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Published: 14 June 2013

Bobby McFerrin was a "one hit wonder" in 1988 with his a cappella song titled "Don't Worry-Be Happy."  You can find the lyrics with an Internet search, they're pretty shallow and corny when you look at them.  It is a better strategy for life than "Highway to Hell" but simply trying to be happy without some transcendent Source is too short-sighted to make any sense for real life.  Watching the news and living each day brings enough "stuff" into one's awareness to drag us away from happiness.  West Nile virus, Lyme Disease, Cancer, Car crashes, our Federal government, Family dysfunction, Gas prices...wowser there is an awful lot to NOT be happy about and worry seems like a good idea if we don't have some outside hope.  Jesus has better advice than Bobby; Jesus taught us to look at the birds, consider the flowers and remember that we have more value than any of them to the MOST HIGH GOD who is our Father!  Our Father knows our needs and has promised to provide what we need when we need it.  It is pagan to worry so we should repent, stop and not start again.  BUT the reason we can live without worry is because we have a good Dad always with us who knows our needs and is fully acquainted with all our ways.  Someone once told me, "There are two things we should never worry about, the things we can do something about and the things we cannot do anything about."  Think about that...it pretty well covers it.  Not because we are in charge or "fate will have its way" but because we live in a Kingdom and the King is with us and we are His.   Jesus came that we might have abundant life.  In chapter 6 of the Sermon on the Mount He reminds us to live for an audience of One, to invest in the eternal and to live each day preoccupied with what He is doing and the development of real beauty.  That is real life.  Do you know it?

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Published: 06 June 2013

People treasure all sorts of things.  To treasure something is to give it value.  The thing may have no value to someone else, in fact, to invert the common saying, "One man's treasure may be another man's junk."  Little kids treasure blankets, stuffed animals, toy cars and even rocks and sticks at times.  As adults we treasure things that are not things.  For example, we treasure reputation, image, work, winning etc.  "To treasure is human", it is normal.  In the same way that we long for approval, we treasure things.  What I mean by that is that longing for approval is not evil but from whom do we desire this approval?  What will we do to have it?  Seeking approval, even praise from God is legitimate and should be at the core of our motive.  It is okay to treasure things, in fact we were "wired" to treasure.  But what we treasure is the key.  If we treasure things that fall apart, break down or get stolen then we will be sad because we had our heart "set on those things."  However, if we treasure the things that are eternal and cannot be taken away then we are working on a long term plan for happiness.  This is what Jesus wants for us.   We'll be alive in the next life longer than we are alive in this life.  How are we preparing for the next one?  Are we storing up treasure in Heaven?  There are a number of places in the word that tell us how but ultimately there is no list.  If there was a list we'd check it off and get on to other things.  What we need is a mindset. We need to set our minds on things above where Christ is seated at the right hand of the throne of God.  THEN, we'll be so heavenly minded we'll finally be of some earthly good :-).  Our text for Sunday: Matthew 6:19-24.