If you're new to the blog and/or this series, Undistracted Devotion, I recommend you begin with the series introduction by going HERE. This will help frame the context of the material to come and set the foundation for moving forward with the intended background thoughts and scriptures in mind.
As we proceed through this idea of provision for the first of four primary ways our interests can be divided and our attention distracted from solely being centered on Christ, we should keep this question in consideration:
Do we live in such a way as to be free from concern of provision so that we are undistracted in our devotion to the Lord?
Or, to think of it another way:
Do our thoughts spend more time focused on how we're going to be taken care of and what we can do to make this happen than they do on being mindful of Christ's presence and how He wants us to live according to His nature at any given moment of the day?
This is the essence of trust. Do we as Christians trust Christ to care for us and meet our needs (NEEDS, not wants or desires) so we can be focused on living as citizens of His kingdom? Are we going to trust that Christ will provide what we actually need, not what we think we need? Let's consider the following scriptures to see what instruction and teaching we are given by Jesus himself and the apostles. Many will be familiar passages, but read and process slowly to allow time for the Spirit to direct your thoughts. The bolded text is meant to highlight key phrases or statements.
Matthew 6:19-21; 24; 32-34 "Do not store up for yourselves treasures on earth, where moth and rust destroy, and where thieves break in and steal. But store up for yourselves treasures in heaven, where neither moth nor rust destroys, and where thieves do not bark in or steal; for where your treasure is, there your heart will be also...No one can serve two masters; for either he will hate the. one and love the other, or he will be devoted to one and despise the other. You cannot serve God and wealth...For the Gentiles (pagans) early seek all these things; for your Heavenly Father knows that you need all these things. But seek first His kingdom and His righteousness, and all these things will be provided to you. So do not worry about tomorrow; for tomorrow will worry about itself. Each day has enough trouble of its own."
Based on the activities that dominate our time, who/what is our master? Who/what is it that seems to be the center of our attention and is the center of how we order our lives?
James 4:1-4; 13-16 "What is the source of quarrels and conflicts among you? Is the source not your pleasures that wage war in your body's parts? You lust and do not have, so you commit murder. And your are envious and cannot obtain, so you fight and quarrel. You do not have because you do not ask. You ask and do not receive, because you ask with the wrong motives, so that you may spend what you request on your pleasures. You adulteresses, do you not know that friendship with the world is hostility toward God? Therefore, whoever wants to be a friend of the world makes himself an enemy of God...
Come now, you who say 'Today or tomorrow we will go to such and such a city, and spend a year there and engage in business and make profit.' Yet you do not know what your life will be like tomorrow. For you are just a vapor that appears for a little while, and then vanishes away. Instead, you ought to say, 'If the Lord wills, we will live and also do this or that.' But as it is, you boast in your arrogance; all such boasting is evil. So for one who knows the right. thing to do and does not do it, for him it is sin."
With the resources we have which are above and beyond meeting our needs, do we lavish them upon ourselves or use them to meet the needs of those who have less? Are we spending our excess on our pleasures or using our excess to lift others up by meeting what is lacking in their lives? Are we arrogant and boastful about what we have accomplished or obtained or are we humble and desiring friendship with our Lord to be of greater value by letting Him minister to others through our extra?
Mark 10:17-23 "As He (Jesus) was setting gout on a journey, a man ran up to Him and knelt before Him, and asked Him, 'Good Teacher, what shall I do so that I may inherit eternal life?'. But Jesus said to him, 'Why do you call Me good? No one is good except God alone. You know the commandments: "Do not murder, Do not commit adultery, Do not steal, Do not give false testimony, Do not defraud, Honor your father and mother"'. And he said to Him, 'Teacher, I have kept all these things from my youth.' Looking at him, Jesus showed love t him and said to him, 'One think you lack: go and sell all you possess and give to the poor, and you will have treasure in heaven; and come, follow Me.' But he was deeply dismayed by these words, and he went away grieving; for he was one who owned much property. And Jesus, looking around, said to His disciples, 'How hard it will be for those who are wealthy to enter the kingdom of God!'"
Luke 14:33 "So then, none of you can be My disciples who does not give up all his own possessions."
What is our heart's posture toward that which we "own"? Do we define ourselves by our possessions, status, authority, etc.? Or do we have hearts that are willing to have or not have and remain satisfied in Christ regardless?
Proverbs 22:7 "The rich rules over the poor, and the borrower becomes the lender's slave."
If we as individuals and/or communities of believers are "slaves" to someone or something else, how can we be fully available for Christ? If we owe to anything/anyone other than the Lord, then something/someone else holds sway over our actions and commitments. Are we allowing any entity other than Jesus Christ to rule over us?
We'll close this entry with the following quote from A.W. Tozer in his work "The Pursuit of God":
"When the Lord divided Canaan among the tribes of Israel, Levi received no share of the land. God said to him simply, I am your portion and your inheritance, and by those words made him richer than all his brethren, richer than all the kinds and princes who have ever lived in the world. And there is a spiritual principle here, a principle still valid for every priest of the Most High God. The man who has God for his treasure has all things in One. Many ordinary treasures may be denied him, or if he is allowed to have them, the enjoyment of them will be so tempered that they will never be necessary to his happiness. Or if he must see them go, one after one, he. will scarcely feel a sense of loss, for having the Source of all things he has in One all satisfaction, all pleasure, all delight. Whatever he may lose, he has actually lost nothing, for he now has it all in One, and he has it purely, legitimately, and forever. "
What is your response when you consider:
Do we live in such a way as to be free from concern of provision so that we are undistracted in our devotion to the Lord? Do our thoughts spend more time focused on how we're going to be taken care of and what we can do to make this happen than they do on being mindful of Christ's presence and how He wants us to live according to His nature at any given moment of the day?
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