July 2nd

July 2nd -- Matthew 6:19-34 (http://www.biblegateway.com/passage/?search=Matthew%206:19-34&version=NLT)

Go ahead and read the passage, please!

Again, two big topics:

1) Money : "'No one can serve two masters. For you will hate one and love the other; you will be devoted to one and despise the other. You cannot serve both God and money.'" Does this mean it's suddenly bad to have money? No. Does this mean it's suddenly bad to work to get money? No. Does this suddenly make money and it's use evil? Not always though it can be used for evil purposes, yes. The point is not that suddenly, Jesus is telling us to have nothing. In today's society, if you have no money, you will end up on the streets, and probably dead within a few months at most. What he says is we cannot serve two masters. Wouldn't that imply working to get money in order to make a living? No. However, it would refer to when people allow money to replace God in their lives. When suddenly they think they don't need God because they have wealth. Or perhaps we allow our faith life to fall apart because we become so focused on our money/possessions. In our society, money is sort of a necessity, but we need to make sure it never replaces or comes before God.

2) Worry : I really love this comparison. When we look around at animals, we can see that they are clearly taken care of by God, as they get by. Now, why then should we worry if we will be taken care of by God when He takes care of the animals, but we are more precious. We are more precious because we were set above the animals, just a little lower than the angels, and also because we are made in the image of God. He takes such great care of the things He has set us over, so why should we doubt that He will take care of us, too? We shouldn't. We often do, but we really have no reason to. He loves us so much. When we make sure He is first, He will ensure we are always being given what we need.

Well, that shall be all! God bless! Shalom!