Friday, January 6, 2012

The sin of living in the future.

I know that I said I was going to be sharing some gleanings from Ruth, but I haven't gotten around to putting my thoughts on paper (haha). But here is something from my devotions from Matthew 6:25-34 this morning.
This is about the middle of Christ's famous sermon on the mount. Here, Christ hits a chord that reverbs with so many of us in our hearts, souls, and daily lives. This hits us right where we live. We are goal-driven people. We are future minded, retirement minded, marriage minded, tomorrow minded people. That is not the way grace captivated people should live though. We were secured before time, so that we could rest in his sufficiency in this moment, this place, this time. Here are five short observations on this text.

  1. Discontentment with the present is a sign of weak faith. (Matt 6:30) -Here, Christ cries down through the ages, through the medium of scripture, to all the tomorrow minded people in the here and now, "O you of little faith!" 
    1. Discontentment with the present doubts God's love.
    2. Discontentment with the present doubts God's power.
    3. Discontentment with the present doubts God's sovereignty.
  2. Discontentment with the present is disregard for God's covenant relationship with us. (Matt 6:32) -Here, Christ says that this tomorrow-mindedness is how the Gentiles act. By this, he is not being racial, or prejudiced, but saying that those who do not share the covenant blessings of God, (at that time, Gentiles) acted in a tomorrow-minded way. We who are partakers of God's covenant must trust his covenant promises! Discontent with the present, is doubting God's covenant promises, and thus, doubting the sacrifice that secured their fulfillment; namely, his death on the Cross.
  3. Discontentment with the present makes for self-mindedness instead of kingdom-mindedness. (Matt 6:33) -Here, Christ says that instead of our tomorrow-mindedness, which is ultimately self-mindedness, we should be kingdom-minded. We wonder why the spirit and power of Christ's kingdom has not broken into our lives, it is because our selfish worries and  "goals" do not leave room for it! Our selfish mindsets, and planning, do not let his kingdom reign! Instead, our planning, our goals, our tomorrow-mindedness reign! Ask yourself, "if my goals do not happen the way I want, will I be discontent, disappointed, and unhappy?" If you answer yes, your flesh is reigning! If Christ reigns in our hearts and minds, we will be happy, content, and satisfied with whatever he gives us!
  4. Discontentment with the present embraces the troubles of tomorrow instead of the God of today. (Matt 6:34) -Here, Christ says that tomorrow's trouble is enough for tomorrow. How many days do we go about worrying what will happen tomorrow, or next week, next mont, or next year? That is embracing an idol! Worry becomes our idol, or Baal, our Asher. Instead, let us break our idols, and return to our God, with open arms, open minds, and open calendars!
Most of all, what we need is grace. We need to look at our world through grace-glasses. If we would keep before our hearts a constant picture of the suffering Savior, we would not worry, but rest assured in his promise that "it is finished". (John 19:30)

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