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Good Shepherd Lutheran Church Today's Frontline Devotion January 31, 2005 Treasures in Heaven? |
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FRONTLINE DEVOTION FOR MONDAY, JANUARY 31, 2005 By Fritz
Foltz
Matthew 6:19-21
My first idea was to write a confession today. I know too well after I compose
this devotional on “Do not store up for yourselves treasures on earth”, I
shall return to a life based on two primary principles: 1. Amass as much
as you can, whether that be money, possessions, property, experiences or degrees
and 2) live as long as you can to enjoy them.
I do not like that. I know it is unhealthy. As Jesus asserts, “No one can
serve two masters; for a slave will either hate the one and love the other, or
be devoted to the one and despise the other. You cannot serve God and wealth”.
He is so correct. To live this way is to be schizophrenic. No matter how much I
say money does not make anyone happy and have all sorts of surveys that show
this is true, I still live as if money is necessary for freedom and justice.
Like most people around me I am in danger of obtaining an abundance of
possessions and experiences and ending up without a soul.
Martin Luther says everyone believes in god. It is whatever we trust with our
life. It seems to me in this passage Jesus suggests we can identify our god by
where we spend our money, where we place our treasure.
But maybe we have had enough confessions of this schizophrenia. This life style
is unhealthy for the world as well as self. And the world needs our repentance,
not our confessions. If the wealthiest three people in the world have more
riches than the 48 poorest countries, if the world’s richest 20% of people
consume 86% of all the stuff and services produced by the global economy and the
poorest 20% consume just 1.3%, if
Americans alone have used up more of the Earth’s mineral resources since 1940
than all previous peoples put together, and if US households claim the income
needed to fulfill their “growing consumption aspiration” doubled between
1986 and 1994, then we need prudent action not well-meaning words.
I belong to a group of disciplined Christians who struggle
with how we can play
out Jesus’ words in our time and place. Some of their suggestions
include: Live well
below your economic peers, Be generous, Live as tenants of a small fragile
planet, Do
nothing from prestige alone, Practice “fasting” or reducing one’s needs
and wants.
I think we have to move in that direction: not to bemoan our living in an
affluent society, but to commit ourselves to using that wealth to help others.
Perhaps that is the best we can do in storing up treasures in heaven, where
neither moth nor rust consume and where thieves do not break in and steal.
Let us pray: Father, I have too much. Help me find practical ways to share
with others
and bring the day when all shall have what they need. To that end, enable me to
serve you
alone. I pray in Jesus’ name. Amen.
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