Change Your Attitude Now, Change Your Altitude Later

Do you have the burning desire to do better?

Are you satisfied with just always living day to day and never getting ahead?

 Well, today we are going to look at the concept of burning desire.  What is it?  Why does it happen to some people and not others and more importantly what is the purpose of life?

Matthew 6:33: But seek first the kingdom [of God] and his righteousness, and all these things will be given to you.

Here we clearly see that we do not need to seek the kingdoms of this world.  They are but a passing illusion to the realities that await us in eternal life.  Seeking the riches of this world and trying to take them with us has been an age old dream of many different affluent people in multiple civilizations.  So far, it apparently has not worked out for any of them. 

The entire concept here almost makes us think about what Luke was referring to when in Luke 12:16-21: 

Then Jesus told this story: “There was a rich man who had some land, which grew a good crop. He thought to himself, ‘What will I do? I have no place to keep all my crops.’ Then he said, ‘This is what I will do: I will tear down my barns and build bigger ones, and there I will store all my grain and other goods. Then I can say to myself, “I have enough good things stored to last for many years. Rest, eat, drink, and enjoy life!” ’ “But God said to him, ‘Foolish man! Tonight your life will be taken from you. So who will get those things you have prepared for yourself?’ “This is how it will be for those who store up things for themselves and are not rich toward God.”

Are we doing the same thing with our lives?

Are we tearing down our own barns just to build bigger ones to store or collect everything that we have gained here on earth?

What is wrong with this?

Not only is this counterproductive.  It does not even work out.  

Matthew 6:19-21

Do not store up for yourselves treasures on earth, where moth and rust consume and where thieves break in and steal; but store up for yourselves treasures in heaven, where neither moth nor rust consumes and where thieves do not break in and steal. For where your treasure is, there your heart will be also.

St. John Chrysostom  summed up many great thoughts on this subject with the following four quotes:

Not to share our own wealth with the poor is theft from the poor and deprivation of their means of life; we do not possess our own wealth, but theirs.

Happiness can only be achieved by looking inward & learning to enjoy whatever life has and this requires transforming greed into gratitude.

There is nothing colder than a Christian who does not seek to save others.

The rich man is not one who is in possession of much, but one who gives much.

In “EVERY MAN A KING” a Share Our Wealth Radio Speech by Senator Huey P. Long, of Louisiana, February 23, 1934, Senator Huey Long of Louisiana pointed out several things that are wrong with the economic system here on this earth. 

Is that right of life, my friends, when the young children of this country are being reared into a sphere which is more owned by 12 men than it by 120,000,000 people?

But the Scripture says, ladies and gentlemen, that no country can survive, or for a country to survive it is necessary that we keep the wealth scattered among the people, that nothing should keep the wealth scattered among the people, that nothing should be held permanently by any one person.

Was Senator Huey P. Long right?

Should we allow so much wealth to be held in the hands of so few?

Or should we worry about this instead?

Matthew 6:25-34

25 “Therefore I tell you, do not worry about your life, what you will eat or drink; or about your body, what you will wear. Is not life more than food, and the body more than clothes? 26 Look at the birds of the air; they do not sow or reap or store away in barns, and yet your heavenly Father feeds them. Are you not much more valuable than they? 27 Can any one of you by worrying add a single hour to your life?

28 “And why do you worry about clothes? See how the flowers of the field grow. They do not labor or spin. 29 Yet I tell you that not even Solomon in all his splendor was dressed like one of these. 30 If that is how God clothes the grass of the field, which is here today and tomorrow is thrown into the fire, will he not much more clothe you—you of little faith? 31 So do not worry, saying, ‘What shall we eat?’ or ‘What shall we drink?’ or ‘What shall we wear?’ 32 For the pagans run after all these things, and your heavenly Father knows that you need them. 33 But seek first his kingdom and his righteousness, and all these things will be given to you as well. 34 Therefore do not worry about tomorrow, for tomorrow will worry about itself. Each day has enough trouble of its own.

Clearly, we began today with the questions: 

Do you have the burning desire to do better?

Are you satisfied with just always living day to day and never getting ahead?

And we will end with this conclusion-

The amount of time we worry about what we have accumulated in this world will be just as helpful as it was to the rich man in that parable.  The problem was not that the man was rich, the problem was he did not apply his treasure to help people.  He wanted to save it.  Remember these three things

1. You never see a Brinks armored car following a Hearse- you can not take your money with you.
2. Try as you may, the pursuit of money doesn’t lead to any additional happiness
3. The rich man is not one who is in possession of much, but one who gives much.