20 Minutes

Note:  This may seem like a long study. A considerable portion of this are scripture passages rather than references for your convenience.

OUTLINE

1)      WORLDLY OR ETERNAL?

2)      PLEASING OURSELVES

3)      THE SHORT-SIGHTED AND THE PLANNERS

a)       THE SHORT-SIGHTED

i)        Command for Eternal Thinking: 

ii)       Paul’s Viewpoint comparing this world to eternity:

iii)     The viewpoint of Jesus as He approached the cross.

iv)     We are also challenged to consider the future when it comes to our earthly lives

v)       WORK

(1)    Not working hard or long enough

(2)    Work so we won’t be dependent on anybody.

vi)     USE OF MATERIAL THINGS

(1)    We give God what He already owns. 

(2)    Our use of worldly wealth really matters!

(3)    Planning leads to financial security.

(4)    EXCESSES AND WASTE

(a)    Excessive Spending

(b)    Wasting Resources

(c)     Consequences of Excesses and Waste

vii)   Save so we won’t think about money.

viii)  Difficulty now or difficulty later.

ix)     Learn from our mistakes

x)       Use of Time

b)      THE PLANNER

i)        Planning with certainty is boasting.

ii)       Being in and not of the world

4)      Practicing future thinking in a Godly way

5)      OUR IDENTITY

6)      Our time on Earth

a)       Horizontal versus Vertical thinking

b)      Where is the deception?

c)       The Solution to Deception

7)      A FOCUS ON PEOPLE CAN ALSO RESULT IN US BEING DECEIVED:

8)      SUMMARY OF DESIRING RICHES OR BEING RICH

9)      SEEING JESUS CLEARLY DISSOLVES EARTHLY DECEPTION

   Worldly thinking

may be easiest defined as thinking that doesn’t include Heaven.  It’s

   the pursuit of pleasure in conflict with God’s will.

That pleasure is also in conflict with who we are eternally because it is God’s will that we are who He created us to be. We were created among other things to be perfect vessels of His heart. We can get an idea of how we look when we are those vessels when we visualize ourselves full of the fruit of the Spirit. The fruit of the Spirit flows out of us when we are not deceived by worldly thinking but rather have eternal thinking.

   At times pleasing ourselves in the moment is at the expense of others

or to our future earthly selves. Most of the time when people live in a way that doesn’t consider their earthly future, others have to suffer to take care of them whether it is for health or financial reasons. When considering pleasing ourselves, we are to put into practice Phil 2:4 

Anything else is prideful as we would be acting as if we are more important than others. 

People can be divided into two groups, planners and short-sighted. They have different influences that can direct their eyes away from the truth.  Planners can believe that they have control over their futures and expend significant energy and time thinking and working in earlier years to “assure” a good life in later years.  The short sighted can be so caught up in today’s pleasures, they don’t give thought to the future at all. 

   God wants us to have eternal thinking.

Take note that the scripture speaks about this very clearly on its own.

• Command for Eternal Thinking: 

• Paul’s Viewpoint comparing this world to eternity:

• The viewpoint of Jesus as He approached the cross. 

He did so out of a desire for reconciliation with us.

    We are also challenged to consider the future when it comes to our earthly lives.

A command pertaining to believers is:

This requires forward thinking, even if only for a few hours. The person needs to work first to earn money for the later meal. 

Longer future thinking is described using a small fairly unintelligent bug, thinking at least months ahead.

Poverty and Scarcity (being out of money for example) come on those who don’t store up, those who are lazy or both. When it comes to financial scarcity (not security), it is normally a result of

• Not working hard or long enough

There’s no 40 hour week in the Bible. Whereas the below passages have to do with resting one day each week, we can surely conclude that God has not promised to meet all our physical and financial needs if we demand He so so when we choose to only work 40 hours/week.

   The command to work six days and rest on one

is also found in Exod 16:26,20:9 31:15 Deut 5:13 

• Work so we won’t be dependent on anybody.

• “Make it your ambition to lead a quiet life, to mind your own business and to work with your hands, just as we told you, so that your daily life may win the respect of outsiders and so that you will not be dependent on anybody.” I Thes 4:11-12

Make special note of the phrases,

   “work with your hands”

 and

   “so that you will not be dependent on anybody.” 

