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Yesterday’s key verse was Luke 12:22:

“Therefore, I tell you, do not worry about your life, what you will eat, or about your body, what you will wear.”

This doesn’t mean that we shouldn’t work to clothe, feed and house ourselves — it doesn’t mean that we should live recklessly and not try to exercise and maintain a healthy diet:  that would be to adopt the philosophy of the “rich fool” in the parable immediately preceeding our lesson scripture who was so focused on worldly comfort and security.  Remember what his goal was?  It was to say to himself, “[Y]ou have ample goods laid up for many years; relax, eat, drink and be merry”.  The true meaning of last week’s lesson scripture is that we should place God first and the world second.  Think about this for a minute.  Ten years from now, what are you concerned about?  In twenty years?  What about fifty years from now?

Maybe your answer to the last question is that you’re concerned with your children or grand-children, or with your legacy in the community . . . maybe your concern is the well-being of the very planet itself.  Okay, now what about your concerns for two thousand years from now . . . or two million years?  You can see where this is heading:  What are your concerns with an eternity?

Yesterday’s key verse could have as well been the last verse of our lesson scripture, Luke 12:34:

“For where your treasure is, there your heart will be also”.

The message is really about prioritizing, isn’t it?  The message isn’t, “Don’t worry, be happy” — it’s “Don’t worry about trying to control things in this world that won’t last no matter how hard you try . . . worry about that which is eternal.”  The verses following our lesson scripture are worth noting:

“Be dressed for action and have your lamps lit; be like those who are waiting for their master to return from the wedding banquet, so that they may open the door for him as soon as he comes and knocks.”  Luke 12:35-36.

If that is our priority, and not the world, then do we become monks: withdrawn from this world and waiting on the next?  Our next lesson has something to say about that.  Read the lesson scripture now(Luke 10:1-12, 17-20), and then think about (and blog about) it through the week to see what difference it might make next Sunday.  The key verse is:

“The harvest is plentiful, but the laborers are few; therefore ask the Lord of the harvest to send out laborers into his harvest.” Luke 10:2

That verse alone should be sufficient for in-depth comments and discussion.