Monday, March 3, 2014

You Can't Take It With You


"Do not love the world nor the things of the world.  If anyone loves the world, the love of the Father is not in him.  For all that is in the world, the lust of the flesh and the lust of the eyes and the boastful pride of life, is not from the Father, but is from the world."  (I John 2:15-17).

Hey gang:  Two hobos were sitting on a curb when a funeral procession passed by carrying the rich guy from up on knob hill to his final resting place.  (Isn't it great that a casket in the cold ground is not going to be our final resting place?).  I don't know about you but the Word tells me my final home is an out of sight place in the present of Yeshua.  Wow, awesome!

Getting back to the two hobos, one said to the other, "I wonder how much he left?" The other responded, "All of it!"   Timothy had something to say about that, "For we have brought nothing into the world, so we cannot take anything out of it either"   (Tim. 6:7).

Recently, I listened in on a conversation between an interviewer and an interviewee, who had just won the lottery. The interviewer asked, “What has changed since you won the mega bucks?”   His , “I used to worry about where I would get enough money to keep my ship afloat; now I worry that someone will come along and sink my ship and take away my vast holdings.”  Studies have proven that suddenly winning a barn-full of money can be very detrimental to your health. 

Psalm 37 is a very favorite portion of Scripture to me.  Remember it begins, “Don’t fret”.  I like it when I read words like that.  Jesus often began His conversations with His disciples with "Do not be afraid!"  My Pennsylvania hillbilly background taught me it don’t matter no-how-  how much money you have; it’s what you do with it and, if you are blessed with a barn full, what your attitude is.  .  David gave a neat piece of advice when he wrote, “I have been young and now I am old, Yet I have not seen the righteous forsaken”  Can you say ‘wow’ to that?

Sometime ago I read an article which was built on the promise a guy made to himself.  I do not recall very much of what it said, but I do remember his punch line: there are two days that I do not fret about, yesterday and tomorrow.  Similar words were spoken by the wisest man who ever lived on earth, Jesus, when He said, "Do not worry about tomorrow; for tomorrow will care for itself. Each day has enough alligators of its own" (Matt. 6:34, Hainley rendition).

Malachi tells us there is a far greater guarantee available to those who love the Lord.  He wrote, “Bring the whole tithe into the storehouse, so that there may be food in My house, and test Me now in this, says the Lord of hosts, if I will not open for you the windows of heaven and pour out for  you a blessing until it overflows.”  Notice the promise connected to this promise, “Then I will rebuke the devourer for you!"...so  says the Lord. (Mal.  3:10-11).

Soooo, my good friends invest the whole tithe in the Lord’s bank and let God place His mantle of protection around you and keep in mind Jesus’ words in the Sermon on the Mount "No one can serve to masters.”

Blessings,


Gramps

No comments:

Post a Comment