We are to work hard (Col 3:23) and to live one's life so we are saving for our future so we won’t be dependent on anybody. This concept can’t be much more clear in scripture.

Use of Material things

This also fits well into the “It’s about God, not about You” Foundation.

   Everything we “have” does not belong to us.

Let that sink in. It belongs to God. We are stewards. One could compare it to working at a job where we are provided a vehicle, computer, break room, etc. When using them we know they are not ours.  We have a responsibility to take care of them properly because that is part of our job. 

God’s clear ownership

We give God what He already owns. 

Our use of worldly wealth really matters!

Planning leads to financial security.

EXCESSES AND WASTE

• Excessive Spending

Many especially in the United States spend excessively on wants at times thinking they are needs. For example, the habit of going out to eat, or buying expensive items or internet, cable or cell phone plans can result in poverty in the future. 

• Wasting Resources

Overall, the United States is a wasteful country. Edible food is thrown out, water runs without purpose and heat and lights are left on when unneeded. Poor planning results in multiple otherwise unnecessary trips to the store. When we are tempted to just leave water, heat or lights on unnecessarily, we should consider whose money we are wasting.

   When we throw good food or other things into the garbage, we should consider who owns them.

• Consequences of Excesses and Waste

Families can easily waste $100-$300/week, and some a lot more. Some families that have no savings spend well over $200/week going out for fast food.  In twenty years, without interest $200/week adds up to $200,000 extra in savings. If the ant can work harder than needed in the summer and save for months ahead, we can surely follow suit and save for our futures. 

The second part of this verse speaks clearly to the principle above. Consistent savings is what results in growth.

Why should we save?
 

• Save so we won’t think about money.

   

  “ Some people, eager for money, have wandered from the faith and pierced themselves with many griefs.”   1 Tim 6:10b

Note the words “eager for money.”  Clearly this does not only speak of rich people trying to get richer.

   People who are poor typically spend a great deal of time thinking about money.

How are the bills going to get paid?  How will this or that be afforded? What is going to happen in the future? Sure, there are rich people who always want to be richer but we can’t let focusing on that group take one's mind off of the mindset of those who never seem to have enough.

There are those who simply can not work harder and can not cut expenses. The majority of the poor in the United States do not fall into this category. By working harder, working more, and spending less, there will always be more money in savings and most will no longer need to wonder how that next bill is going to be paid. They won’t be “eager for money.” They will be able to focus more on what God wants us focusing on.

• Difficulty now or difficulty later.

God blesses us with the health and money that we have. God has made it so no matter how good of a job we do working and planning, there are no guarantees. Our reliance must be on God. That said, there are principles. Most of us have

   two choices, difficulty now or difficulty later.

When it comes to our health, it takes effort to take care of ourselves so our bodies work well in the future.

When it comes to money, again, we need to work extra and spend less to have more in the future. It's a concept of thinking past today. This is not only an earthly parallel to wasting time and energy that could be better spent on what is eternal, but also many times results in the flipping of ministry in one’s life.  Rather than being the person in later years who has an excess and is able to share, one becomes a burden, a recipient for others to give to. 

As a rule, If  we don’t put off some pleasures in early years, in later years necessities may be hard to afford. Either we exercise self-control and discipline with eating and exercise or it takes exercise just to do the basic parts of life when we are older. There's no way out of difficulty.

• Learn from our mistakes

Sadly some people keep suffering the consequences of not working hard enough or overspending and continue to make the same mistakes. We should not be foolish!

• Use of Time

This passage, although it speaks of so much more, can be applied to the way we use our time and money keeping our earthly future in mind.

The earthly consequences of the rewards we normally receive for being responsible with our health and money are a parallel to spiritual ones. Consider the following passage which clearly explains how using our time wisely brings some earthly benefits and how using it for godliness on earth produces a benefit on earth and in Heaven. 

There’s another side to earthly future thinking. It’s when

   we believe that we are in control of our future.

We can think that if we’re responsible with our money and our health, that we will be SURE not to be dependent on anybody. This is a short section, well handled with a four verse passage. 

