"Therefore do not be anxious, saying, 'What shall we eat?' or 'What shall we drink?' or 'What shall we wear?' For the Gentiles seek after all these things, and your heavenly Father knows that you need them all. But seek first the kingdom of God and his righteousness, and all these things will be added to you."
Matthew 6:25-33
It's so easy to read this verse thinking "aha, if I seek first the kingdom, I'll have material provision and security." I must have read that verse so many times with that subtle thought process ticking away unnoticed. But then you realise there's a problem: your focus and heart is still set on material provision, not the kingdom of God.
Your 'seeking first the kingdom' is nothing more than a means to your true end, provision. So the kingdom of God is not first at all but second at best.
In an ironic sort of a way, if you're totally anxious about making ends meet, you actually need to just forget it. Forget it and worship God. Forget it and trust God. Be consumed with his gospel and count yourself expendable for his purposes. Pursue him first and perhaps things will fall into perspective.
But by all means, get a budget and be debt free. You're more useful to God that way.
Thursday 2 June 2011
Joyful Unconcern
Wednesday 1 June 2011
Clogged with Good Things
". . . shun anything that distracts you from seeking first the kingdom of God. It is so easy to lose focus in the pursuit of legitimate, even good things. Job, position, status, family, friends, security - these and many more can all too quickly become the centre of attention. George Fox warns, '. . . there is the danger and the temptation to you, of drawing your minds into your business, and clogging them with it; so that ye can hardly do anything to the service of God."
Richard Foster, Celebration of Discipline, p115
Apathy
I often wonder if one of the hardest sins to overcome is that of apathy: not caring. It has really close ties with unbelief and self-reliance. They're all interweaved and tangle you up in a net. It's what I naturally fall into when I take my eyes off Jesus and start to coast. It's like a slight angling of the heart away from God. Rubbish. Wake up wake up wake up!!
Richard Foster on the Discipline of Simplicity
From 'Celebration of Discipline':
"Simplicity is freedom. Duplicity is bondage. Simplicity brings joy and balance. Duplicity brings anxiety and fear. The preacher of Ecclesiasties observes that 'God made man simple; man's complex problems are of his own devising' (Eccles. 7:29)"
p99
"To attempt to arrange an outward life-style of simplicity without the inward reality leads to deadly legalism."
p100
Speaking of contemporary culture: "Because we lack a divine Centre our need for security has led us into an insane attachment to things ... We crave things we neither need nor enjoy ... We are made to feel ashamed to wear clothes or drive cars until they are worn out. The mass media have convinced us that to be out of step with fashion is to be out of step with reality. It is time we awaken to the fact that conformity to a sick society is to be sick."
p100-101
"if riches increase, set not your heart on them."
Psalm 62:10
Speaking of Jesus: "He saw the grip that wealth can have on a person. He knew that 'where your treasure is, there will your heart be also,' which is precisely why he commanded his followers: 'Do not lay up for yourselves treasures on earth' (Matt 6:21, 19)"
p103
—
I suppose there's quite a difference between generating a high income and laying up treasures. You could have a lot of resources, being rich in terms of your bank balance, and yet refuse to use that bank balance in acquiring many possessions. Instead, we use those funds for resourcing the Kingdom. I've never thought it was wrong to be rich, but yet there is a very direct command not to lay up for ourselves treasure on earth. 'Set not your heart on them'. When you hear Christians that are very rich, but live a modest life and give really generously, it's incredibly powerful. They've adopted a level of discipline, self-control and love for Christ that is very evident in their outward behaviour.
"Sell your possessions, and give alms; provide yourselves with purses that do not grow old, with a treasure in the heavens that does not fail"
Luke 12:33
"Take heed, and beware of all covetousness; for a man's life does not consist in the abundance of his possessions"
Luke 12:15
"He calls all who would follow him to a joyful life of carefree unconcern for possessions: 'Give to every one who begs from you; and of him who takes away your goods do not ask them again"
Luke 6:30
"Those who desire to be rich fall into temptation, into a snare, into many senseless and hurtful desires that plunge men into ruin and destruction"
1 Tim 6:9
"Keep your life free from the love of money, and be content with what you have; for he has said, "I will never fail you nor forsake you"
Hebrews 13:5
"Simplicity is the only thing that sufficiently reorients our lives so that possessions can be genuinely enjoyed without destroying us."
p105
"But seek first his kingdom and his righteousness, and all these things shall be yours as well."
