Saturday, July 21, 2012

Saturday, July 21st

Today's passage from the Chronological Bible In a Year Reading Plan is Hosea 8-14
Today's scripture focus is Matthew 6:19-24


19 “Do not store up for yourselves treasures on earth, where moth and rust destroy, and where thieves break in and steal. 20 But store up for yourselves treasures in heaven, where moth and rust do not destroy, and where thieves do not break in and steal. 21 For where your treasure is, there your heart will be also.
22 “The eye is the lamp of the body. If your eyes are good, your whole body will be full of light. 23 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!
24 “No one can serve two masters. Either he will hate the one and love the other, or he will be devoted to the one and despise the other. You cannot serve both God and Money.


This passage tells us that we are to be kingdom focused.  We need to invest our money, time, energy and resources into things that have lasting eternal value.  There is nothing wrong with having things or having money - it's what we do with that money and with those things that is the issue.

Have we committed our houses, cars, things to the Lord to use as He wills?  Do we open up our homes to those around us?  To friends in need of His love and hearing the Good News?

How we spend our time and money is a huge indicator of what is actually important to us.  Talk is cheap.  We can say what we value, but how we spend our resources reveals what we actually value.

What is the focus of our heart?

V22-23 is an illustration of this concept.

MacArthur explains it this way...
He's been talking about your heart and He wants us to have our heart fixed single mindedly and totally devoted on the kingdom of God, so that our treasure is there, our heart is there, our love is there, our passion is there, our burden is there, our investment is there, our all is there, and we're to have that single minded heart. And then He illustrates that with the eye, the‑eye then becomes the illustration of the heart. And the eye is like the lamp of the body. When we can see with our eyes, sighted people, their body is filled with the light that comes in from the world by which they perceive, and understand what's in their vision. But if your eye is dark it is black, there's no light that comes in you perceive nothing. And that's the way it is with the heart, if your heart is toward God it lights your entire spiritual being, if your heart is toward the material things, toward the treasure of the world the blinds come down of your spiritual perception and you do not see, spiritually as you ought. Tremendous principle. He takes a physical illustration and He says that the eye is like a window, if that window is clean and clear the light floods the body, if the window is blacked out no light enters. This is a spiritual metaphor. But there's a richness in here that I don't want you to miss. Look at the word healthy or single; I don't know what your version says in verse 22. It says, "The lamp of the body is the eye; and if, therefore, thine eye be (single or) healthy," I want you to see something that I think is fascinating about that word. The word is literally from the root of haplous which means generous, okay, it means generous. It is used that way many, many times, just give you three illustrations,James 1:5, "God who gives liberally." Or generously. Romans 12:8 Paul urges us to "give liberally." Or generously. Second Corinthians 9 he talks about the liberality or the generosity of the Macedonians. It is a word that means generous or liberal. He is saying then, if your eye or your heart, because the eye is illustrating the heart, if your heart is generous your whole spiritual life will be flooded with spiritual understanding. Isn't that a great truth?

You cannot serve both God and money.  The word actually means slave and total ownership.  You cannot serve two masters at the same time, you simply can't.  God and money are two masters tnat are diametrically opposed.

The one commands you to walk by faith the other to walk by sight. The one calls you to be humble the other to be proud, the one to set your affections on things above and the other to set them on the things of the earth, the one to look at the things unseen and eternal, the other to look at the things seen and temporal. One of these masters calls on you to have your conversation in heaven the other to cleave to the dust.

Who will you serve?

Tomorrow's scripture focus: Matthew 6:25-34
Tomorrow's Bible In a Year Passage passage: Isaiah 28-30

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