Wokingahm Word article - January 2010
Seek first...
In 2008/9 the global financial crisis caused people to pay closer attention to their credit ratings. Before this we could just borrow, borrow, borrow with companies only too happy to lend. Today we are bombarded with adverts, emails and letters from companies who will tell us our credit rating and how we can improve them. January is the time when credit card bills land on the door step and tell us the bill we ran up for the Christmas we enjoyed. This a sober time when we work to pay back the debt, work to reduce our weight, and make other promises to change our lives to be the person we want to be.
We look for short cuts to be that person – spending on the lottery goes up in January with people looking for a quick fix to their debts, and millions of diets are started with the hope of a painless journey to the body we crave. This is all part of our plan to get to where we want to be, the cycle of work and worry.
Jesus has something to say about this to lift us. In Matthew 6: 25-34 he tells us not to worry, and reminds us that we are all children of God, who have a Father who cares about our individual needs no matter how small or large they are. This God and Creator who says ‘look at the birds of the air; they do not sow or reap or store away in barns, and yet your Father feeds them. Are you not much more valuable than they? Which of you by worrying can add single hour to your life?’ We are all loved by a Father who is willing to take our worries and provide for our needs. So what do we do with the time we now have since we have stopped worrying?
Matthew continues ‘Seek first his kingdom and his righteousness, and all these things will be given to you as well’.
The message is clear. You and I spend too long worrying about the physical problems and not enough time seeking the spiritual answers. Jesus urges us not to ignore our problems but to pray and leave them with the Father for answers. Only then when our mind and hearts are clear can we address the spiritual questions of life.
We were born to enjoy a relationship with God, our Father. But something got in the way and without him we are orphans. Jesus came all those years ago to restore that relationship so we might have someone who will take our worries and problems and give us a future.
John 3:16 tells us ’For God so loved the world that he gave his one and only Son, that whosoever believes in him shall not perish but have eternal life’.
God wants to know us. Our relationship with him does not instantly solve all our problems but that we have a Father who cares and can help us overcome them.
Start your new year with a different resolution to go and seek Him at a church near you.
A member of Norrey's Church for and on behalf of Churches Together in Wokingham