When most Christians talk about our relationship to material things they will quote scripture from Matthew 6 with most of the emphasis on where we should store up treasure and that we cannot serve two masters.
"Do not store up for yourselves treasures on earth, where moths and vermin destroy, and where thieves break in and steal. But store up for yourselves treasures in heaven, where moths and vermin do not destroy, and where thieves do not break in and steal. For where your treasure is, there your heart will be also.
The eye is the lamp of the body. If your eyes are healthy, your whole body will be full of light. But if your eyes are unhealthy, your whole body will be full of darkness. If then the light within you is darkness, how great is that darkness!
“No one can serve two masters. Either you will hate the one and love the other, or you will be devoted to the one and despise the other. You cannot serve both God and money."
God revealed to me the key to all of this may actually lie in the middle verse which is often skipped when quoting this passage. The key is keeping our eyes healthy; the key to cultivating thankfulness is where you look!
If Satan cannot affect your salvation, then his next goal is to affect your impact for the kingdom of Christ. His primary focus for the saved Christian becomes making us ineffective and stealing our joy/ability to live an abundant life in Christ. In other words, the enemy wants to help you cultivate discontentment. If he can keep you focused on your self and your own problems, you are less likely to see the need around you. Subsequently, you are less available to be used by God. Like I wrote in my previous post, often to be more thankful simply requires looking at the problems and needs of those around you. "Generosity is a way of telling the subconscious: I already have ENOUGH. If you reach out your hand to help others, you know you're coming from a place of sufficiency."
My enemy is constantly sending me catalogs of what I don't have. If I could give them a few titles they could be periodicals like:
1. The People Who Don't Respect Me
2. The Patients who Chose Someone Else
3. The Employee Who Takes Advantage of You
4. The Family Members Who Push Your Buttons
Who would want to look a those catalogs? But that was exactly what my eyes focused on, due to past insecurities that would filter the events of life and attach a context; knowing my vulnerabilities, the enemy would shove one of those titles right under my nose. God spoke to me in a quiet voice one morning as I listened to a sermon on Matthew 6. He suggested, "It's a simple as that, just don't look. Don't look at what the enemy says you don't have, focus on what you do have in Christ." The interesting thing is I've discovered the two are connected. The more I keep my eyes focused on Christ, the less I look to fill the 'voids' in my life with stuff. Now don't get me wrong, this is not an instantaneous thing. That's why I said we have to cultivate thanksgiving; it takes work and constant attention. By training our eyes where to look (and for me this might need to be like a horse with a set of blinders!), the goals of this scripture will fall in to place. Less insecurity means less need to acquire treasure here. Less focus on ourselves, means more ability to store up treasure in Heaven. Less behavior of filling emotional voids with stuff, means we are not a slave to a particular lifestyle but a slave to Jesus Christ. It is all connected. "For the one who was a slave when called to faith in the Lord is the Lord's freed person; similarly the one who was free when called, is Christ's slave." (1st Corinth 7:22)
This week I am determined to cultivate Thankfulness. At the top of the list is my relationship with the one who died to make me free; "So if the Son sets you free, you will be free indeed." (John 8:36). Happy Thanksgiving everyone!
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