“Basic Orientation of Faith”
Matthew 6:24-34
My sister, Anne, called her Mary. My brother, Mike, and I called her evil incarnate. Mary was Anne’s toddler size baby doll. Nothing more than plastic, synthetic hair, and a little paint, but to Mike and me, Mary was hell’s creation. Now whether Anne did it on purpose or not, she would sit Mary against a wall in her room directly in line with the door, so anytime Mike and I walked down the hall to go to our room, there Mary would sit, glaring at us with those life-less eyes, staring at us, mocking us.
The worst was at night, when we
had to turn on the light in the hall.
The light would shine through Anne’s bedroom door and illuminate Mary in
an eerie glow, the light shining in her marble-like eyes. To this day, Mike and I swear that Mary’s
eyes followed us as we walked, okay, as we ran to our room. Sometimes Mike and I would try to cover Mary
up with a blanket only to discover later that the blanket was gone. It is safe to say that Mary scared us to
death.
Mike and I didn’t worry about
monsters in the closet or monsters under our beds. We worried about Mary. We worried about what would come down the
hall into our room while we slept. Of
course, that didn’t stop us from making sure our closet doors were shut, and
leaping into our beds like an Olympic long jumper just in case, and never
having our backs to the door while we slept.
It’s also the reason why I made sure as an older brother than I got the
bed furthest from the door. This way
Mike would get eaten first and I would have time to get out. And I will freely admit to you that to this
day, I can’t sleep with my back to the door.
But that’s how it is with young
children and fear. Fear makes children’s
imaginations work overtime, turning scary thoughts into scary reality. It’s not that anything would happen, but more
to the point, it’s about what could happen.
Fear was Mary’s spell over Mike and me.
Fear of the unknown. Fear of the
what-ifs. It was fear that become
anxiety and worry whenever Mom said it was time for bed. It was fear that made two little boys’
imaginations turn a plastic doll into Satan’s own Frankenstein monster.
As an adult,
my childhood fears of Mary and nocturnal, bedroom monsters have gone – for the
most part. And now my job as a parent is
to help my girls with their own fears and worries. Armed with a can of Lysol Room Deodorizer /
Monster repellant, I now make sure that my girls feel secure and safe when it’s
time for the lights to go out.
But even as
youth and adults, we have not stopped being fearful of things. We have not stopped worrying about what could
happen. Our childhood fears and worries
have only turned into youth and adulthood fears and worries. Upcoming tests, tryouts, competitions, and
whether or not we are in the “in” crowd.
Paying mortgages, college tuitions, health care costs, or having enough
money at the end of the month to just buy food and clothing. Crime, drugs, major illnesses, natural
disasters, terrorism. These are the
fears and worries that we go through in our daily life. No, our fears and worries have not stopped;
they have only become more real as we have matured.
Our text for
his morning is one of Jesus’ more famous sayings. The context of Jesus’ words is about serving
God or serving wealth. It’s a good
reminder to those who walk as Jesus’ disciples in the kingdom of God, that they
cannot have duel loyalties. They cannot
have two masters. They cannot have
multiple stores of treasures of both the earthly and heavenly variety.
We cannot at the same time be
called to serve God and then allow our wealth to set our priorities and
determine our choices. We cannot read
this saying of Jesus as a parallel to “give to Caesar what is Caesar’s and God
what is God’s.” Doing this only leads us
to think that to God belongs one hour on Sunday, and our wealth gets the
rest. No, there is no wiggle room with
Jesus’ words here. No way to sugarcoat
it and make it easier to swallow. For
Jesus, it’s one or the other. God or
money.
But I also
think this passage speaks to a deeper issue than just about our struggles with
divided loyalties, money and possessions, or what influences the choices we
make from day to day. I believe this
passage first and foremost speaks to the fears we have about the security,
status, and worth of the self.
When the day
is done for us, what we really desire the most is to have counted for
something. We want to know that what we
did mattered, that we were worth something to someone – anyone. We really want to believe that no matter what
comes in the future, we are secure. So
we seek out those things that give us the greatest sense of security, status,
and worth of the self, because we fear not having them.
But Jesus tells those who are his
disciples not to worry about our life, because our security, and status, and
worth are not found in anything other than in God. Fear and worry are not just products of an
overactive imagination, they are directly tied to one’s basic orientation of
faith.
It is how one is orientated toward
God that affects the amount of fear and worry one has in his or her life. The equation is no more simply than this: the
more one is oriented toward God, the less one has to fear and worry about the
ebb and flow of life. At its most
fundamental meaning, the basic orientation of faith is about trust – trust in
God’s providential and loving care for you.
Trust is more than just a belief
that “everything will be okay in the end.”
Trust is much more spiritual than that.
The trust Jesus is talking about is the spiritual trust that is able to
look at the world through the lens of the kingdom. If all we see in life is the absence of God,
then we truly have something to fear and worry about.
But if even in the smallest of
things, like the birds and the lilies, we are able to see God’s abiding
presence and provision, then life begins to take on a whole new meaning. Life is given direction and purpose. Life becomes special and treasured. Life becomes a blessing, because we know that
if God cares enough for the birds and lilies, then God will most assuredly care
for us, the ones who are created in the image of God’s very self.
The trust Jesus wants us to have
is more than just another self-help tape on the power of positive thinking that
we listen to whenever life gets tough.
Positive thinking doesn’t put food on one’s table. Positive thinking doesn’t keep one safe and
secure from all of life’s struggles.
The trust Jesus wants us to have
is a spiritual trust that no matter what happens, good or bad, that God is
there in the midst of it all, that God knows what we need, that God is at work
to make things better, that our dignity, security, status, and worth are not
found in the earthly treasures we accumulate, but in the treasure stores of
God’s own heart.
Jesus invites his disciples to not
worry about tomorrow. But we know we do
and we also know that we will. There are
still bills that need to be paid, tests to take, long-term illnesses that need
to be dealt with, and all kinds of potentially dangerous events that could
happen. A certain amount of fear and
worry in life is healthy and productive.
We should still be good stewards of our money. We should still study for tests. We should still take care of our bodies and
minds. We should still be vigilant and
aware of our surroundings.
But when fear and worry becomes
the order of each day, when they consume our life, then they become the master
over our lives, controlling our thoughts and emotions, and turning our eyes
away from the one who promises to see us through.
Those who have the basic and
fundamental orientation of faith, know that life in Christ is about today, that
there is not a single thing we can do about tomorrow. We can’t throw a blanket over it, we can’t
run from it, and we can’t make it go away, even with a can of Lysol Monster
Repellant, but we can face it with the courage and assurance that whatever
tomorrow brings, it also brings God with it.
Let us not be a slave to the fear
of the unknown and what-ifs, but faithful servants to the one who not only
promises to be with us day in and day out, caring for us, and providing for us
through the abundance of his goodness and grace, but who is also the same one who
calls us to help him provide for those who are truly without in this
world. After all, isn’t that also the
basic orientation of faith as well?
Amen.