A Life Worthy

So do not worry, saying, “What shall we eat?” or “What shall we drink?” or “What shall we wear?”  For the pagans run after all these things, and your heavenly Father knows that you need them (Matthew 6:31-32).

Vegan

Paleo

Whole Foods

Gluten-Free

Intermittent Fasting

The Ice Cream Diet

OK, so there isn’t an ice-cream diet, but there should be.

Skinny jeans

Spandex

Jeggings

Low Cut

High Cut

Mumus

Beloved, we spend so much of our time and energy on things that are really peripheral. Of course we need to eat, and being healthy is a way to honor God with our bodies. Yes, you need to wear clothing–please–and the way you dress can affect how others see you and your witness for Christ.

But really, Beloved, how much of that time and energy is for the glory of God, and how much is for the glory of…

Yeah, well, that’s the problem, isn’t it.

Focus on the Bread of Life

The Living Water

And being clothed in the righteousness of Christ.

The rest will sort itself out.

Happy Friday, Beloved.

Who of you by worrying can add a single hour to his life? (Matthew 6:27)

Beloved, it’s out of your hands.

All of it.

And that really is a good thing–no matter how it feels.

Isn’t it sad that something God intended for our freedom has become a source of bondage? Realizing that He is in control should bring peace and rest, but my pride panics at the lack of control. It just refuses to admit that I am not Captain of my soul.

But I am most firmly not.

The sooner we come to grips with that painful fact, Beloved, the sooner we will be free.

Happy Wednesday, Beloved

Therefore I tell you, do not worry about your life, what you will eat or drink; or about your body, what you will wear.  Is not life more important than food, and the body more important than clothes? (Matthew 6:25)

This may be the hardest command Jesus ever gave us.

I mean, think about it: most of us aren’t murderers, don’t do much in the way of thievery, and avoid fomenting nuclear holocaust.

But worry?  Oy.

Worry is a silly, useless, bothersome thing.  It’s also really dangerous. In essence, when we worry we tell God, “I trust you with the creation and sustenance of the universe, with defeating darkness and beating back the forces of evil, with the rescue and reclamation of my very self.  But the car insurance? Lord, I’m really not sure how that’s gonna get paid.”

Silly

Dangerous

Prideful

Yes, prideful.  Worry is a combination of underestimating God’s power and overestimating our own.

Look, Beloved, I don’t want to add guilt over worry to your worry. I just want to remind you…us…that God is God.

He is able.

He loves you.

He has chosen you–yes, you–out of this world of sin and pain to be his Beloved.

You are utterly safe in him.

Try to keep those thoughts in your head as you move into your week.  And if you forget, don’t worry. He is totally able to remind you.

Happy Monday, Beloved.

The eye is the lamp of the body.  If your eyes are good, your whole body will be full of light.  But if your eyes are bad, your whole body will be full of darkness. If then the light within you is darkness, how great is that darkness! (Matthew 6:22-23)

I used to have this cool flashlight.  It had several modes to it. It could throw red light, it could throw green light, it could strobe, it could even flash SOS signals. You know, the only thing it didn’t do well was throw normal, clear, steady light.

Which, of course, was the only thing I really needed it to do.

Yeah…I got rid of that flashlight.  

In the last several verses, Jesus has been telling his people to be the real deal.  He calls us to forgive truly, to serve honestly, and to spend our strength on real treasure. In order to do that, we need to see things for what they are.  We need the pure light of Christ pouring into us, filling us and showing us what is right and good and true and godly.

If our eyes are good–if we are seeing things as God sees them–the Light of the World will shine in us and through us and from us. If our eyes are bad–if we are seeing things as the World sees them–well, our Enemy masquerades as an angel of light, does he not?

But his light is not light at all.  It is darkness.

I wonder, if Jesus were speaking this lesson today, if he might have used the analogy of a window instead of a lamp.  His audience did not have glass windows to let in light, but we do. If the glass is clean and clear, the light can shine in full and bright.  If the glass is covered with dirt and grime, the light is diminished and the view is distorted. Just a thought.

Light your lamp.  Clean your windows. Let the Light in today.

Happy Thursday, Beloved.

When you fast, do not look somber as the hypocrites do, for they disfigure their faces to show men they are fasting.  I tell you the truth, they have received their reward in full. But when you fast, put oil on your head and wash your face, so that it will not be obvious to men that you are fasting, but only to your Father, who is unseen; and your Father, who sees what is done in secret, will reward you (Matthew 6:16-18).

Yesterday I mentioned that God has little room for hypocricy.

Well, he’s not much into posing, either.

Let your time with him be with him, Beloved.

Not him and the crowd.

Because, in the end, there’s only one person in the audience who matters.

Happy Tuesday, Beloved