DAILY READING
REFLECTION
What Are You Seeking?
by Mary Kate Hipp
"You cannot serve both God and money."
In Matthew 6:22-23 we find an excerpt from Jesus' sermon on the mount.
If we needed anything but Christ and Christ alone, there would have been no need for Christ's atoning sacrifice on the cross. The death of Christ was not only necessary for salvation but sufficient to save the uttermost.
The original meaning of the word "masters" as we see in v. 24 also translates to Lord. Far be it from us to worship anything else as Lord beside Christ! If Christ is the Lord of your life, there is no need to serve anything or anyone else.
The crux of Matthew 6 is that the only reward we need is the love of the Father. Though oft we seek fleshly rewards, the only reward which will satisfy our hearts is the reward of the love of the Father. What greater reward is there than that? Everyone wants to be rewarded, for what reward do you seek? Do you seek the love of the Father? Or do you seek the love of the world--your other Lord?
In our church, each week we pray a prayer for repentance that includes the following line: "we confess we are in bondage to sin and cannot free ourselves...We have not loved you with our whole hearts." Not one of us is innocent of lording other people and things. Our hearts are captive to worship something and often it is not Christ. We have not loved Christ with our whole hearts; we have not served only Christ.
Be unequivocally His. Devote yourselves to Him entirely. Is He not worthy of your service and devotion? Seek not the world. Serve not money. Serve not the media. Serve not the attention of others. Serve Christ, your Lord, your All.
PRAYER
Father,
We confess that we have not loved You with our whole hearts. We confess that our hearts so easily wander to worship and to seek other Lords. (Take the time to confess these things to the Lord.) Thank You for not leaving us in our sin. We praise You for You are enough. In You, we find all we need. We ask for strength throughout the rest of the day, the week, the month, the year, and our lives, to stay focused on You as our only Lord. Amen.
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