Life Is More Than Accumulation

Day 8: Matthew 6:25-34, 7: 1-14

“Therefore I tell you, do not be anxious about your life, what you will eat or what you will drink, nor about your body, what you will put on. Is not life more than food, and the body more than clothing?" - Matthew 6: 25 ESV

"Because of this fact last mentioned, the impossibility of dividing your service. Cease to be anxious about things of this life, for anxiety about these is a mark of your attempting this impossibility." - Spence-Jones, H. D. M. (1909). St. Matthew (Vol. 1, p. 237)

Recently, I had someone say to me (when seeing someone from afar), "I wonder how much they make." I responded as I usually do when I hear that competitive and comparative tone, "When we’re in our 80s, it won't matter at all." We spend so much time worrying about finances and advancement that we let the Devil distract us from what really matters.

Being wealthy will not matter as we go to draw our final breath. Yet, we insist on trying to position ourselves to become prosperous. We think attaining more will decrease anxiety, but it actually increases it.

A Princeton University study showed that, even in expensive cities, when someone exceeds $75,000 in annual income, it will not contribute to that person feeling better about his or her life. This is a direct quote from that study: “you can’t get emotional well-being much higher just by having more money.” (The Ruthless Elimination of Hurry by John Mark Comer, page 197)

It's as though Jesus knew what He was talking about.

So, if life is more than what we can accumulate, what is it about?

Jesus lays that out in 6: 33. We are to seek first His kingdom and His righteousness. We would do well to take a trip back to the beginning of Matthew 5 and soak in Jesus' definition of success.

May we position ourselves to be eternally in God's presence, not to be temporarily at ease.