Missionary Renegade: The United Methodist Church of the Resurrection of Leawood, Kansas, United States Daily Guide grow. pray. study. for Thursday, 21 May 2015 - "Jesus taught that you cannot serve both God and wealth"

Thursday, May 21, 2015

The United Methodist Church of the Resurrection of Leawood, Kansas, United States Daily Guide grow. pray. study. for Thursday, 21 May 2015 - "Jesus taught that you cannot serve both God and wealth"

The United Methodist Church of the Resurrection of Leawood, Kansas, United States Daily Guide grow. pray. study. for Thursday, 21 May 2015 - "Jesus taught that you cannot serve both God and wealth"

Daily Scripture: Matthew 6:19 “Do not store up for yourselves wealth here on earth, where moths and rust destroy, and burglars break in and steal. 20 Instead, store up for yourselves wealth in heaven, where neither moth nor rust destroys, and burglars do not break in or steal. 21 For where your wealth is, there your heart will be also. 22 ‘The eye is the lamp of the body.’ So if you have a ‘good eye’ [that is, if you are generous] your whole body will be full of light; 23 but if you have an ‘evil eye’ [if you are stingy] your whole body will be full of darkness. If, then, the light in you is darkness, how great is that darkness! 24 No one can be slave to two masters; for he will either hate the first and love the second, or scorn the second and be loyal to the first. You can’t be a slave to both God and money.

25 “Therefore, I tell you, don’t worry about your life — what you will eat or drink; or about your body — what you will wear. Isn’t life more than food and the body more than clothing? 26 Look at the birds flying about! They neither plant nor harvest, nor do they gather food into barns; yet your heavenly Father feeds them. Aren’t you worth more than they are? 27 Can any of you by worrying add a single hour to his life?

28 “And why be anxious about clothing? Think about the fields of wild irises, and how they grow. They neither work nor spin thread, 29 yet I tell you that not even Shlomo in all his glory was clothed as beautifully as one of these. 30 If this is how God clothes grass in the field — which is here today and gone tomorrow, thrown in an oven — won’t he much more clothe you? What little trust you have!

31 “So don’t be anxious, asking, ‘What will we eat?,’ ‘What will we drink?’ or ‘How will we be clothed?’ 32 For it is the pagans who set their hearts on all these things. Your heavenly Father knows you need them all. 33 But seek first his Kingdom and his righteousness, and all these things will be given to you as well. 34 Don’t worry about tomorrow — tomorrow will worry about itself! Today has enough tsuris already!

Reflection Questions:

Jesus' commencement address would surely tell graduates (and parents) that the human heart has room for only one “god,” one supreme allegiance. Give that loyalty to God, not wealth, he’d say. And using hyperbole (exaggeration to make a point, as in “That bag weighs a ton”), he would warn graduates about the dangers of worry (which is not the same as planning).

Conduct a simple life audit. Review your calendar and your checkbook. Based on the time, energy and resources reflected there, what “master(s)” would you say you are serving? How can you see ways that your loyalties are shifting as you choose to invest in heavenly treasure? What kinds of changes could you make to give you greater freedom to fully serve God as Lord of your life?
Jesus seemed to anticipate modern research when he said, “Who among you by worrying can add a single moment to your life?” (verse 27) Actually, there is a great deal of research that shows that, if anything, worry shortens our lives. How can you distinguish needs from wants, and plan for the future without worrying about it?

Today's Prayer:

Lord Jesus, you are Lord of my life, and I want to “collect treasures” in heaven. Teach me how to live a life of peace and trust, in which my energy focuses on your purposes rather than my fears. Amen.

Insights from Janelle Gregory

Janelle Gregory serves on the Resurrection staff as a Human Resources Specialist.

You get Jesus talking about money, and he can be a bit overdramatic, right? I mean seriously – “Do not store up for yourselves treasures on earth, where moths and vermin destroy… “ Am I the only one that pictures Mothra when you hear this? Do we need to be that paranoid about moths and vermin? Sure, I recently had a squirrel chew her way through our siding and into our drywall, but that was an easy (though slightly costly) fix.

Or what about:

“No one can serve two masters. Either you will hate the one and love the other, or you will be devoted to the one and despise the other. You cannot serve both God and money.”

So in order to love God, we have to hate money? Is that right? The last time I came across someone who actually hated money was… well never. We’re all in trouble.

So what’s Jesus really trying to say about money then?

I’m wondering if his modern-day version of a parable would look something like this:

Consider a can of hairspray. It’s great for keeping your style in place, your ponytail up, or your curls from falling. Nobody thinks a thing about it being a dangerous product, right? As long as you keep it out of your eyes and try not to ingest it (as if you’d like the taste), you should be perfectly safe for daily use. Hairspray isn’t something we keep in a locked cabinet.

But each can of hairspray comes with a label that says something like: CAUTION Highly flammable. Because while hairspray is great to use under normal circumstances, it can easily turn into a blowtorch when mixed with fire. Hairspray is highly flammable.

And so when we talk about money we have to know that it is also, figuratively speaking, highly flammable. If you think of money as hairspray, consider how our sin and selfish desires are the fire.
When rack up mounds of credit card debt, we’re spraying by the flame.
When we’re jealous of the wealth of others, we’re spraying by the flame.
When we would sacrifice our integrity just to get a little more dough, we’re spraying by the flame.
When we won’t give back to God, we’re spraying by the flame.

Is have money a sin? I don’t think so. Having money in and of itself isn’t a problem. It’s perfectly safe to have when we are living below our means, when we’re giving it to serve God’s purpose, or when we’re saving for the future. You don’t often see money causing issues under these circumstances. In fact, having money to give away can be quite the blessing!

But at the same time, we should picture money with a warning label that says: CAUTION Highly flammable. Because when you get money next to your desires for this world, you’re more than likely to get burned.