Message: Luke 12 reminds me that although we live here on this earth and we are building and making plans, this is not where our treasure should be. Our treasure is in eternity and just like we work here on earth to earn a paycheck and build resources and pay for enjoyable things, we are also working for an eternal paycheck as we work for the kingdom of God. If we are too busy trying to build our kingdom here, we lose sight of the eternal kingdom we are working our whole lives for. Many of us are looking for justice or reparations on this earth that we will never see, but what we endure in honorably and obediently in the secret places that nobody but God sees, will be rewarded in heaven. What we sacrifice here in order to bring in people, will be rewarded in heaven. This is not our motivation, but it is certainly our reward.
Command: Make the kingdom of God my main focus. This is not to say we don’t care about building wealth and making our lives here beautiful, but when we seek the kingdom of God first, we are rewarded not only in heaven but some of those rewards follow us here too.
Promise: God rewards us generously when we are chasing after him and not after what he can give us.
Warning: If I get this backwards I will not only miss the point, but I will miss the rewards too.
Application: This is such an important reminder to stop getting so preoccupied with obtaining the rewards of God here on the earth. God promises there will be a reward for our obedience, and those rewards will come because God does not lie, BUT, if this becomes my aim I am missing the whole point of everything. I am here to serve God. God is not here to serve me. His plans need to be my plans and when they are I will be walking in obedience. Blessings can’t help but flow from that. If I am busy trying to get God to work on my behalf I am looking at things backwards. He knows the needs I have (and even the wants too). If I focus on fulfilling God’s plan and stop trying to get God to fulfill mine, I will find not only my heart changing, but the blessings will follow both here and in heaven.
