St Matthew, Chapter 6, verses: 25 - 27, The Sermon on the Mount: Do not be anxious for your life, or for food, or for clothing.

Today's paragraph topic is:  (God feeds the birds). 

Christ takes a turn in his sermon by telling us about the birds that God takes care of and feeds.  He tells us directly:   "Do not be anxious for your life, what you shall eat; nor yet for your body, what you shall put on."  This is a direct statement to those who heard him long ago and to us who read the Bible, today.  Yet how is it possible to not be anxious?  How is it possible in this world that we live in today to not be concerned or to not worry about what we shall eat or what we shall drink, or what we shall put on, or how our bills will be paid, or how or mortgages will be made, or how the car note will get paid, or any of the concerns that we have in these hard economic times.

Being able to find a job to pay our bills is a number one priority with many of those who are unemployed today.  The economy has sank to a low that has not been seen since the great depression.  Thousands of people do not have jobs or income to support themselves.  People are cutting back to the bare essentials to meet the basic needs of life.  Amongst all of this turmoil and chaos comes Christ's words telling us to not be anxious.  How can we not be anxious?

Christ tells us to look at the birds of the air.  They neither work, or have jobs.  They do not have money in bank accounts or savings accounts, or investments.  Yet our heavenly Father feeds them.  What will he do with us?  Will he let us starve?  Will he allow us to live without shelter?   Will he allow us to be without clothes to keep us warm?  Or do we believe that he has anything to do with it?  Is it not up to us to provide for ourselves?  Are we not the ones who must work to provide for ourselves and our families, to keep a roof over our heads, to keep the bills paid, to keep the lights, water, gas, and electricity on?  Or is this God's responsibility?  We did not have anything to do with the economy failing.  We go to work and do the things that we have done for years, being average people and this happens.  Our means of support fails and the job that we worked in 10, 15, 20 years is now no longer there to support us and our families.  It's like a storm came along and wiped out all that we had to live on and now we have nothing.

What shall we do?  How shall we survive?  Worry and anxiety are a daily part of my thinking because I am faced with all of these problems with no solutions.  I worry.  And I worry and I continue to worry.  Worrying makes me sick and gives me headaches.  It drains me of all my energy.  It takes the life out of me.  And Christ asks, which of us by being anxious can make any of this change?  Which of us by being anxious about it, can add to his stature one inch??

It is an easy thing to say, trust in God.  It is a cliche saying that God will provide.  How will he provide?  How will he take care?  Will he pay my house note?  Will he put food on my table?  Will he make a miracle happen and help me win the lottery?  How do I trust?  How do I believe?  How do I have faith?? 

These are the questions that our minds may question as we think about what this sermon tells us to do.  If we have no foundation in faith then it is not something that is easy to do.  If we have some belief in God and Christ and know that their words are truth, then it becomes a battle in our minds.  It becomes a battle to keep the thoughts from coming that would have us be anxious about our life.  It becomes a battle of belief. 

Satan would have us believe that we are on our own and that God will not provide for us.  He would have us to take control and attempt to fix the problem ourselves.  He would have us to try and find solutions on our own.  And many will take up the gun and the knife to commit sins by robbery and stealing and all manner of other illegal activity. 

God, through Christ, tells us to not allow anxiety to take control of us.  He tells us to know that we are valuable in his eyes and that he will provide for us.  He will not allow us to fail.  He will not allow us to be without food and shelter and clothing to keep us warm, if we believe in him.  His words are truth.  His words do not lie.  His words will fight the battle in our minds that would have us believe that their is no God who will provide for us.  It is up to us to put those words in our minds.  It is up to us to keep those words before us when the other thoughts come.  It is up to us to believe within our hearts that we are children of our heavenly Father and he will not fail us.  We must pray on this.  We must meditate on his words.  We must keep them in our hearts and minds, daily, weekly, and even minute by minute.  For he will take care of us if we believe in him.

