Filter by Faith, Not Fortune
Filter your choices by faith not fortune. Following Jesus involves kingdom filters for your life.
“Abram went up out of Egypt…Abram was very rich in livestock, in silver, and in gold. Lot also, who went with Abram, had flocks, herds, and tents. The land was not able to bear them, that they might live together; for their possessions were so great that they couldn’t live together…Please separate yourself from me. If you go to the left hand, then I will go to the right. Or if you go to the right hand, then I will go to the left.” Lot lifted up his eyes, and saw all the plain of the Jordan, that it was well-watered everywhere…So Lot chose the Plain of the Jordan for himself. Lot traveled east, and they separated themselves from one another…Yahweh said to Abram, after Lot was separated from him, “Now, lift up your eyes, and look from the place where you are, northward and southward and eastward and westward, for I will give all the land which you see…Abram moved his tent…and built an altar there to Yahweh.” Genesis 13:1-2, 5-6, 9-11, 14-15, 18
Life can feel like a competition. The common mindset is to be hungry to go get what you can for yourself. Lot made an important choice and chose to go to the place that seemed beneficial. He was right and he was wrong. He was right that it could help him prosper financially but the area he was headed was not a place that would strengthen his faith. What was the first thing Abram did anywhere he went? He built an altar so he would have intimacy with God wherever he went.
What drives my decision making? Whether my career, my future, my purposes, or my path forward? Is drawing closer to God my top filter for what is good?
“I trust in your loving kindness. My heart rejoices in your salvation. I will sing to Yahweh, because he has been good to me.”
Psalms 13:5-6
It is much easier to see how God has worked than to trust how He will work again. Why do we tend to rely on our own strength or look to amass more possessions? Is it to give God glory or because in our hearts we have a fear of not having enough. King David sang to the Lord giving thanks for all He had done and praising what God would do before it had been done. That singing requires faith.
“A wise son listens to his father’s instruction…Pride only breeds quarrels, but wisdom is with people who take advice…The teaching of the wise is a spring of life, to turn from the snares of death…One who walks with wise men grows wise, but a companion of fools suffers harm…The righteous one eats to the satisfying of his soul, but the belly of the wicked goes hungry.”
Proverbs 13:1, 10, 14, 20, 25
Solomon contrasts the life of the wise with the life of the fool. Do you want to be wise? Solomon says to be wise is to have a humble, coachable heart. Wise people are careful about choosing who they listen to and they focus on feeding their souls more than their flesh. Where can I grow in wisdom? Where could I benefit from putting up boundaries to what influences my thinking?
“I have commanded my consecrated ones…Yahweh’s day is at hand!…and everyone’s heart will melt.” Isaiah 13:3, 6-7
There is a difference between this day and that day. This day I feel the pressures of the immediate. That day I will stand before the Lord. Which day is guiding my thinking more? The immediate or the eternal?
“On that day Jesus went out…saying, “Behold, a farmer went out to sow. “Hear, then, the parable of the farmer. When anyone hears the word of the Kingdom and doesn’t understand it, the evil one comes and snatches away that which has been sown in his heart. This is what was sown by the roadside. What was sown on the rocky places, this is he who hears the word and immediately with joy receives it; yet he has no root in himself, but endures for a while. When oppression or persecution arises because of the word, immediately he stumbles. What was sown among the thorns, this is he who hears the word, but the cares of this age and the deceitfulness of riches choke the word, and he becomes unfruitful. What was sown on the good ground, this is he who hears the word and understands it, who most certainly bears fruit and produces, some one hundred times as much, some sixty, and some thirty…Again, the Kingdom of Heaven is like treasure hidden in the field, which a man found and hid. In his joy, he goes and sells all that he has and buys that field…the Kingdom of Heaven is like a man who is a merchant seeking fine pearls, who having found one pearl of great price, he went and sold all that he had and bought it.”
Matthew 13:1, 3, 18-23, 44-46
Following Jesus involves making a decision as to what matters most. Jesus warns of many ways we can have the word of God which is meant to guide us stolen from us. Doesn’t the parable feel relevant today? Think of all the things that draw us away from faith towards fear that are in our world.
Jesus praise the person who puts the kingdom of God and living for God’s glory as the most important filter for their life. He invites us to filter our lives by faith in Him and learn to follow His ways. Today is a day of decision. A day to build an altar like Abram and choose to put God first. Which way will you go?