A Word For Thought

Store it up or give it all away ?
Which should be my focus ? (Don’t say ‘should’—I don’t want someone telling me what I should do.)

Store it up or give it all away ?
The Bible talks about both, a lot.
Does God care more about our heart or our money ?
We desperately want to hear that our heart is right, so we can do what we want with our money, and do what others tell us to do with our money to make more.

Store it up or give it all away ?
Which is it ?
— Store up provisions and money while you can, for the time when you can’t.
OR
— Give it all away and follow Jesus.

“Go to the ant, . . . ,
Consider her ways and be wise,
Which, having no captain,
Overseer or ruler,
Provides her supplies in the summer,
And gathers her food in the harvest.”*
—–from Proverbs, often quoted to support ‘store it up’.

“Then Jesus, looking at him, loved him, and said to him, “One thing you lack: Go your way, sell whatever you have and give it to the poor, and you will have treasure in heaven; and come, take up the cross, and follow Me.”*

– – –

How did we do it in the past in America, to keep ‘balance’ between saving and giving ?
One thing is clear—we certainly did it differently in days gone by.
We didn’t have the pressure, the expectation, that every ‘responsible’ person should have a portfolio of stash for _ _/_ _/_ _ _ _ (some day).
We worked hard to put food on the table, and we helped each other when trouble came.
We lived more in the present, for today—and we lived more.
We depended on God more, because we had to.

But the world is not the same now.
Because we have more options today, we can do more than generations past—and we can go faster and raise our kids to go faster and we can reach the universal goal of comfortable retirement ‘faster?’—and we can pay for upgrades on everything but ______ (you fill in the blank, underlined).

We can’t go back.
Says who ?
Oh, yes we can ! ! !
You want to see faster and faster—going back ?
Solar flare (act of God), EMP (so simple, so easy), terrorism (ducks all in a row now)—we can go back FAST—too far, too real, too likely.

– – –

Following Jesus,
“Then Jesus said to His disciples, “If anyone desires to come after Me, let him deny himself, and take up his cross, and follow Me.”*
Is that any different now ?

Following Jesus literally, faithfully, peculiarly enough to face criticism, exclusion, deprivation, persecution—is that what Jesus meant ?

It starts with our heart (all in), and our money (all our stuff), and our sacrifice (all our choice, till it hurts).

We are being very presumptuous when we decide we can be in control.
“Come now, you who say, ‘Today or tomorrow we will go to such and such a city, spend a year there, buy and sell, and make a profit’; whereas you do not know what will happen tomorrow.”*

– – –
– – –

Now, the rest of the above Bible verses, putting us in our place, and putting our decisions in perspective,
*”Go to the ant, you sluggard (often left out),
Consider her ways and be wise,
Which, having no captain,
Overseer or ruler,
Provides her supplies in the summer,
And gathers her food in the harvest.”
This passage is not advice for everyone to store up for some uncertain someday.
It is specifically blasting lazy bums who don’t work for everyday food,
“How long will you slumber, O sluggard?
When will you rise from your sleep?
A little sleep, a little slumber,
A little folding of the hands to sleep—
So shall your poverty come on you like a prowler,
And your need like an armed man.”

*”Then Jesus, looking at him, loved him, and said to him, ‘One thing you lack: Go your way, sell whatever you have and give it to the poor, and you will have treasure in heaven; and come, take up the cross, and follow Me.’”
And, the Bible says,
“But he was sad at this word, and went away sorrowful, for he had great possessions.”
This young, rich, leader was lost to hell because he couldn’t give up his stuff, give away his stuff, lots of stuff.
Remember, he came to Jesus to find out how to get to heaven,
“Good Teacher, what shall I do that I may inherit eternal life?”
He couldn’t handle Jesus’ answer—what about us ?

*”Jesus said to His disciples,
‘If anyone desires to come after Me, let him deny himself, and take up his cross, and follow Me.'”
Jesus went on, to make it clear—storing it up here is not worth losing heaven,
“For whoever desires to save his life will lose it, but whoever loses his life for My sake will find it. For what profit is it to a man if he gains the whole world, and loses his own soul? Or what will a man give in exchange for his soul?”

*”Come now, you who say, ‘Today or tomorrow we will go to such and such a city, spend a year there, buy and sell, and make a profit’; whereas you do not know what will happen tomorrow.”
The folly of presuming on tomorrow and how we’ll store it up—the Bible passage continues,
“For what is your life? It is even a vapor that appears for a little time and then vanishes away. Instead you ought to say, ‘If the Lord wills, we shall live and do this or that.’ But now you boast in your arrogance. All such boasting is evil.”

Finally—
Considering all the Biblical warnings about the dangers of wanting more money and going after more stuff—why do so many American Christians spend their lifetime trying to beat those odds ?