Psalm 89:1-18; 2 Kings 17:24-41; 1 Cor. 7:25-31; Matt. 6:25-34
So they feared the Lord and… The most important words in Judaism were Deuteronomy 6.4-5, “"Hear, O Israel: The LORD our God, the LORD is one. You shall love the LORD your God with all your heart and with all your soul and with all your might.” You can’t fear the Lord and worship something else as well, He won’t allow it. He is One and if I keep this command concerning loving him with “all” then where is the space in my heart, soul and might to love something else? Other things or even other people become gods to us when they keep us from Him, when they exert a claim on our lives that detracts from His claim on our lives. The people of Israel/Samaria tried to have it all and when you try to have it all you have nothing at all.
Jesus calls us to let go of our attachment to things of earth, to allow ourselves to trust the Lord for all these things and seek only His kingdom. That is so impractical! What would happen if we did what Jesus says here? Our lives would likely be simpler, our needs fewer and our hearts more satisfied in Him. This teaching begs the question, how much is enough? Certainly if we followed this admonition we would be required in most cases to settle for less, to think differently about everything in our lives. In the end, there would be more joy and thanksgiving for His provision and we would have better priorities in our lives, more of us would be available to Him. We would certainly be out of step with the world if we lived this way. Just like Jesus.
The present form of this world is passing away. Do we believe that? Do our lives show that we believe that all the stuff that is is passing away? We have real attachments to the things that are passing away, we work to get more of it and we work to keep what we have, all the while living with the knowledge that this is all illusory in the grand scheme of things. Jesus lived as though this were true, and Paul seems to have developed a level of detachment over things of earth as well. Throughout history men and women have decided that this is true and devoted themselves to the Lord and His kingdom and almost always they have found it necessary to detach themselves physically from the world in order to detach themselves spiritually, the allure of the world is great. Can we live within the world with that same level of detachment as a witness to the world? Are we willing to try?
Rise up, O men of God!
The kingdom tarries long.
Bring in the day of brotherhood
And end the night of wrong.
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