Then Jesus said to his disciples: “Therefore I tell you, do not worry about your life, what you will eat; or about your body, what you will wear. For life is more than food, and the body more than clothes. Consider the ravens: They do not sow or reap, they have no storeroom or barn; yet God feeds them. And how much more valuable you are than birds! Who of you by worrying can add a single hour to your life? Since you cannot do this very little thing, why do you worry about the rest?
“Consider how the wild flowers grow. They do not labor or spin. Yet I tell you, not even Solomon in all his splendor was dressed like one of these. If that is how God clothes the grass of the field, which is here today, and tomorrow is thrown into the fire, how much more will he clothe you—you of little faith! And do not set your heart on what you will eat or drink; do not worry about it. For the pagan world runs after all such things, and your Father knows that you need them. But seek his kingdom, and these things will be given to you as well.
“Do not be afraid, little flock, for your Father has been pleased to give you the kingdom. Sell your possessions and give to the poor. Provide purses for yourselves that will not wear out, a treasure in heaven that will never fail, where no thief comes near and no moth destroys. For where your treasure is, there your heart will be also.
Luke 12:22-34
Our conversation this week when we gathered our Threshingfloor community was on the above passage from Luke. Jesus’ words about worry, God’s provision, and discerning where our hearts are are particularly apt for the world today.
Like any high-stress, potential risk situation that is out of our control, the pressure caused by the coronavirus has a way of revealing what we truly value. For Jesus’ original listeners their day-to-day concerns where the essentials such as today’s dinner and whether their thoroughly frayed cloak would hold up for another day or two and if they’d had the goods to trade for a new one. For us the impending potential impact of the COVID-19 has people deeply worried about the impact on their social life, their health, and whether they’ll have enough food, Clorox wipes, and toilet paper.
Locating your heart
As Jesus tells us in the passage above, what your heart worries about is a tell-tale sign of where your treasure is.
If your instinct has been to “run after all such things” and hoard toilet paper and eggs your treasure and security may well be in possessions.
If you’re anxiously sanitizing everything within reach and spending hours scrolling through media trying to solve the impossible problem of how guarantee you and those you love won’t get sick, it may be that your treasure is in your health.
If you are (like me), constantly frustrated about all the things you had planned to do but no longer can follow through on, it may be that your treasure was your productivity.
“Where your treasure is, there your heart will be.” Do you want your heart to be in the toilet paper aisle? Is your intention for your heart to be locked up in the comfort of being healthy?
Revealing your heart
Odds are it was never your intention to misplace your heart. If you’re like most of the Christians I know it’s truly your desire you have your heart be grounded solely in God. But the pressure of pandemics and other highly disruptive events often reveal where exactly our hearts are.
The reality is that it’s far more comfortable to have our treasure be something within reach, something that it feels like we can control rather than to fully invest ourselves in the uncontrollable, sometimes seemingly distant, God. It honestly feels safer to have our hearts in the toilet paper aisle or our own ability to quarantine than to fully trust God.
If COVID-19 has you awash in anxiety, worry, and fear that you can’t seem to escape, it’s probably God gently revealing that your treasure is somewhere other than “in heaven…where no thief comes near and no moth destroys.”
And, good news! If God is revealing that to you it’s because he wants to move you into the security and peace of your treasure being in Him and nowhere else. If we want to relocate our hearts to their appropriate resting place, Jesus points to the path.
Relocating your heart
In his words to the disciples in Luke 12 Jesus lays out four keys to relocating your heart. The first three require a shift of belief and perspective, and the fourth requires us taking a significant risk.
1. See your own powerlessness
Who of you by worrying can add a single hour to your life? Since you cannot do this very little thing, why do you worry about the rest?
The first step towards relocating your heart and treasure is to see just how powerless you are. It’s foolish to think that we can stave off trouble by buying a dozen cartons of eggs or sanitizing the hell out of our hands. It’s even more foolish to think that any amount of worry will extend or secure our lives in any way. Oh yes, take action to care for yourself. But realize that your actions don’t have ultimate say in the outcome.
If we’re so powerless that we can’t extend our own life by even an hour, then we ought to stop controlling our lives so frantically. But that’s incredibly hard to do, particularly if you are believing the lie that no one else will take care of you because you’re not worth it.
2. See your own great value
“Consider the ravens: They do not sow or reap, they have no storeroom or barn; yet God feeds them. And how much more valuable you are than birds!“
Most Christians I talk to have incredibly low views of themselves. Far lower than God does. In Genesis God called is creation “very good” once humanity was created. Prior to that it was just good. Humanity, even in it’s fallen state, is the crowning glory of God’s creation. As Jesus said, you are far more valuable than birds to God.
Not only that, but in a very real sense, God values your life more highly than his own. Jesus demonstrated that when he gave himself over to death for the sake of saving you.
If you want to have your treasure in the right place you need to realize your place in the created order. You need to understand that you – in all your brokenness and failure – have great value. God has made you worth and worthy. As a result he delights to give you good things.
3. See God’s generous goodness
“Do not be afraid, little flock, for your Father has been pleased to give you the kingdom.”
God hasn’t been stingy in the riches he clothes his flowers, birds, and the rest of his creation with. Why would he be stingy when it comes to giving you what you need and desire?
As the Apostle Paul says in Romans, if he’s given us the life of his son how much more will he give us every good thing? It’s God’s good pleasure to generously give you all the riches of his kingdom! You don’t need to treasure your toilet paper rolls or secure your health or feel like a failure because your career isn’t proceeding as planned. Your God is generous and good. He delights to give you what you need.
4. Take the risk of trust
Perhaps the hardest part of shifting our treasures from the things of this world into the hands of God is taking the risk of trust. When our treasures are in small things that we feel we can control it feels less risky. At least we have some illusion of control.
Not so when God has control of our treasure. To seek the Kingdom first is to trust that God will be gentle and wise with our fragile hearts and will provide for us. And that feels particularly risky when the people in the world around us are in a heightened state of fear and attempting to control whatever they can to make themselves feel safe.
To trust is to release the need to control. To be able to set down the burden of resolving all your own problems. To doggedly reject the oppressive anxiety of fear. And, most importantly, to listen to – to hear – the voice of the one being trusted.
When we see how powerless we are, how good God is, and how valued we are in his eyes then trust tends to come naturally. The good news during the time of COVID-19 (and any other time) is that our heavenly Father knows what we need. He knows what you’re worried about. He knows how to care for you and those you love. Jesus proved it definitively by his life and death and resurrection.
Seek Him and the Kingdom first rather than clorox wipes and toilet paper. He’ll take care of the rest.
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