Friday 25 June 2021

Psalm 3:1-6

Background

In chapter 11 of Luke's Gospel, we see Jesus encouraging us  ask for what we need and also how God blesses us in the measure of our intentions towards a 'Christ-likeness' of attitude and character. In the reading today, there is a salutary caution against greed. We can all be subject to earthly not-of-Christ demands in order to scratch the itch of our desire for earthly fulfilment. As I read the passage, I sense a caution in my own spirit that urges a check on my motivation for the things I want.

Brother Andrew was a Dutchman inspired to smuggle bibles into Communist countries. In his autobiography, God’s Smuggler (1964, Chosen Books) he talks about God’s work being for The King and requiring the very best. His message challenged me as we were about to take a youth mission trip to Uganda and funds were coming in slowly at the time. The offering to our partner church should, I recognised, be 'kingly' to reflect the love of our God and King and the honour of serving in this way. With prayer and a change in heart, instead of ‘sufficient’ we learnt to trust for 'plenty'.

It is worth reading the account of Brother Andrew’s bibles being taken across impenetrable borders and provision for God’s work that honours God. The funding situation for our trip to support our partners in Uganda reflected this also: in the end, there were plenty of funds in the account for the trip, such that we were able to invest in the work of the church in their community,  and build a whole level of a new high school that was mid-construction. We too were all ‘changed’.

Sometimes we all want 'stuff' —the not-of-Christ material things to bolster our ego or to perpetuate situations that are not good for us. This can reflect a greed, or investment in ourselves which is not mindful of becoming ‘rich towards God’. Jesus points out the catastrophic outcomes of these decisions in verse 21.

To Ponder: 

• The passage can be read as a critique of our personal priorities. What small changes can you make to refocus your life’s priorities on ‘becoming rich towards God’? How might that change or challenge your outlook or some of the ‘givens’ that you take for granted?
•  The passage talks about building larger barns to store more grain and goods. We can look at the  'bigger barns' as red-herrings for our churches or denominations. What might these be in your fellowship? How will you pray and act to return to a focus on the things of God’s heart?