Jesus said in Luke 8:14 that the cares of life, the pursuit of riches, and desire for pleasure could interrupt and even destroy God's work in our lives. Yet for most of us, this is what life is all about. Another word for cares of life is worrying about how to get the bills paid, how to stay healthy, and how to be safe from harm. It's wondering about the security of the job we have, and how to have enough insurance to protect against unforeseen disasters. It thinking about the future our kids will have, the quality of the schools they are in, and the friendships and habits they are developing. In other words, these cares are real and they are pressing. Can caring about these things really be disruptive to our spiritual progress?

The pursuit of riches, for most well balanced people, is not about having vast material possessions, but about obtaining financial security and possibly even financial freedom. It is about having the resources to do what you dream to do and not just what you have to do. It is gaining a standard of living that not only meets the basic needs, but also secures a quality of life that is enjoyable. Is it wrong to want these things? Is it so bad to desire a stable, secure future?

And how about the desire for pleasure? We were made to seek and experience pleasure. Jesus said that we were to have lives filled with joy. How can there be joy if we are not to seek and experience even the commonest of life's pleasures? Pleasure is the spice to a life filled with obligations, demands, trials, boredom, and possibly even pain. How can seeking pleasure, especially if it is not an obsession but simply a release from the mundane, be wrong and be contrary to what God is doing in our lives?

Most of us wouldn't think of asking these kind of questions. We simply take the verse at face value and feel bad when we start to care, beat ourselves up when we find ourselves looking longingly at an opportunity that might provide more financial resources, and avoid the pleasures of life to the place where life becomes boring if not austere. It is no wonder that others look at Christ Followers and find something astray.

But this is not what Jesus meant. The problem with these things are not the things themselves, but looking for the source of these things in the wrong place. Jesus knew that the cares of life were real. The problem is when the cares of life becomes a distraction from our spiritual relationship. The Greek word for "care" used in Luke 8 literally means "to draw in different directions, to distract." The problem is when we become so focused on our cares that we lose sight of the One who can help us with our cares (and who wants to). Peter wrote in 1 Peter 5:7, "Cast all your cares on Him for He cares for you." When we focus correctly, our cares of life can draw us closer to God, not separate us.

Financial security is not a bad thing to desire. It becomes harmful when we become deceived into believing our security rests on monetary resources. When we do that we settle for much less than what we can have. Paul wrote in Philippians 4:19, "And this same God who takes care of me will supply all your needs from his glorious riches, which have been given to us in Christ Jesus." Notice, we can have our needs met from our limited monetary resources or from his glorious riches. To allow the pursuit of success to interrupt our relationship with God robs us of all He could supply from his immeasurable supply. We become less when we do so. We lower our potential when we do so. When we truly realize this and base our life on it, then the pursuit of security leads us to God and not away from him.

And as for pleasure, God's greatest desire is to satisfy our desires. Not by seeking it elsewhere, but by finding our pleasure, our delight, in our relationship with Him. We were made to experience pleasure, infinite pleasure, supernatural pleasure. David wrote, in Psalm 37:4, "Delight (Pleasure) yourself in the Lord, and he will give you the desires of your heart." Notice, he will supply the desires, the pleasures, of our heart. C.S. Lewis wrote, "We are half-hearted creatures, fooling about with drink and sex and ambition when infinite joy is offered us, like an ignorant child who wants to go on making mud pies in a slum because he cannot imagine what is meant by the offer of a holiday at the sea. We are far too easily pleased." Pleasure, properly understood and received from its proper source, is not only infinitely more than anything we could dream of, but is also approved of God.

The question for us today is how do the cares of life, the pursuit of financial security, and the desire for pleasure effect our spiritual lives? Is our focus on God so strong that these things draw us closer to Him and allow Him to work in our lives? Or are we distracted by them, going days without even thinking about God, much less desiring Him or seeking Him? God once said of Judah, "For my people have done two evil things: They have abandoned me --- the fountain of living water. And they have dug for themselves cracked cisterns that can hold no water at all!" Let's not be guilty of the same thing.

This Saturday night is Christian Artist Night. Visual arts will be displayed starting at 6:00 PM. And the performing arts will begin at 6:30 PM. Plan on coming and bring a friend with you. Then, on July 28th, we continue the series "On Eagle's Wings" studying the person and work of the Holy Spirit as an intimate reality in our lives.

I pray that you will find in Christ the comfort for your cares, the provision for your security, and the source of all your pleasure, not just as a theological belief, but as an actual experience. When we do, we will in truth be ... ... ...

Living The Life,

Bruce

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