By: Dale Weckbacher
Matthew 5:18
For truly, I say to
you, until heaven and earth pass away, not an iota, not a dot, will pass
from the Law until all is accomplished.
(ESV)
Luke
12:34 reminds us that where our treasure is, our hearts will also be. This passage of scripture appears at the end
of Jesus’ teaching on anxiety contained in Luke
12:22-34. In a world full of things
that cause anxiety, we would do well to learn from the teaching of Jesus on
anxiety.
Considering Jesus’ teaching, we must pause to ask ourselves what
we treasure when we begin feeling anxiety.
One way of determining this is to look at what we are anxious about for
that is usually the thing we are treasuring.
For example, if our anxiety is over politics or government, our treasure
is in government. If we are anxious
about technology such as our smartphone, tablet, or computer, we treasure
technology. Even other people, including
our children, spouse, or family, causing us anxiety shows that we treasure
them. Even though it is not inherently
wrong to value these things, they each have their flaws and when they do not
live up to our expectations, cause anxiety.
However, there is something that will never fail us, and thus never
cause us anxiety.
Psalm
119:9-16 provides insight on what we should treasure that will never fail
us, God’s Word. Hebrews
4:12 teaches us that the Word of God is like a sword. However, the Word of God is unlike any other
sword we may have seen for it is living and effective, separates soul and
spirit like a physical sword can separate joints and marrow, and is able to
judge the thoughts and intentions of the heart.
This sword is also a part of the armor of God (Ephesians
6:17). In fact the prophecy of Simeon
over eight-day old baby Jesus spoke of Him being a sword that would pierce the
souls of his parents, revealing the thoughts of many hearts (Luke
2:33-35).
The psalmist in Psalm
119:9-16 treasures God’s Words for they,
1)
Keep our lives pure through obedience (Psalm
119:9) – Youth in our modern culture are educated in institutions working
under the philosophy of postmodernism. (1) They are also avid consumers of media, which
also works under this philosophy. (2) With the philosophy of postmodernism denying any
absolute truth, including the Word of God (3) , it should not
surprise us to see the deviant and perverted behavior of youth, and not so
young people, educated and surrounded by this philosophy. The call of the psalmist is to return to the
truth of the Word of God and through it find purity in our lives.
2)
Keep us from sinning against God (Psalm
119:10-11) – Sin is anything that separates us from God, something that
began when Adam and Eve were banished from the Garden of Eden (Genesis
3). The cause of Adam and Eve’s
banishment was disobedience. As we study
the Word of God, it reveals sin in our lives that separates us from God. However, the sword of God’s Word does not
need to separate us from God but through repentance and seeking forgiveness
from God, acts as a surgical instrument removing the sin and restoring our
connection with God.
In response to this great treasure the Psalmist then,
1)
Asks God to teach or reveal the truth of His
Word to him (Psalm
119:12) – To establish a stronger more intimate relationship with God our
creator we must allow the truth in God’s Word to teach us and reveal sin that
separates us from God. The psalmist is
expressing a desire to undergo the surgical scalpel of scripture to remove the
cancer of sin in his live and restore spiritual health. We must also ask God today to create such a
desire for the restoration of our spiritual health.
2)
Vows to verbally proclaim the truths in the Word
of God (Psalm
119:13) – In a world dominated by bad news, good news must be declared when
discovered. With the greatest news being
the news of the Gospel of Jesus Christ, I encourage everyone to not fear
speaking it out loud with our mouths, keyboards, and smartphones.
3)
Rejoice in the discovery of the truths of God’s
Word as if it was the discovery of great riches (Psalm
119:14) – While most of us would be thrilled at winning the lottery, we all
have access to something far more valuable in the Word of God. This valuable treasure is also not rare but
readily available at most bookstores, through the printed word, and now at the
tips of our fingers through our smartphones and computers. We would run to buy a winning lottery ticket
so why not run to get a copy of the Bible which is much more valuable.
4)
Meditate on what God’s Word teaches (Psalm
119:15) – When we think of meditation, we picture someone sitting in a lotus
position on a floor chanting some mantra.
Biblical meditation, however, is focusing our thoughts and pondering the
truths we read in the Word of God. (4) This requires not just reading the Bible to
check it off our daily to-do list but to read with specific intent to learn and
apply it to our lives.
5)
Delight and not forget God’s Word (Psalm
119:16) – Prior to easy access to Scripture as we have today, people would
memorize scripture. Those engaging in
this activity demonstrated an immense delight for God’s Word and also a desire
never to forget what they learned. Even
though we have easy access to Scripture today due to technology and the printing
press, we should also memorize scripture especially important in our lives.
The Bible, the Word of God is a treasure of immense value
and something we must value in our lives.
God’s Word reveals sin in our lives and acts as a surgical scalpel removing
its cancer from our lives. The question we must all answer in our lives
is will we embrace its truth, or run from it and allow sin to separate us from an
intimate relationship with God.
1. Sanbonmatsu, John. POSTMODERNISM AND THE
CORRUPTION OF ACADEMIC INTELLIGENTSIA. socialistregister.com. [Online]
Socialist Register. [Cited: March 31, 2017.]
http://socialistregister.com/index.php/srv/article/viewFile/5851/2747.
2. Saugstad,
Andreas. Postmodernism and the Media. bolesblogs.com. [Online]
November 20, 2000. [Cited: March 31, 2017.]
https://bolesblogs.com/2000/11/20/postmodernism-the-media/.
3. Dulgnan, Brian.
Postmodernism Philosophy. www.britannica.com. [Online] Encyclopedia
Britannica, October 31, 2014. [Cited: March 31, 2017.]
https://www.britannica.com/topic/postmodernism-philosophy.
4. Bible.org.
Biblical Meditation. bible.org. [Online] Bible.org. [Cited: January 21,
2018.] https://bible.org/article/biblical-meditation.
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