Bonhoeffer- 'Anxiety is characteristic of the Gentiles, for they rely on their own strength and work instead of relying on God. They do not know that the Father knows that we have need of all these things, and so they try to do for themselves what they do not expect from God. But the disciples know that the rule is "Seek ye first the kingdom of God and his righteousness, and all these things shall be added unto you."
Anxiety for food and clothing is clearly not the same thing as anxiety for the kingdom of God, however much we should like to persuade ourselves that when we are working for our families and concerning ourselves with bread and houses we are thereby building the kingdom, as though the kingdom could be realized only through our worldly cares.
The kingdom of God and his righteousness are sharply distinguished from the gifts of the world which come our way.
That kingdom is none other than the righteousness of Matt. 5 and 6, the righteousness of the cross and of following Christ beneath that cross.
Fellowship with Jesus and obedience to his commandment come first, and all else follows.
Worldly cares are not a part of our discipleship, but distinct and subordinate concerns. Before we start taking thought for our life, our food and clothing, our work and families, we must seek the righteousness of Christ. This is no more than an ultimate summing up of all that has been said before.
Again we have here either a crushing burden, which holds out no hope for the poor and wretched, or else it is the quintessence of the gospel, which brings the promise of freedom and perfect joy.
Jesus does not tell us what we ought to do but cannot; he tells us what God has given us and promises still to give. If Christ has been given us, if we are called to his discipleship we are given all things, literally all things. He will see to it that they are added unto us. If we follow Jesus and look only to his righteousness, we are in his hands and under the protection of him and his Father. And if we are in communion with the Father, nought can harm us. We shall always be assured that he can feed his children and will not suffer them to hunger. God will help us in the hour of need, and he knows our needs.
After he has been following Christ for a long time, the disciple of Jesus will be asked "Lacked ye anything?" and he will answer "Nothing, Lord." How could he when he knows that despite hunger and nakedness, persecution and danger, the Lord is always at his side?'
My thoughts-
'DESPITE hunger, nakedness, persecution and danger… the LORD is always at his side.'
We confuse our temporal needs with our eternal needs.
Which would you rather have met? Your temporal needs or eternal needs?
When you face difficulty shouldn't that be one of the first things we ask ourselves? Is this a temporal need I'm lacking, or is it an eternal need?
More often than not we'd have to admit the need, no matter how dire, is a temporal need. When we are in pain- physical, emotional, mental agony- we long for relief from that pain. Satan would have us focus on our pain and accuse our Heavenly Father of not caring about us enough to rid of us the pain. Satan would have us believe we have somehow failed in our discipleship if God is not providing for our needs, because Satan has us believing our needs are all important, our ease, our pain free existence is all that matters. If Satan has convinced us that our needs, our VERY temporal needs, are what matters then we will be very tempted to leave the love of our Creator, our Redeemer, when those temporal needs are not met.
We'll say God's word tells us that He feeds the birds, and how much more He'll feed me, so why am I starving? He's allowing me to starve because He's cruel, He doesn't love me- not really, He's not real. Those are the things that we will be tempted to believe all because we've focused on our temporal existence.
You'll get any number of people preaching about prosperity and God and how you can have it all with God. I'm not going to say you shouldn't prosper at all, but seriously when our Savior lived a life focused on the eternal and not the temporal, and He tells us plainly NOT to lay up treasures here on earth, why do we believe those people? Why do we allow ourselves to get caught up in earthly treasures, in temporal treasures?
The LORD is ALWAYS at our side- NO matter the circumstances we find ourselves in. We need to BEND to HIS will whatever it is. We don't have to comprehend, but we have to trust that our Savior will see us through to His kingdom.
Can we do this?
Is God THIS important to us?
Is ETERNAL LIFE THIS REAL to us?
Christ's righteousness truly is the greatest need we could ever have, and God will give this to us, He will NOT leave us wanting, He could not. Our Heavenly Father will give us ALL we need to be HIS. It's up to us to CHOOSE Him over ALL else, even ourselves.
Luk 12:23 The life is more than meat, and the body is more than raiment.
Do we believe this?
Luk 12:31 But rather seek ye the kingdom of God; and all these things shall be added unto you.
Luk 12:32 Fear not, little flock; for it is your Father's good pleasure to give you the kingdom.
First the kingdom of God.
The kingdom of God- this should be our desire above all. Our Savior is the kingdom of God. It is through Him and His righteousness we find the kingdom and no where else.
In our world, people will hold very fancy parties and only those who receive an exclusive invitation can attend. If You don't KNOW that person hosting the party, you simply CANNOT ever expect to get an invitation, it's that simple. We comprehend that perfectly. We cannot gain the kingdom of God without Jesus Christ, without knowing Him and being known by Him, it's impossible. Unlike worldly people of wealth and circumstance, who will more than likely never invite you to any of their exclusive parties, in fact they almost certainly do NOT want to know you- Our Savior WANTS to know us! Our Savior extends His invitation to ALL.
