Looking at the Blog on Sept 4 -
Judges
106And the children of Israel did evil again in the sight of the
LORD, and served Baalim, and
Ashtaroth, and the gods of Syria, and the gods of Zidon, and the gods of Moab,
and the gods of the children of Ammon, and the gods of the Philistines, and forsook the LORD, and served not
him. 7And the
anger of the LORD was hot against Israel, and he sold them into the hands of
the Philistines, and into the hands of the children of Ammon. 8And
that year they vexed and oppressed the children of Israel: eighteen years,
all the children of Israel that were on the other side Jordan in the
land of the Amorites, which is in Gilead. 9Moreover the children of Ammon
passed over Jordan to fight also against Judah, and against Benjamin, and
against the house of Ephraim; so that Israel was sore distressed.
This applies to us today who say we are Christians (born again) but serve the gods of this world. We can expect to be burdened, vexed and oppressed in many ways if we do this.
One of the gods of this world is money.
Some of those who are in church groups including ministers have gone
after the god of money. At one time I was serving money until God got my
attention.
This is how I was helped.
In reading the Bible book of Luke
chapter 12 the following verse stood out to me. This was Jesus speaking directly to me the
following scripture.
15And
he said unto them, Take heed, and beware of covetousness: for a man’s life
consisteth not in the abundance of the things which he possesseth.
To me this Word
was like a blinking light on that
page. I started paying attention
to what I was being told here and ask God to help me to change.
I
stopped seeking to get more money.
I had to trust God to supply all my
need and
let Him provide them in His way.
Plus
Jesus was saying that my life is not made up of things I own. Jesus
spoke a
parable in this same passage of scripture.
It was about the rich man whose ground brought forth plenty. He built
greater barns to store his goods.
Then thought to himself that he had laid up much goods for many years.
He was going to eat, drink and be merry. The end result of this man is
that he died
and his riches went to others. He was
called a fool for trusting in his riches but not being rich towards God.
This is found in Luke 12. 15 And he (Jesus) said unto them, Take heed, and beware of covetousness:for a man's life consisteth not in the abundance of the things which he possesseth.
16 And he spake a parable unto them, saying, The ground of a certain rich man brought forth plentifully:17 And he thought within himself, saying, What shall I do, because I have no room where to bestow my fruits? 18 And he said, This will I do:I will pull down my barns, and build greater; and there will I bestow all my fruits and my goods. 19 And I will say to my soul, Soul, thou hast much goods laid up for many years; take thine ease, eat, drink, and be merry.
20 But God said unto him, Thou fool, this night thy soul shall be required of thee:then whose shall those things be, which thou hast provided?
21 So is he that layeth up treasure for himself, and is not rich toward God.
22 And he said unto his disciples, Therefore I say unto you, Take no thought for your life, what ye shall eat; neither for the body, what ye shall put on. 23 The life is more than meat, and the body is more than raiment. 24 Consider the ravens:for they neither sow nor reap; which neither have storehouse nor barn; and God feedeth them:how much more are ye better than the fowls?
25 And which of you with taking thought can add to his stature one cubit?
26 If ye then be not able to do that thing which is least, why take ye thought for the rest?
27 Consider the lilies how they grow:they toil not, they spin not; and yet I say unto you, that Solomon in all his glory was not arrayed like one of these. 28 If then God so clothe the grass, which is to day in the field, and to morrow is cast into the oven; how much more will he clothe you, O ye of little faith?
29 And seek not ye what ye shall eat, or what ye shall drink, neither be ye of doubtful mind. 30 For all these things do the nations of the world seek after:and your Father knoweth that ye have need of these things. 31 But rather seek ye the kingdom of God; and all these things shall be added unto you.
Covetousness is mentioned in many places in the
Bible.
The scripture that stood out to
me is the following:
Hebrews 135Let
your conversation be without covetousness; and be content
with such things as ye have: for he hath said, I will never leave thee, nor
forsake thee. 6So that we may boldly say, The Lord is my
helper, and I will not fear what man shall do unto me.
Jesus is saying be content with what you have. He was telling us that He will never leave us nor forsake us and we need not be afraid of what man shall do unto us. This is a promise of God to me and to all those who choose to serve Him above other gods. None of these other gods can give us life. Only in Jesus (The Word) is life.
John 1:1 In the beginning was the Word, and the Word was with God, and the Word was God. 2The same was in the beginning with God. 3All things were made by him; and without him was not any thing made that was made. 4In him was life; and the life was the light of men.