The other day I was talking to my eldest son, we were talking about his credit situation and the money wasted day to day. I broke down the simple things we spend money on and never even think about. Of course I gave him the money is a commodity speech. Look to see how fast you can save not how much you can spend etc... If you have kids you know the talk.
Then it occurred to me that we have these talks with our kids about wasteful spending, living excessively or beyond your means. But do we do this in the Spiritual life where it is beneficial to live above and beyond? The Holy Spirit is a far more precious commodity than cash. Do we spend enough time talking to them of not feeding the natural man and living on the Spirit?
I am willing to bet if we took stock of our spiritual state and had to subsist on what we feed our spirit we would all be malnourished. Probably not enough to live on for more than a few hours till we expired.
Matthew 6:33Authorized (King James) Version (AKJV)
33 But seek ye first the kingdom of God, and his righteousness; and all these things shall be added unto you.
These are the words of Christ. He tells us repeatedly to lean on God. To put our trust in Him alone. We are to build up heavenly rewards and look not to the things of this world. I understand that this is hard to do. We are so swept up in our cares and troubles here. We have families, we have work. These things are not bad in and of themselves, but they are bad when they take our focus off the things of God. Affluence is not a sin, but are you using the material gifts of God to further His work?
Christ Himself said "man shall not live by bread alone" :
Then it occurred to me that we have these talks with our kids about wasteful spending, living excessively or beyond your means. But do we do this in the Spiritual life where it is beneficial to live above and beyond? The Holy Spirit is a far more precious commodity than cash. Do we spend enough time talking to them of not feeding the natural man and living on the Spirit?
I am willing to bet if we took stock of our spiritual state and had to subsist on what we feed our spirit we would all be malnourished. Probably not enough to live on for more than a few hours till we expired.
Matthew 6:33Authorized (King James) Version (AKJV)
33 But seek ye first the kingdom of God, and his righteousness; and all these things shall be added unto you.
These are the words of Christ. He tells us repeatedly to lean on God. To put our trust in Him alone. We are to build up heavenly rewards and look not to the things of this world. I understand that this is hard to do. We are so swept up in our cares and troubles here. We have families, we have work. These things are not bad in and of themselves, but they are bad when they take our focus off the things of God. Affluence is not a sin, but are you using the material gifts of God to further His work?
Christ Himself said "man shall not live by bread alone" :
But he answered and said, It is written, Man shall not live by bread alone, but by every word that proceedeth out of the mouth of God.
Deuteronomy 8:3 KJV
3 And he humbled thee, and suffered thee to hunger, and fed thee with manna, which thou knewest not, neither did thy fathers know; that he might make thee know that man doth not live by bread only, but by every word that proceedeth out of the mouth of the Lord doth man live.
If you will remember this is when Christ was in the wilderness preparing for His temptations brought by satan. Christ fasted 40 days and nights and He was in a hungry and weakened state, yet this was His answer to satan. If Christ Himself needs to rely on The Word of God to answer satan then how much more does that apply to us?
Yet we concern ourselves more with the day to day of this world rather than with the world to come where our rewards and eternity shall be spent. We spend approximately 70 years here on this earth, we buy houses, cars, education, and toys. We fail to set up our retirement account that will last hundreds of million of years.
Christ ,in preparing for His temptations and trials, felt the need to commune with heaven to prepare. He felt the need to strengthen Himself against the coming trials, yet we fail to prepare for the day to day.
We have lost our spiritual compass. We have failed to make the Daily bread Our Daily bread, and I am not taking about the devotional booklet. I am talking about the Word of God. We fail to prepare ourselves. To arm ourselves for the battles we will face.
Daily devotionals are good, but they are not alone time with the Word and Spirit of God. The psalmist (David) who spent the majority of his life on the run and fearing for his life says:
Psalm 119:11, 105KJV
11 Thy word have I hid in mine heart,
that I might not sin against thee.
that I might not sin against thee.
105 Thy word is a lamp unto my feet,
and a light unto my path.
and a light unto my path.
Yet we here in America, a country that was founded on Christian principles, who at one time was a shining light to the rest of the world, we have inundated ourselves with things. We have lost our focus from the Bread of Life to the entertainment of the mind, pleasure of the eyes, and the pride of life.
Do you take your daily bread? Or do you let your spiritual man starve and prepare not for the life to come?
We can not overcome this world if we fail to prepare ourselves for the daily battles.
Take some time to prepare. Take time to feed your spirit. Dwell daily on the things of God before you get out in the world. Use the full arsenal of God to combat the temptations and traps satan has for you.
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