Rev_3:20 Behold, I stand at the door, and knock: if any man hear my voice, and open the door, I will come in to him, and will sup with him, and he with me.
Truth!
Anxiety for food and clothing is clearly not the same thing as anxiety for the kingdom of God, however much we should like to persuade ourselves that when we are working for our families and concerning ourselves with bread and houses we are thereby building the kingdom, as though the kingdom could be realized only through our worldly cares.
The kingdom of God and his righteousness are sharply distinguished from the gifts of the world which come our way.
That kingdom is none other than the righteousness of Matt. 5 and 6, the righteousness of the cross and of following Christ beneath that cross.
Fellowship with Jesus and obedience to his commandment come first, and all else follows.
Worldly cares are not a part of our discipleship, but distinct and subordinate concerns. Before we start taking thought for our life, our food and clothing, our work and families, we must seek the righteousness of Christ. This is no more than an ultimate summing up of all that has been said before.
Again we have here either a crushing burden, which holds out no hope for the poor and wretched, or else it is the quintessence of the gospel, which brings the promise of freedom and perfect joy.
Jesus does not tell us what we ought to do but cannot; he tells us what God has given us and promises still to give. If Christ has been given us, if we are called to his discipleship we are given all things, literally all things. He will see to it that they are added unto us. If we follow Jesus and look only to his righteousness, we are in his hands and under the protection of him and his Father. And if we are in communion with the Father, nought can harm us. We shall always be assured that he can feed his children and will not suffer them to hunger. God will help us in the hour of need, and he knows our needs.
After he has been following Christ for a long time, the disciple of Jesus will be asked "Lacked ye anything?" and he will answer "Nothing, Lord." How could he when he knows that despite hunger and nakedness, persecution and danger, the Lord is always at his side?'
My thoughts-
'DESPITE hunger, nakedness, persecution and danger… the LORD is always at his side.'
We confuse our temporal needs with our eternal needs.
Which would you rather have met? Your temporal needs or eternal needs?
When you face difficulty shouldn't that be one of the first things we ask ourselves? Is this a temporal need I'm lacking, or is it an eternal need?
More often than not we'd have to admit the need, no matter how dire, is a temporal need. When we are in pain- physical, emotional, mental agony- we long for relief from that pain. Satan would have us focus on our pain and accuse our Heavenly Father of not caring about us enough to rid of us the pain. Satan would have us believe we have somehow failed in our discipleship if God is not providing for our needs, because Satan has us believing our needs are all important, our ease, our pain free existence is all that matters. If Satan has convinced us that our needs, our VERY temporal needs, are what matters then we will be very tempted to leave the love of our Creator, our Redeemer, when those temporal needs are not met.
We'll say God's word tells us that He feeds the birds, and how much more He'll feed me, so why am I starving? He's allowing me to starve because He's cruel, He doesn't love me- not really, He's not real. Those are the things that we will be tempted to believe all because we've focused on our temporal existence.
You'll get any number of people preaching about prosperity and God and how you can have it all with God. I'm not going to say you shouldn't prosper at all, but seriously when our Savior lived a life focused on the eternal and not the temporal, and He tells us plainly NOT to lay up treasures here on earth, why do we believe those people? Why do we allow ourselves to get caught up in earthly treasures, in temporal treasures?
The LORD is ALWAYS at our side- NO matter the circumstances we find ourselves in. We need to BEND to HIS will whatever it is. We don't have to comprehend, but we have to trust that our Savior will see us through to His kingdom.
Can we do this?
Is God THIS important to us?
Is ETERNAL LIFE THIS REAL to us?
Christ's righteousness truly is the greatest need we could ever have, and God will give this to us, He will NOT leave us wanting, He could not. Our Heavenly Father will give us ALL we need to be HIS. It's up to us to CHOOSE Him over ALL else, even ourselves.
Luk 12:23 The life is more than meat, and the body is more than raiment.
Do we believe this?
Luk 12:31 But rather seek ye the kingdom of God; and all these things shall be added unto you.
Luk 12:32 Fear not, little flock; for it is your Father's good pleasure to give you the kingdom.
First the kingdom of God.
The kingdom of God- this should be our desire above all. Our Savior is the kingdom of God. It is through Him and His righteousness we find the kingdom and no where else.
In our world, people will hold very fancy parties and only those who receive an exclusive invitation can attend. If You don't KNOW that person hosting the party, you simply CANNOT ever expect to get an invitation, it's that simple. We comprehend that perfectly. We cannot gain the kingdom of God without Jesus Christ, without knowing Him and being known by Him, it's impossible. Unlike worldly people of wealth and circumstance, who will more than likely never invite you to any of their exclusive parties, in fact they almost certainly do NOT want to know you- Our Savior WANTS to know us! Our Savior extends His invitation to ALL.
Rev_3:20 Behold, I stand at the door, and knock: if any man hear my voice, and open the door, I will come in to him, and will sup with him, and he with me.
Truth!
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