don’t sow seed or harvest grain or gather crops into barns. Yet your heavenly Father feeds them. Aren’t you worth much more than they are? 27 Who among you by worrying can add a single moment to your life? 28 And why do you worry about clothes? Notice how the lilies in the field grow. They don’t wear themselves out with work, and they don’t spin cloth. 29 But I say to you that even Solomon in all of his splendor wasn’t dressed like one of these. 30 If God dresses grass in the field so beautifully, even though it’s alive today and tomorrow it’s thrown into the furnace, won’t God do much more for you, you people of weak faith? 31 Therefore, don’t worry and say, ‘What are we going to eat?’ or ‘What are we going to drink?’ or ‘What are we going to wear?’ 32 Gentiles long for all these things. Your heavenly Father knows that you need them. 33 Instead, desire first and foremost God’s kingdom and God’s righteousness, and all these things will be given to you as well. 34 Therefore, stop worrying about tomorrow, because tomorrow will worry about itself. Each day has enough trouble of its own.
Daily Reflection & Prayer
Jesus’ convention speech would tell delegates (and viewers) that the human heart has room for only one supreme allegiance. Give that loyalty to God, not wealth, he’d say. (Honestly, that would be unlikely to trigger a big ovation!) Using hyperbole (exaggeration to make a point, as in “That bag weighs a ton”), he would go on to warn his listeners about the dangers of worry (which is a different reality from planning, though they’re often confused).
- Conduct a simple life audit. Review your calendar and your checkbook. Based on the time, energy and resources reflected there, what do you currently treasure most? “What does it mean to do something ‘in the name of Jesus’?… in the Bible a person’s name has to do with his or her character…. It means doing it as Jesus himself would do it if he were in your place.” * How can you realign your resources to invest more in relationships, spiritual growth, or serving others?
- Jesus seemed to anticipate modern research when he asked, “Who among you by worrying can add a single moment to your life?” (verse 27) Much research says that worry likely shortens our lives. In a world driven by consumerism and anxiety, Jesus’ message challenges our priorities. Consider an area where worry dominates your thoughts. How can you distinguish needs from wants, and plan in a worry-free way by trusting in God’s care?
Prayer
Lord Jesus, you are Lord of my life, and I want to “collect treasures” in heaven. Teach me how to live a life of peace and trust, in which my energy focuses on your purposes rather than my fears. Amen.
GPS Insights
Janelle Gregory
Janelle Gregory serves on the Resurrection staff as Human Resources Lead Director. Janelle finds that her heart is constantly wrestling with the truth that she needs a Savior, and the times when she's at her very best are when she's just too tired to put up a fight.
I’m in a fantasy football league with some friends. If you’re not familiar with how fantasy football works, each participant manages a team of individual players across multiple NFL teams. You might have a quarterback from the Bills, a tight end from the Eagles, and so on and so forth. Points are applied based on a player’s performance over the week, which runs from Thursday night football through Monday night football.
I had a tight competition with my opponent this past week. I went into Monday night football, the last game of the week, with a slim lead. The only problem was that my opponent had the kicker for the Kansas City Chiefs, Harrison Butker. In order to win, Harrison Butker could score no more than 9 fantasy points. As I cheered on the Kansas City Chiefs on Monday night, I found myself conflicted as to whether or not I should cheer for Butker. I realize that for many Chiefs’ fans, this is preposterous. How could I not cheer for our (Kansas City) team to win?!!! But I really wanted to win my fantasy football match. For the first two field goal kicks, I cheered through gritted teeth, hoping that the ball would go wide right. I then gave myself a mental talking to. How could I cheer against the team I love, the team with an undefeated winning streak, the team striving for the first ever back-to-back-to-back Super Bowl wins? While a fantasy football victory would have been sweet, I just couldn’t cheer against my home team. I took the L in my fantasy league, but Kansas City got the W!
When it comes to prioritizing where I should spend my time and resources, I find it often comes down to whether or not I’m going to fulfill my own desires at the cost of God’s hopes or if I can see past a temporary delight and seek out God’s desire for goodness, light, and redemption. Our natural tendency is to primarily consider our own lives, our own desires, on our own little speck of this giant planet in our own span of time that we inhabit it. God cares about that. I truly believe it. But being a part of God’s kingdom means that we’re cheering more for the kingdom than we are for our individual desires. It means we’re spreading generosity, hope, forgiveness, and love, not just for now, but for all of eternity. When there’s a win for the kingdom, there’s a win for all of us!
© 2024 Resurrection: A United Methodist Church. All Rights Reserved.
Scripture quotations are taken from The Common English Bible ©2011. Used by permission. All rights reserved.
References
* Ortberg, John, The Life You’ve Always Wanted: Spiritual Disciplines for Ordinary People (p. 201). Zondervan. Kindle Edition.
