“Money never made a man happy yet, nor will it. The more a man has, the more he wants. Instead of filling a vacuum, it makes one.” ~ Ben Franklin
Ever watch a mouse on a habitrail wheel? So much frantic energy…and yet the mouse goes nowhere. Worry about material things and finances is like that. A lot of expended energy which results in going nowhere. God has better things in mind for us, he wants us off that “worry wheel”.
This Sunday we’ll be continuing a theme about value and values as we continue our study in Luke 12. We’ll be looking at verses 22-34.
If we were to break this section down, we’d say that Jesus gives us a threefold illustration to grasp how God provides for us, a sort of lesser/greater argument, which can be found by observing nature. What are some of the ways in which you see God’s hand of provision revealed in the natural order of the world we live in?
V25-25 also give a very practical reason why worry is unproductive. What has worrying ever done for you?
Instead of obsessing with what we have or don’t have, what should we be concentrating our priorities on, according to Jesus? What does it mean to you, to “seek God’s kingdom”?
Treasure is a way of describing something of great, intrinsic value. Things that are sharing in the broken, deteriorating properties of this fallen world are compared with things that never end. What are the things that never end and how do we value them?
Stuff to ponder. See you Sunday.
WONDERWHAT 
Worry and anxiety plague our country. We are so tightly wound we could pop at any moment. I meet people everyday whose lives are completely gripped with fear and anxiety. It seems that even though we have less war, hunger, disease, poverty, etc. here, we still worry as much if not more than anyone else in the world. This may be because we lack proper perspective. We can’t see the forest for the trees, so to speak. It seems that Jesus is trying to tell us that he wants us to step back and look at the big picture, to gain some perspective on our situation. Look at the animals, he says. They have no savings accounts, no life insurance, no 401k’s, no retirement plans, and yet they seem to get along just fine. God provides for them. And if we are the pinnacle of his creation then how much more will He provide for us.
I love that Jesus doesn’t ignore that we are humans, flesh and blood, but instead acknowledges that we have physical needs (vs. 30). He reminds us, however, that we have to seek eternal, lasting things first and let God handle the earthly things. C.S. Lewis said something to the effect that if earth is what we seek we will get nothing, but if heaven is what we seek, we will get earth thrown in.
Then, why do we worry if it does us no good, if it doesn’t add a day to our lives or a cubit to our stature? Its easy to say, well, just stop it. Worrying is obviously useless, but lets be honest, most of us know this full well, but we worry anyway. It feels involuntary, like something we have no control over. I have always thought to myself that if I truly believed (and I mean really believe like I believe the sun will come up tomorrow) that when I die I will live eternally with my Lord, then I would not be afraid and never worry. How could I worry in the face of such a promise of eternal happiness and joy? What could come my way that could seem more than stubbed toe on the road to such a glorious end? But this isn’t exactly how we see things, is it? And I think the reason is that we can’t keep proper perspective. We forget those times when we have seen things clearly and understood what really mattered in life.
I think that seeking first the kingdom of God is about having eternal perspective, about trying to see the world as God does. It means remembering that we are indeed pilgrims here on this earth, not permanent residents. As a result of the fall, however, this does not come naturally. We have to constantly center ourselves in Christ. If we make Him our starting point we are less likely to wander off and lose sight of where our security comes from. If we do not, we will continue to seek safety in things that can never truly make us safe.