Bible Studies

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Human beings are made to worship, or serve, something. Humankind is constantly in search of purpose, motivation, or some transcendent concept into which he can invest his life and energies. If it is not God, who is the correct object of worship, it will be something else...something less.

In this passage of the Bible (Matthew 6:19-24), Jesus warns against giving undo importance to the accumulation of material things. Elevating the importance of earthly possessions can diminish the intensity of our relationship with God. This is a timely message for the people of today and American citizens in particular.

A preoccupation with material things affects many areas of our lives; let us look at just three:

Time: Ephesians 5:15-17 says that the disciples of Jesus (Christians) should not waste time. The way we spend our time should be arranged around the will of God for our lives. We should constantly be doing what God wants us to be doing. We must not let the pursuit for ‘more’ or ‘bigger’ or ‘better’ interfere with our commitment to God. However, this does not mean that we can never do anything for entertainment, but it does mean that we should guard against our lives becoming too focused on leisure time pursuits.

Trust: Jesus does not want us to depend on the temporary things of the earth instead of depending on Him. We should rely on God for everything, He is trustworthy (I Thessalonians 5:24; I Corinthians 1:9; Ephesians 3:20) and He is able. What will we have if we spend our entire lives amassing material wealth but ignore the call of God to salvation? We obviously cannot take any of that ‘stuff’ with us when we die. God, and His Word, will never cease to exist. Worldly things will disappoint, God never will. Worldly things will fail…God never fails.

Temptation: When our focus is on material things instead of Jesus, we open ourselves up to the possibility of being tempted to sin. When we are concerned with what the world has to offer, it is easier to get caught up in, or led astray by, its value system (I John 2:15-17).

Conclusion: From beginning to end, the Bible says that we should praise, thank, worship, and obey God above anything else. Only by worshipping God, and living life as He has declared, can we have any hope of fulfilling our purpose as individuals, as a nation, or as a people.

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