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Our daily Bible readings are found at Listener's Bible. You can listen to the text or read it and it will update each day. Let’s pray together: Lord, let our souls rise up to meet you as the day rises to meet the sun. Glory to the Father, and to the Son, and to the Holy Spirit. May the peace of the Lord Christ go with us: wherever He may send us; may You guide us through the wilderness: protect us through the storm; may You bring us home rejoicing: at the wonders You have shown us; may You bring us home rejoicing once again into our doors. Amen Meditation So let’s explore the run up to Matthew 6:34’s “Therefore…” 19 “Do not store up for yourselves treasures on earth, where moths and vermin destroy, and where thieves break in and steal. 20 But store up for yourselves treasures in heaven, where moths and vermin do not destroy, and where thieves do not break in and steal. 21 For where your treasure is, there your heart will be also. It is here that Jesus is identifying the dangers of the “idolatry of stuff”, in the modern age this has become a massive issue. Consider two different scenarios; the hoarder, trapped in their piles of stuff, their houses falling to bits around them and all their relationships suffering or the those who are so busy running after material gain that they sacrifice their marriages and family. It is not just the wealthy that are at risk; it is all of us. Jesus is saying financial security and stuff will pass away but God will not. He must be our focus. 22 “The eye is the lamp of the body. If your eyes are healthy,[c] your whole body will be full of light. 23 But if your eyes are unhealthy,[d] your whole body will be full of darkness. If then the light within you is darkness, how great is that darkness! This one always confuses folks, because Jesus is using imagery we are unfamiliar with. Oddly enough the KJV may be helpful here 22 The light of the body is the eye: if therefore thine eye be single, thy whole body shall be full of light. The concept is less about sight and more about being singularly focused or as we say single minded. Jesus is saying if we keep our focus on God then we are filled with His light, but if we are double minded or divided (keep in mind what Jesus just said about serving two masters) then we are filled with darkness. And if our focus is evil, then we really are in the dark 24 “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. With the last two sections in mind, we get the flow. Jesus is saying, “We must live lives of integrity (integers are whole numbers=undivided) with our WHOLE hearts devoted to God. When we do so then we are filled with God’s light/power and overflow with that power= fruit/evidence of the Spirit at work in us, BECAUSE no one can actually be devoted to two things at once. It’s similar to what they have discovered in neuroscience that no actually “multitasks” instead “multitaskers” are just really good at rapidly switching their focus, but they are in fact only ever doing one thing at a time. This gets us to a “Therefore” in vs. 25 but not the “Therefore” of vs. 34. 25 “Therefore I tell you, do not worry about your life, what you will eat or drink; or about your body, what you will wear. I think Jesus is being whimsical and using imagery to grow our understanding since it's nearly impossible NOT to worry about these things, but God is more than capable. Is not life more than food, and the body more than clothes? 26 Look at the birds of the air; they do not sow or reap or store away in barns, and yet your heavenly Father feeds them. Are you not much more valuable than they? 27 Can any one of you by worrying add a single hour to your life[c]? And again here 28 “And why do you worry about clothes? See how the flowers of the field grow. They do not labor or spin. 29 Yet I tell you that not even Solomon in all his splendor was dressed like one of these. 30 If that is how God clothes the grass of the field, which is here today and tomorrow is thrown into the fire, will he not much more clothe you—you of little faith? 31 So do not worry, saying, ‘What shall we eat?’ or ‘What shall we drink?’ or ‘What shall we wear?’ Now He gets down to business 32 For the pagans run after all these things, and your heavenly Father knows that you need them. 33 But seek first his kingdom and his righteousness, and all these things will be given to you as well. This is the punchline, the one “simple” step everyone wants, this is it. We can't live with split allegiances, our lives should be singularly focused on God and everything else will come together. AND now we arrive at the “Therefore” and hopefully it has a lot more zing 34 Therefore do not worry about tomorrow, for tomorrow will worry about itself. Each day has enough trouble of its own.