For those who do not have a foundation, then it is time to build a foundation.  It is time to try something that you have not tried before.  It is time to try God.  Give him the opportunity to come into your life.  Give him the chance to provide for you.  Give him the time to show you that he is real and alive and the Lord of the heaven and earth. 

Read his words.  Keep them near to you.  Take them with you wherever you go.  Write them out on paper and memorize them.  Believe in them and surround yourself with others who also believe in them.  These actions will change your life.  He will give you signs of his work.  He will show you that he loves you.  He will be close to you in your every need, if you do not allow anxiety to come in.  If you keep the door closed to those negative thoughts that would have you believe that God will not provide, you give yourself the opportunity to see how good God is.  Open your eyes.  Open your mind.  Open your heart.  Let God come into your life and keep him there as you build a foundation for a life that is not of this world.    

St Matthew, Chapter 6, verses: 22 - 24, The Sermon on the Mount: The Lamp of the Body and the fullness of its light.

HAPPY HOLIDAYS and MERRY CHRISTMAS TO ALL

Today's paragraph is split to cover two parts.  The topic is:  (True riches) Part 2. 

We continue or discussion with the second part of this paragraph topic.  Christ is still talking to us about true riches.  He tells us, "The lamp of the body is the eye."  Taking his words at face value and as truth, the eye gives light to the body since that is the purpose of a lamp, to give light.  He then goes on further to tell us the two kinds of light that will be present in the body.  He says that if the eye is sound then the whole body will be full of light, but if the eye is evil then the whole body will be full of darkness.  How can the body be full of light?  How can we see the light that is in our body?  Christ tells us that if we have a sound eye then we will have light in our body.  If the eye be evil then we will have darkness in our bodies. 

When I close my eyes, I see darkness, and not light.  Does this mean that I am full of darkness and my eye is evil?  How can I find the light that is in me, if I believe that I have a sound eye?  What must I do?  Christ has given us the key to having light in our bodies and not darkness.  Can I find this light?  Is it available to me?  I do not want to be full of darkness.  What must I do to have light within me?

I must search for the light that is within me.  I must look day and night until I find it.  I must desire with all my heart to see the true light that is within me.  I will meditate upon what is within me that I may find the light.  I will close my eyes and see the light for I know that I have a sound eye that is not evil. 

Christ has given us this revelation under the topic of true riches.  He is telling us that true riches lies within us.  True riches lies within the light that we can see.  Looking for it through our sound eyes will allow us to know for certain that it is there.  Searching for it and praying that we find it will lead us to the source.  It will open our eyes so that we may see. 

Christ tells us that our whole body will be full of light.  He lets us know with all certainty that we have light within us.  We just have to open our eyes and see it.  We have to be aware that it is there.  We have to look beyond the darkness and see the light.  We have to pull back the curtain,  push out the darkness, expect to see the light and rejoice at the sight of what we have within ourselves.  Unless we have evil eyes, the light is present for us to see.  At first a small flash.  Then and awareness of the source.  Later the ever present light is there.  And finally it lives within us.

Christ concludes by saying that if the light within us is darkness, then how great is the darkness itself.  Seek not the darkness.  Find the light.  Search for it.  Seek it out.  Know that it is within you.  Feel the need to see the light for without it we have nothing but darkness.  

Christ concludes this paragraph also by telling us that we cannot serve two masters.  We will love the one, money, and hate the other, God, or we will stand by the one, God, and despise the other, the devil.  Love God.  Seek him out.  Know within yourself that he is seeking you.  Let not the devil trick you.  Know that he also is seeking you.  He wants to deprive you of the treasures that await you in heaven.  He wants to separate you from your heavenly Father.  The devil wants to cast you into the dungeons of hell and prevent you from finding the light that is within you.  Go to the light.  Seek it out.  Find it and you will have the knowledge that God is within you and that God loves you.   

St Matthew, Chapter 6, verses: 19 - 21, The Sermon on the Mount: Store your Treasure in heaven and not on earth.