• Planning with certainty is boasting.

   

  “Now listen, you who say, "Today or tomorrow we will go to this or that city, spend a year there, carry on business and make money." Why, you do not even know what will happen tomorrow. What is your life? You are a mist that appears for a little while and then vanishes. Instead, you ought to say,      "If it is the Lord's will, we will live and do this or that." As it is, you boast and brag.   All such boasting is evil.” James 4:13-17

• Being in and not of the world

How does this balance out? How do we live? We live in the present as if we have a future self on this earth.  Be responsible with our health and our money and know that it’s by God’s power that each of them are sustained. If they are not sustained even when we have done our best, it is for a greater purpose in our lives.

   We should do our best and leave the results in God’s hands.

Don’t treasure our bodies or our money. See it as one might see one’s vehicle. It is what gets us from place to place. We want it to work and not break down so it can serve us. Our money and our health are meant to serve us while we are serving God on this earth. 

The Short Sighted and the Planner both experience the pressures of worldly thinking which deceives them, blinds them from the truth. Agur prayed for balance. 

   We have an identity as “a chosen people.” 

 This is our identity that has absolutely nothing to do with the things of the world. It has nothing to do with our looks, our health, our intellect, our talents or anything we possess. Our identity is eternal. 

It is easy to lose sight of our identity when:

• We are thinking about money or material things

• We are focused on pleasing ourselves.

• We think life is going good by our definition of good.

• We react to being mistreated by others

• We suffer earthly losses and they seem devastating

• We feel that we don't have a purpose.

• We have worldly successes. Agur points this out when he says,

  “, I may have too much and disown you and say, 'Who is the Lord?'

   Worldly successes can deceive us into thinking that this life is good, that it is the real thing. 

   We need to see the world

 as a passing thing,

 a tool so to speak that is needed for now but when the building is complete, it is no longer needed and will be discarded. If we get too attached to the world, either being poor and thinking about riches or being rich and thinking about riches, we become deceived.

I Timothy 6:6-10 gives clear guidance about deception. It tells us

Deception comes from either the love of material things that we wish we had or the love of material things that we have. Either way, loving material things is like the silver on the back of the mirror reflecting our image that deceives us into thinking it’s about us. 

 If our difficulty is from trying to hold on to material things, we are challenged to 

When people bring trouble to us and we react horizontally,

   we’re deceived into believing that a person

has the power to reduce the value of our life.

Rather we say, we know with confidence that the Lord is our helper and that man is not able to take value from us.  If we focus on the person, we become caught up in worldly things and worldly arguments and become deceived. If we focus on God’s control over all things and care for us, we see clearly. 

When it is a person who we think is reducing the quality of our lives, God gives us words to say.

Hebrews 13:5-6 provide the pathway to overcoming the deception of the world. 

   There are some habits we can build

 that will help us not become deceived.

Once we do, they become established in our lives so without even thinking, we respond as though we are in the world, but not of it.  When we experience pleasure, we need to go vertical, look up with our hearts and minds and thank God. Every good and perfect gift is from above, so God is the giver of that gift.  When we experience hardship of any sort, whether financial, physical or relational, go vertical. Ask God what it is all about. He may answer and He may not. However, we can rest and trust in His words in Hebrews 13:5-6.

Two passages reveal to us that our current thinking is clouded.

When Christ appears, we will see perfectly clear. There will be no deception, no deceiver. Why? Because we will see Him as He is.  We can’t do that perfectly now. However, it’s clear that we will when we see Jesus.

   Knowing God as He is,

knowing Jesus perfectly

 removes all deception.

Although we can’t know Him completely on this earth, we can know Him better. Knowing God requires a vertical relationship. When we look horizontally. loving the world, allowing our fellow man to have power over us that was not given them, we become deceived. When we look vertically, seeking to know the heart of God and His ways, the deception, even though not completely, falls from our eyes.

The solution is the passage this section started with, its most simply summed up message is to practice looking vertical, which is the opposite of what causes us to be deceived. 

A chorus to a popular hymn also sums up the antidote for deception.

   "Turn your eyes upon Jesus

Look full in his wonderful face

   And the things of earth will grow strangely dim

In the light of his glory and grace"