Money is important but God is everything. We can NOT serve both as God as said.
God is the source and money is a re-source. Only fools chase resources verse abiding (remaining) close and focused on the Source.
We are wise when we love God and people while using money verse the materialistic alternative; trying to use God and people while loving money.
Providence is a word that was commonly used centuries ago. The likes of George Washington often use this wonderful word. Providence speaks to this verse and it’s worth studying.
Here in this passage, Jesus promises us blessings. Who doesn’t want to be blessed?
The first thing that jumps out to me is the BIG two letter word that’s in this twice: IF
“If you know” because ignorance is usually lame and knowledge is a good start but is far from complete.
The second IF is “if you do”. Do you see the ‘you’ in there? I know it’s kind of hard to miss but so many Christians don’t want to put their effort into something. They all too often say a brief prayer or two and leave it like that.
That’s not what God usually expects. He expects us to serve and not recline. Not that there arent times to rest and relax but it means that we should do plenty of the right kind of work, to work with knowledge and a higher purpose, to serve God and others.
God promises to feed the birds but He doesn’t drop worms in their nests. Mama bird needs to fly, find and return to feed her babies. Then the babies grow and do the same.
If we expect a crop, it takes plowing, planting and harvest. It doesn’t happen without work. Yes, God made the dirt, seeds and is does the growing but we have our part too. For the Good Book tells is if we sow sparingly, we will reap sparingly. Vice versa. The Golden Rule is God’s rule.
Check out this leadership admonition:
“A dispute also arose among the disciples as to which of them would be considered the greatest. So Jesus declared, “The kings of the Gentiles Lord it over them, and those in authority over them call themselves benefactors. But you shall not be like them. Instead, the greatest among you should be like the youngest, and the one who leads like the one who serves. For who is greater, the one who reclines at the table or the one who serves? Is it not the one who reclines? But I am among you as one who serves.
You are the ones who have stood by Me in My trials.
And I bestow on you a kingdom, just as My Father has bestowed one on Me,”
Luke 22:24-29 BSB
So if serve well, if we persevere, if we stand by and support God then He promises is a kingdom life, an eternal one.
I heard this saying the other day, and want to share here:
“My grace is sufficient for you, for My power is perfected in weakness.”
Therefore I will boast all the more gladly in my weaknesses, so that the power of Christ may rest on me. That is why, for the sake of Christ, I delight in weaknesses, in insults, in hardships, in persecutions, in difficulties.
For when I am weak, then I am strong.”
2 Corinthians 12:9-10 BSB
“The one thing that Jesus Christ does for a man is to make him radiant, not artificially radiant. The joy that Jesus gives is the result of our disposition being at one with His own disposition. The Spirit of God will fill us to overflowing if we will be careful to keep in the light. We have no business to be weak in God’s strength.”
– Oswald Chamber
My Pondering
This is the ultimate litmus test. It easy to be happy with God when things seem to be going our way; full of bliss, comfort, good friends, family, plenty of money, etc but what when things are the opposite and contrary to our expectations and desires?
To be joyful in the trial isn’t insanity. Rather, it’s seeing the big picture inside out and trusting God where we can’t. Do really believe what Paul was inspired to write in Romans 8:28?
Pork is not the cleanest for sure but legalism has been supplanted and we are NO longer bound by the old laws. 🛑 bring pharisaical, all legalistic because those restrictions have been removed 🛑
Here are some relevant verses that I hope will help:
19So then, let us pursue what leads to peace and to mutual edification. 20Do not destroy the work of God for the sake of food. All food is clean, but it is wrong for a man to let his eating be a stumbling block. 21It is better not to eat meat or drink wine or to do anything to cause your brother to stumble.d
22Keep your belief about such matters between yourself and God.e Blessed is the one who does not condemn himself by what he approves. 23But the one who has doubts is condemned if he eats, because his eating is not from faith; and everything that is not from faith is sin. – Romans 14
18“Are you still so dull?” He asked. “Do you not understand? Nothing that enters a man from the outside can defile him, 19because it does not enter his heart, but it goes into the stomach and then is eliminated.” (Thus all foods are clean.)
20He continued: “What comes out of a man, that is what defiles him. 21For from within the hearts of men come evil thoughts, sexual immorality, theft, murder, adultery,j 22greed, wickedness, deceit, debauchery, envy, slander, arrogance, and foolishness. 23All these evils come from within, and these are what defile a man.” – Mark 7
Blind Pharisee! First clean the inside of the cup and dish, so that the outside may become clean as well. – Matthew 23:26
4But Peter began and explained to them the whole sequence of events: 5“I was in the city of Joppa praying, and in a trance I saw a vision of something like a large sheet being let down from heaven by its four corners, and it came right down to me. 6I looked at it closely and saw four-footed animals of the earth, wild beasts, reptiles, and birds of the air. 7Then I heard a voice saying to me, ‘Get up, Peter, kill and eat.’
8‘No, Lord,’ I said, ‘for nothing impureb or unclean has ever entered my mouth.’
9But the voice spoke from heaven a second time, ‘Do not call anything impure that God has made clean.’
10This happened three times, and everything was drawn back up into heaven.
This was originally written to the people of Israel. The good news for Christians is that God grafted us in to the family tree. He adopted us so it also applies in a certain but different sense.
We have much to look forward to. This genuine hope floats and shines mercifully into our souls.
Our future is surely brighter physically and spiritually.
God’s speed is painfully slow at times as one year to us can be a thousand to Him while one for Him could be a thousand for us. God is Spirit and timeless yet He is the author of it. When God calls, let’s be quick but not hurriedly rash. One moment, God moves slower than clouds yet when God acts, He is quicker than a lightning bolt.