Matt 6:25-33
"The central point for the Discipline of simplicity is to seek the kingdom of God and the righteousness of his kingdom first and then everything necessary will come in its proper order"
p106
"As Jesus made clear in our central passage, freedom from anxiety is one of the inward evidences of seeking first the kingdom of God. The inward reality of simplicity involves a life of joyful unconcern for possessions."
p107
Richard Foster on the Discipline of Study
From 'Celebration of Discipline':
"The purpose of the Spiritual Disciplines is the total transformation of the person. They aim at replacing old destructive habits of thought with new life-giving habits. Nowhere is this purpose more clearly seen than in the Discipline of study."
p78
"Finally, brothers, whatever is true, whatever is honorable, whatever is just, whatever is pure, whatever is lovely, whatever is commendable, if there is any excellence, if there is anything worthy of praise, think about these things."
Philippians 4:8
"Many Christians remain in bondage to fears and anxieties simply because they do not avail themselves of the Discipline of study ... Jesus made it unmistakably clear that the knowledge of the truth will set us free. 'You will know the truth, and the truth will make you free' (John 8:32). Good feelings will not free us. Ecstatic experiences will not free us. Getting 'high on Jesus' will not free us. Without a knowledge of the truth, we will not be free."
p79
"Jesus, as you remember, reminds us that it is not just the truth but the knowledge of the truth that set us free (John 8:32)."
p82
"As I mentioned earlier, one of the principle objects of our study should be ourselves. We should learn the things that control us. We observe our inner feelings and mood swings. What controls our moods? Why do we like certain people and dislike others? What do these things teach us about ourselves?"
p91
A Matter of Life, Sin & Death
Two particular lines that jumped out at me from the Movement men's retreat:
"The more you give yourself to sin, the less dividends it pays."
"Until you have something to die for there's nothing to live for."
Richard Foster on Fasting
"Some have exalted religious fasting beyond all Scripture and reason; and others have utterly disregarded it."
John Wesley
"Perhaps in our affluent society fasting involves a far larger sacrifice than the giving of money."
Celebration Of Discipline, Richard Foster, p66
"More than any other Discipline, fasting reveals the things that controls us. This is a wonderful benefit to the true disciple who longs to be transformed into the image of Christ. We cover up what is inside us with food and other good things, but in fasting these things surface. If pride controls us, it will be revealed almost immediately. David writes, 'I humbled my soul with fasting' (Ps. 69:10). Anger, bitterness, jealousy, strife, fear — if they are within us, they will surface during fasting."
Celebration Of Discipline, Richard Foster, p67
"Fasting helps us keep our balance in life. How easily we begin to allow nonessentials to take precedence in our lives. How quickly we crave things we do not need until we are enslaved by them ... Our human cravings and desires are like rivers that tend to overflow their banks; fasting helps keep them in proper channels. 'I pommel my body and subdue it,' says Paul (1 Cor. 9:27)."
Celebration Of Discipline, Richard Foster, p68
Just Wait
A little snippet of wisdom I heard recently that is most definitely laced with truth and applicable to many, many areas:
"Delayed gratification increases pleasure"
Your Head In The Game
When we think of Heaven it's so easy to yearn to be there and almost wish this life away. But it's really important to remember that all the action takes place here. There's a passage in the bible that describes the saints in Heaven looking down and cheering us on. It's almost like a huge sporting event with a stadium full of heaven's saints and us as the players on the field. We have to remember that we only get one shot at this. When the whistle is blown, the score is final and our performance is over. Whether we scored goals, defended well, or put in a totally half-hearted effort, it's all scrutinised on the action replays. When you're on the pitch, you've got to have your head in the game and give it everything, rather than wishing it all away.
"Therefore, since we are surrounded by so great a cloud of witnesses, let us also lay aside every weight, and sin which clings so closely, and let us run with endurance the race that is set before us"
Hebrews 12:1
Without Signposts
"The safest road to hell is the gradual one — the gentle slope, soft underfoot, without sudden turnings, without milestones, without signposts."
C. S. Lewis