HAPPY HOLIDAYS and MERRY CHRISTMAS TO ALL

Today's paragraph is split to cover two parts.  The topic is:  (True riches) Part 1. 

This an interesting topic to talk about because it has so much wealth.  Christ tells us in this sermon to not lay up for ourselves  treasures on earth.  He says that rust and moths will consume them our treasure or thieves will break in to steal it.  He tells us instead, to lay up for ourselves treasures in heaven where this does not happen.  Thieves cannot break into heaven to steal our treasures nor will rust consume our wealth or moths eat away at our precious garments.  What is our response to this declaration?  Our response is contrary to this preaching. 

We believe that we have to have wealth stored up for our retirement years.  We believe that if we plan right we will have the resources that we need to live a wonderful and luxurious retirement life.  We believe that it is necessary to store up our wealth and treasures on earth to survive.  For we work all of our lives to retire.  We labor so that we can have a life without labor.  We look forward to the years when we can get up everyday and do what we want instead of having to punch the time clock. 

We believe that if we plan right and get the right insurance that our treasures will be protected and cannot be taken by thieves and robbers.  Isn't that what insurance is for??  If our bank gets robbed the government insures our funds up to $250,000 now.  If our house gets robbed or burned dolwn we have insurance to replace what was stolen.  If our retirement accounts fail, well that is another story, considering the state of the economy today. 

But for those who planned well and followed the thrifty road, they invested in government securities and therefore had security.  For the average person seeking to follow the norm, we invest our time , energy, and efforts to follow the instructions that are given to us by the best in the field of saving for retirement.  We read the best magazines on saving, we follow the investment strategies by the top gurus on where to place our money, and we consult with the best financial analysts who chart green paths for us to follow that guarantees our success for later years.  Those who are less fortunate who do not have the opportunity to follow these strategies, but if by some stoke of magic or luck they came into a sum of money, they would follow the same
process. 

So the mindset of mankind is set by those who would know better than ourselves.  Our beliefs are set by those who would guide us in the direction of financial security.  Our hearts therefore are set on the path of obtaining wealth here on earth and not on obtaining wealth and treasure in heaven. 

Christ, the greatest financial analyst and the greatest investment guru that ever lived, would have us do the opposite.  He tells us not to be consumed with hoarding wealth and treasures on the earth.  He tells us that we should be concerned with building up our treasures in heaven instead of on earth.  The reasoning for this??  It is simply this, where our treasure is, there also will our hearts be.

This is a simple yet profound statement, because those who have wealth, those who have investments, would curse you if you told them that they were investing in the wrong things.  After all their investments and strategies are producing income.  That fact is evidence enough that their mindset is correct.  But the God of the universe tells us to invest in heaven, to build up our treasures in heaven rather than on earth.  How can we do this??  How can we invest in heaven??  How do we build up treasure in heaven??  Can we put our money in some form of vehicle where we can see the returns that it will bring to us??  Can we know that our strategies are working to guarantee a positive return?  Will we have dollars, or gold, or silver in heaven??  Because of the unknowns to these questions and the uncertainty of the life hereafter, we defer to what we can see and what we can feel and what we can touch.  We put off our heavenly investments until we find ourselves facing death wondering what to do. 

Christ tells us that by investing in heaven, our hearts will be in heaven and not in the earth.  For this is the most important concept in investing.  If we invest in the earth our hearts will be centered on greed.  If we invest in the earth our hearts will be full of self.  If we build up treasures on the earth we will be consumed with the things of the earth.  If however, we invest in heaven, we will be concerned with the things of heaven.  If we build up treasure in heaven, we will not worry about anyone stealing what we have or taking our treasure from us.  If we invest in heaven we will not be concerned about the things on the earth because our treasure is not in the earth.  If we invest in heaven, we will know for certain what we have waiting for us in heaven and there will be no doubt when facing death.  Our concern at death, whether expected or unexpected, will be great joy and happiness because we followed the right investment strategy.