Steve Fawver (left) and his family live in Newberg, OR, where he serves on the Newberg Friends Church pastoral team.
We are a people of plenty, a people of manyness and muchness. Yes, there are a few among us who have little, yet in the scope of the world they too have much. This muchness betrays the reality that we, like the man in Luke 12 who hoarded his crops, desire to build bigger barns, grow larger bank accounts, and have garages full of stuff in hopes that we will feel secure, accepted, and in control of life.
In reality, life is slipping away. Sickness, environmental dis-asters, death swirl around us as frail humanity tries to prop itself up by moving faster, covering our tracks, and building more secure walls. If we just keep busy we think we can create an illusion that control is in our grasp, while the sand slips through our fingers. We are powerless to shift the sands of time as they roll over us like the waves of the ocean.
We seek that which will not fulfill—sensuality, pleasure, money, power, prestige, a name that will be remembered, trinkets to fill the cupboards—and find it becoming a weight around our neck, dragging us and holding us down. Fulfillment is not found in things. It is not found in more money, more success, more clothes, cars, fatter checkbooks, or the perfect night on the town.
Fulfillment is found in God alone. No other can satisfy our deepest desires. Our hunger for security is met by God alone. Our need for love is found with God. Our need for a full life is a gift that God holds out to us as a light in the midst of the darkness.
I write these words as one caught in the tension of life as well, not one who has it all together or all figured out. I’m one who still seeks the thrill of a great round of golf, even though the feeling never lasts; one who built a fence that needed to be perfect and then was caught up short by the gentle, prophetic voice of my son. He said, “Remember, Dad, it’s just a fence for chickens.” He could see through his child eyes how my focus had shifted from the simple enjoyment of building a fence to obsessing from the need for perfection and affirm-ation of others. His words brought freedom.
Jesus says we need to be rich toward God—doing what God is doing, being a part of God’s movement in the world, looking for God with all of our heart and entering into his way of life.
Jesus says we need to give, to reprioritize ourselves to create a life marked by gracious care for those in need, taking what has been handed to us and handing it to others.
Jesus says we need to remember that our hearts will follow what we treasure. What we see as valuable will be the thing we seek, give time and attention toward, and have as central in life.
What are you seeking? Are you spending time with God and asking him to show you his heart for the world? Are you asking him to fill you with the kingdom values of justice, love, peace, hope, forgiveness, goodness, righteousness, grace, patience—values that the world so desperately needs?
Every breath we take is a gift from God. When the fields produce a large crop, we thank God and find ways to share this with others. When the fields are bare, we trust God’s promise to never leave us nor forsake us.
Questions to Consider:
- What are you seeking today as the treasure in your life?
- How are you seeking to spend time intentionally with Jesus as he speaks truth and attempts to bring freedom into your life?
