[Friday's Devotional] - Seek First the Kingdom

5  Seek First the Kingdom We have seen this week, that Jesus presents us with some choices.  Treasure in heaven or treasure on earth; living in the light or living in darkness; serving God or serving our own wealth; living with anxiety or trusting God.  Now he sums up:   So do not worry, saying, 'What shall we eat' or 'What shall we drink?' or 'What shall we wear?  For the pagans run after all these things and your Heavenly Father knows that you need them.  But seek first his kingdom and his righteousness, and all these things will be given unto you as well.  Matthew 6: 31 – 33 [NIV]   To be a Christian, a follower of Jesus, is to have a right set of priorities.  We live our lives in a fallen world, but the earth is not our home.  We are strangers here: our citizenship is in heaven.    As we have seen this week, Jesus calls us to be distinctive; to live, not like those around us, but as those who have been redeemed.  Here he spells it out.  We should seek first to live under and to promote God's kingly rule.   In everything we do, our priority ought to be to seek to extend God's kingdom.  That means using our money, our time and our talents not merely for our own ends, but to bring glory to God.  Seeking his kingdom and his righteousness should be what we are about as followers of Jesus.   R T France comments,   What this verse [33] demands is, therefore, a commitment to find and to do the will of God, to ally oneself totally with his purpose.  And this commitment must come first.  It is not to be crowded out by material concerns.   Money and material things are important, but they should not be the focus of our lives.  That place belongs to God alone, who assures us that he knows all our needs and will meet them.   Living Lord, may your kingdom come!  Show me how I may play my part in its growth.  Amen.   David Long     Twitter Website Copyright © 2017 St. Matthew & St. Oswald's Church, All rights reserved. You are receiving this email as a subscriber to the Daily Devotionals Our mailing address is: St. Matthew & St. Oswald's Church 1a New Street Rugby, Warwickshire CV22 7BE United Kingdom Add us to your address book Want to change how you receive these emails? You can update your preferences or unsubscribe from this list Want to be added to our mailing list? - sign up here!

[Thursday's Devotional] - Do Not Worry

4  Do Not Worry The final section of Matthew 6 deals with worry or anxiety.   Therefore, I tell you, do not worry about your life, what you will eat or drink; or about your body, what you will wear.  Is not life more important than food and the body more important than clothes?  Matthew 6: 25  [NIV]   It is important not to miss the work therefore at the beginning of verse 25.  The disciple of Jesus, as we have seen, is someone who stores up treasure in heaven rather than on earth; who walks in the light rather than the darkness; and who serves God rather than their own wealth.   For someone like that, Jesus continues, worry is out of place in our lives.  We do not need to worry because our heavenly Father will look after us.  Whether we are thinking about food, drink or clothing – three of the most important things in life – God will meet our needs.   Jesus could not have been oblivious to the fact that many, even among his most committed followers, do not get enough food or find it hard to get the money for clothes.  But here his overarching theme is that we are not to spend time and energy worrying when we have a Heavenly Father who loves us.   Be not anxious!  Earthly possessions dazzle our eyes and delude us into thinking that they can provide security and freedom from anxiety.  Yet all the time they are the very source of all anxiety.   [Dietrich Bonhoeffer]   Lord Jesus, thank you that through your death for me on the cross, I have been put right with the Father.  Thank you for suffering in my place, taking all my sin and guilt upon yourself.  Thank you that I have been adopted as a child of God and can now live without worry.  Amen.   David Long   Twitter Website Copyright © 2017 St. Matthew & St. Oswald's Church, All rights reserved. You are receiving this email as a subscriber to the Daily Devotionals Our mailing address is: St. Matthew & St. Oswald's Church 1a New Street Rugby, Warwickshire CV22 7BE United Kingdom Add us to your address book Want to change how you receive these emails? You can update your preferences or unsubscribe from this list Want to be added to our mailing list? - sign up here!

