Read:
“Don’t hoard treasure down here where it gets eaten by moths and corroded by rust or—worse! —stolen by burglars. Stockpile treasure in heaven, where it’s safe from moth and rust and burglars. It’s obvious, isn’t it? The place where your treasure is, is the place you will most want to be, and end up being.
“Your eyes are windows into your body. If you open your eyes wide in wonder and belief, your body fills up with light. If you live squinty-eyed in greed and distrust, your body is a dank cellar. If you pull the blinds on your windows, what a dark life you will have!
“You can’t worship two gods at once. Loving one god, you’ll end up hating the other. Adoration of one feeds contempt for the other. You can’t worship God and Money both.
“If you decide for God, living a life of God-worship, it follows that you don’t fuss about what’s on the table at mealtimes or whether the clothes in your closet are in fashion. There is far more to your life than the food you put in your stomach, more to your outer appearance than the clothes you hang on your body. Look at the birds, free and unfettered, not tied down to a job description, careless in the care of God. And you count far more to him than birds.
“Has anyone by fussing in front of the mirror ever gotten taller by so much as an inch? All this time and money wasted on fashion—do you think it makes that much difference? Instead of looking at the fashions, walk out into the fields and look at the wildflowers. They never primp or shop, but have you ever seen color and design quite like it? The ten best-dressed men and women in the country look shabby alongside them.
“If God gives such attention to the appearance of wildflowers—most of which are never even seen—don’t you think he’ll attend to you, take pride in you, do his best for you? What I’m trying to do here is to get you to relax, to not be so preoccupied with getting, so you can respond to God’s giving. People who don’t know God and the way he works fuss over these things, but you know both God and how he works. Steep your life in God-reality, God-initiative, God-provisions. Don’t worry about missing out. You’ll find all your everyday human concerns will be met.
“Give your entire attention to what God is doing right now, and don’t get worked up about what may or may not happen tomorrow. God will help you deal with whatever hard things come up when the time comes.
Matthew 6:19-34 – The Message
Consider:
I’m pretty sure we should all be reading Matthew 6: verses 9-34 every single morning before our feet even hit the floor. It’s a devotion we all desperately need.
We know each line to be true and yet we have the hardest time remembering that life is about our relationship with God and not the things of this world.
If you’ve lived out those verses for any period of time you know how wonderful and freeing it truly is to live your life for what truly matters most…glorifying God. Why then, is it so difficult for us to stay the course…to live each and every day focused on Him and not the things of this world? Why do we become so focused on more money and more stuff and more of what this world has to offer us instead of more of Him?
At the end of the day, the world is a distracting place to live. There are so many avenues for us to walk down that take us off the path that leads us to a life well lived, a life of worth, a life that mattered because it pointed to God.
I once heard a pastor say, “Direction not intention leads us to our destination,” and isn’t that the truth?! We all intend to live a life that puts God first but are we? Did we today? Will we tomorrow?
When it comes to time and money our priorities prove our devotion. What do you spend time doing? What do you spend money on? Does your spending prove your devotion is to God or to the things of this world? Do you spend an hour a day on social media and 10 minutes with God? Do you give back to God before you “treat yo self?” Does God come first before anything and/or anyone in your life? Is God in your everyday or just on your Sunday? What do you say you treasure most? What do your actions show you treasure most?
Matthew 6:21 reminds us, “For where your treasure is, there your heart will be also.”
Proverbs 4:23 says, “Above all else, guard your heart, for everything you do flows from it.”
Our actions speak for us. We can say we treasure that which actually does matter most, but if we don’t live a life that proves it, we’re lying to ourselves and to those around us. We don’t fool God, He knows our hearts and by the end of our lives we won’t have fooled anyone either.
Reread Matthew 6:19-34 and start living it out. Let your actions prove its truth in your life each and every day. You’ll NEVER regret it.
Pray:
God, I desperately want to live out Matthew 6 verses 19-34.
I pray my actions would prove my devotion is to you.
I pray I would be intentional about my priorities.
I pray that I would keep my heart in check by being connected to you and your Word.
Amen.
Today’s post was written by Amanda Sanders.
Amanda has been married to her high school sweet heart Matt for 12 years. Together they have three kids ages 9, 7 and 4. In this season of life, Amanda spends most of her time drinking coffee, teaching children, doing laundry and repeating herself. Occasionally, she has some time for working out, reading for leisure and writing. You can find her on Sunday mornings worshiping at our Real Life UCF campus.