Choosing Gratitude Over Materialism: Prayer and Simplicity

Protestant reformer Martin Luther, you probably heard that name before. He put it like this. Whatever your heart clings to and confides in, that is really your god and your functional savior. That's a powerful statement. Whatever your heart clings to and confides in, that is really your god and your functional savior. What do we treasure more is the question? [00:43:13] (40 seconds)  #WhatYouTreasure

I shall not want. And many times we may look at that passage, the Lord is my shepherd, I shall not want. And we might look at that and think, oh, I don't need God. I shall not want. It's what it says. But what the psalmist is saying here is not that we don't want God or that we don't need God, it's that we never need to want because God always provides. The sustenance is always there. I'm not lacking is another way to put it. I'm not lacking. Do our hearts cling to God? [00:48:20] (58 seconds)  #GodProvidesAlways

You're doing that so you can get a good career. Nothing wrong with that. But you're also doing that to make good money. Nothing wrong with that, depending on how it's made though, so that you can feel stability. Right? We all want to have stability. What does it look like then if we took that same formula to have current and eternal stability in God? Is it the things that we collect that we want, that we think we need, or is it simplicity living within our means to be a follower of Jesus right now? [00:44:29] (69 seconds)  #FaithOverFortune

But what do we also know? I would dare to guess that these products might just actually also make our lives worse. What I mean by that is sometimes these things become idols. Instead of doing what they say they're gonna do, we actually allow them to take away from us our presence with God, the time we need to be with God. And Jesus says something about that in Matthew's gospel chapter six verses 19 through 24. Here's what he says. [00:36:59] (55 seconds)  #IdolsStealTime

From the reading of our scripture and knowing that to follow Jesus is to be willing to let go of the earthly trinkets in return for eternal treasure. And so what we learn from this scripture is that we have to be careful of the danger of materialism. We have to be careful of the danger of materialism. It becomes the question of, do I need it, or do I just want it? And, you know, if we're all very truthful with one another, many times, myself included, there's a lot of things we just want. [00:40:18] (49 seconds)  #NeedVsWant

But what we learn from those that have been out in the wilderness is how we can live in simplicity. It might be an invitation in reading the scripture, about all of the barrage of advertisements that are thrown at you to get this, get this, get this, get this. That maybe it's an invitation I gotta maybe be more simplistic or even declutter. Declutter our lives and maybe declutter our hearts. [00:41:07] (38 seconds)  #LiveSimply

help us to see more clearly, God, the gifts and the blessings that you have bestowed upon me. Maybe the things that I have that I thought I wanted and I have them. How god can I give thanks to you by using them in some new way? How can the things that I have, that I wanted, that I need, all that I am, the blessings, and the grace that you have bestowed upon me, god, how can they be used to glorify and make known your kingdom of god right now. [00:46:25] (40 seconds)  #UseYourBlessings

And this week, the challenge in the prayer, the challenge is to be in prayer of thanksgiving. Maybe not always going to god because something's not going well. Maybe going to God because something is going great. Maybe it's to take a moment. Here's the challenge. Take a moment of the day, this whole next week, to notice, to look around, and maybe for a little bit, look in your rearview mirror around the blessings and the joys and the happiness and the love and the grace of god you have come to know this week and give God thanks for it. [00:50:18] (61 seconds)  #DailyGratitude