[Wednesday's Devotional] - Serving Two Masters

3  Serving Two Masters If yesterday's reading was rather puzzling, today's is more straightforward:   No-one can serve two masters.  Either he will hate the one and love the other, or he will be devoted to the one to the one and despise the other.  You cannot serve both God and Money.  Matthew 6: 24 [NIV]   The word serve means 'to be a slave of'.  A slave was owned by only one master, who would not allow any rival claims of ownership.   As Christians, we have been redeemed – Jesus has paid the price for our sins through his death on the cross.  We have been freed from our slavery to sin and now belong to God.  But sometimes it doesn't look that way.  Sometimes our loyalties are divided.  On the surface, we may appear to be committed to God, but deep down other affections govern the way we live our lives.   The rival to God is money, or in the original Greek 'Mammon' or 'wealth'.  God asks us: what are you really committed to?  Is it to me or is it to yourself?  Are you willing to work for my Kingdom, or do you just want to focus on your own needs?  You have to decide.   In an age in which the whole direction of people's lives is dominated by climbing the career ladder, acquisition of material goods and never being satisfied, for a Christian to say honestly 'I am fine as I am; I don't need anything' is a tremendous and glorious shock to the non-Christian's system.  [John Benton]   Lord God, I am sorry for the ways in which I have lived my life without reference to you.  I am sorry for listening to other voices rather than yours.  Please help me to love you and put you first in every part of my life.  Amen.   David Long   Twitter Website Copyright © 2017 St. Matthew & St. Oswald's Church, All rights reserved. You are receiving this email as a subscriber to the Daily Devotionals Our mailing address is: St. Matthew & St. Oswald's Church 1a New Street Rugby, Warwickshire CV22 7BE United Kingdom Add us to your address book Want to change how you receive these emails? You can update your preferences or unsubscribe from this list Want to be added to our mailing list? - sign up here!

[Tuesday's Devotional] - The Lamp of the Body

2  The Lamp of the Body The next section in the Sermon on the Mount is rather enigmatic; but, since it is sandwiched between two sections about money and materialism, commentators have agreed that it, too, is to do with being single-minded about our loyalty to God.  See what you make of it:   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.  If then the light within you is darkness, how great is that darkness!  Matthew 6: 22 – 23 [NIV]   The idea seems to be that, like a window, our eyes allow light into our body.  With the light we receive we are able to live our lives and make decisions.   The key to understanding the saying seems to be the word translated here as good in verse 22.  The original means something more like 'single', but it can also mean 'complete' or 'perfect'.  What Jesus seems to be saying is that living our life with a single eye is to lead our lives totally devoted to the service of God.   When we are single-minded about our commitment to God, we will be able to live our lives in ways which are pleasing to him.  But if we are not single-minded, then we will stumble around in the darkness.   Long my imprisoned spirit lay fast bound in sin and nature's night; Thine eye diffused a quickening ray - I woke, the dungeon flamed with light; My chains fell off, my heart was free. I rose, went forth and followed thee.               [Charles Wesley]   How single-minded are you in your commitment to God?   Lord Jesus Christ, Light of the world, shine on me so that the night of sin and error may be driven away and I may walk without stumbling, as in the day.  Amen.   David Long   Twitter Website Copyright © 2017 St. Matthew & St. Oswald's Church, All rights reserved. You are receiving this email as a subscriber to the Daily Devotionals Our mailing address is: St. Matthew & St. Oswald's Church 1a New Street Rugby, Warwickshire CV22 7BE United Kingdom Add us to your address book Want to change how you receive these emails? You can update your preferences or unsubscribe from this list Want to be added to our mailing list? - sign up here!

[Monday's Devotional] - Treasure in Heaven

1  Treasure in Heaven In these verses from the Sermon on the Mount, Jesus presents us with choices.  There are not a multitude of options to consider: just two alternatives.  Which will you choose?  The choices we make can affect not just how we live our life now, but our eternal destiny.   Jesus begins:   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 moth and rust do not destroy and where thieves do not break in and steal.  For where your treasure is, there your heart will be also.  Matthew 6: 19 – 21 [NIV]   We can store up treasure on earth, or we can store up treasure in heaven.  Our earthly treasure, whether money or possessions, can be stolen or may be destroyed.  In any case, we will not be able to take it with us when we die.   On the other hand, treasures in heaven are both safe and permanent.  To lay up treasure in heaven is to do anything on earth whose effects will last for all eternity.   On the one hand, Jesus is calling us not to be selfish, but to be generous with our resources.  'Do not lay up for yourselves' he says.  On the other hand, he is showing us the danger we put ourselves in if we put our trust in material things (verse 21).  Ultimately, what we do with our treasure is a test of our loyalty to God.   The problem with materialism is that if you have everything now there is nothing to look forward to.   [Colin Sinclair]   Are you storing up treasure in heaven?   Lord God, you are the creator of all things.  Thank you for all you have given me that helps me through life.  Help me never to put my trust in them, but to use them wisely so that you may be glorified.  Amen.   David Long   Twitter Website Copyright © 2017 St. Matthew & St. Oswald's Church, All rights reserved. You are receiving this email as a subscriber to the Daily Devotionals Our mailing address is: St. Matthew & St. Oswald's Church 1a New Street Rugby, Warwickshire CV22 7BE United Kingdom Add us to your address book Want to change how you receive these emails? You can update your preferences or unsubscribe from this list Want to be added to our mailing list? - sign up here!