"Do not store up for yourselves treasures on earth, where moth and rust destroy, and where thieves break in and steal.But store up for yourselves treasures in heaven, where moth and rust do not destroy, and where thieves do not break in and steal.”
Matt. 6.19,20
“I have to keep in mind that as hard as I work, and whatever I might achieve, whether it is planes, vacation homes, cars, recognition, the moment I die it is gone.I could be doing so much more in working for the Kingdom of God.”
--Lance Murdock
Chicago Board of Trade
Descending into Greatness by Bill Hybelsis a great read for leaders.Chapter 3 is dedicated to the story of Lance Murdock.In short, Lance Murdock a “huge” Chicago trader that came to a place in his life where he recognized that each day he faced two distinct “Kingdoms”one kingdom of man, the other kingdom of God.Murdock also came to ask several other questions as a follower of Christ.“Can I maintain possessions and still be effective as a Christian?What is the line between need, blessing and excess?
Yesterday as I experienced a “flat” kind of day— I read Hebrews 13.5“Keep your lives free from the love of money and be content with what you have, because God has said, "Never will I leave you; never will I forsake you."
Similarly Matt. 6.19 Jesus speaks on the same subject—things, contentment, excess.Funny how as a leader in the church, a pastor, a shepherd this is a subject that many “followers” don’t want to hear about.In the same vein, I don’t enjoy a healthy dose of the truth at all times in my life, but I believe this is a huge issue for many, many followers.Is it about money?No.Is it about hard work and earning money?No.Is it about getting things?No, not completely.
It’s about the heart.The internal things.It’s about what goes on in someone’s heart—that leads to focusing and pursuing other things—or placing things over God and His kingdom.It is a struggle for all, but as a leader, I am convinced more than ever that God wants His people to loose their love for things and money and get back to loving Him and serving Him with our life.
Oh sure, I may struggle every once in awhile over things, and contentment—but this is a discipline matter, a self talk matter, a matter of commitment, a matter of not “feeling” good all the time with the stuff.
Feeling good is such a lousy reason to pursue anything really.Soon the dependence to “feeling good” becomes the passion to go and keep repeating the cycle of more, better, bigger—because it makes us feel good—and that codependence is brutally hard to break especially when we live in a world that says “you have arrived, you are successful, you are awesome because you have the good life.”Added to that is the words from others that continue to enable us deeper into the feeling good as they tell us how great we are because we have more, we wear the right stuff, we own the right cars and size house and on and on.
Following Jesus becomes very difficult when all the other accolades mean so much more.
