Key Verse: "No one can serve two masters. Either he
will hate the one and love the other, or he will be devoted to the one and
despise the other. You cannot serve both God and money."
Matthew 6:24
The saying is true, "the more you possess, the more
your possessions own you." In Philippians 4:11-12, Paul states "I
have learned to be content whatever the circumstances. I know what it is to be in
need, and I know what it is to have plenty. I have learned the secret of being
content in any and every situation, whether well fed or hungry, whether living
in plenty or in want." For most of us, however, this is not the case.
It is very hard to focus on more than one thing at a time.
When we are focused on one thing, it is next to impossible to give our full
attention to another. Even when we try to focus on more than one thing at a
time, we cannot give equal attention to both. Something, one thing, will
dominate eventually.
Isn't it interesting that in the middle of this section,
Jesus seems to change the subject and begins talking about our eyes? "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.
(Matthew 6:22-23) I think that in saying this, Jesus is hoping that we will
remember what He said about the eyes back in Matthew 5:29. "If your right
eye causes you to sin, gouge it out and throw it away. It is better for you to
lose one part of your body than for your whole body to be thrown into
hell." In bringing up the subject of vision again, Jesus is making a
connection between seeing, desiring and choosing who our real god is going to
be. The eyes are in the lead. What we choose to focus on does make a
difference.
The problem for us is that what is seen, our earthly
possessions, our success, our failures, in this world, are easy for us to see.
It is so easy for our physical world to block everything else out because it
can so easily demand our immediate attention. Jesus is saying, when we allow
this to happen, we are not focused on Him. Remember, it is Jesus, not me, that
is saying that we can't do both.
But, you ask, how do we focus on Him, the unseen Jesus? How
do we put Him before the physical world that we can see? Well, I hope that you
are doing it now, as you sacrifice this time to come aside and get to know Him
better.
Jesus knows us well. He knows that while we may spend a few
minutes here, thinking about Him, the majority of our day will be spent
focusing on the physical, what we have, what we want, and how to get what we
want. "For where your treasure is, there your heart will be also."
(Matt. 6:21) Our heart usually follows our eyes. Jesus wants us to refocus so
that our eyes, and then hopefully our hearts, will be on Him. We collect
earthly treasures that we can see, but they eventually collect dust, go out of
style, break or decay. The treasure that we lay up in heaven through our
prayers, our kindness and gifts to others, and those we bring to Him, can never
decay, break or be taken away for they are with Him. When we put our heart in
this kind of work, where that kind of treasure is, our heart is safe with Him
as well.
We have a choice to make. We can use our time accumulating
for ourselves and let our material world be our master, or devote it all to Him
and let Him be Master and guide. We may think that we can do both, but as I
said earlier, eventually one or the other will dominate. Take time to absorb
God's word. Take time to converse with Him in prayer. Ask Him to show you what
He is seeing. Ask Him to help you put Him first always.
Hymn: "Be Thou My Vision"
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