This devotion on Matthew 6:24-34 was written by guest writer, Dave Chase:
We have lots of needs: a vacation, a nap, a break, a treat.
Where do our needs come from? What combination of experiences, thoughts, and emotions give rise to a perceived “need” and how do we address it?
Jesus spoke at length about needs in Matthew 6:24-34. Let’s consider part of what He had to say:
No one can serve two masters. Either you will hate the one and love the other, or you will be devoted to the one and despise the other. You cannot serve both God and money. 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? 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?
Jesus connects our basic needs– what we will eat, drink, or wear—to serving money as master.
Seeing as we cannot serve both God and money, we are therefore not to worry about these basic things that money can provide. But, I suspect many of my readers might object: “But I don’t have these fundamental anxieties about where my next meal is coming from! I’m off the hook.” Such a conclusion is over-hasty and a bit smug, perhaps. But, is it wrong?
Enter Maslow and his Hierarchy of Needs:
The needs Jesus addresses to his listeners are physiological; but, we might intuit that the service of money does not stop there.
Indeed, with the recent mass shootings, the temptation is strong to think that perhaps the right security system, gun, lock, neighborhood, training—something we can buy into—might keep us safe. Alas, while some of these things may help, we have no such guarantee. Jesus notes (Matt. 6:19): “Do not store up for yourselves treasures on earth, where moths and vermin destroy, and where thieves break in and steal.” Something will compromise the safety of our earthly things—perhaps even our own safety.
But, surely love and belonging are exempt from the taint of serving money. Again, no. Our advertising gives the lie to this idea. If we buy the right product, we are told, the man or woman of our dreams will love us. Or, perhaps our children will grow up strong, smart, athletic, or popular if we are savvy shoppers. Or we might consider the industry that has arisen around sexual intimacy (both in terms of hygiene/pleasure and the more disreputable consumption of sexual intimacy as a commodity via pornography and the like). Money may not buy love, but that hasn’t stopped people from trying.
Neither, alas, does esteem escape our attempts at commodifying everything. From personal appearance to business or psychological self-help, to education, we can see the tendrils of serving money snake throughout many facets of our identity that we and others might hold in esteem.
At this point, we might well grow exasperated with Jesus’ teaching, and rightly ask: “what can I strive for that is not compromised? And what is wrong if I indulge in a nap, vacation, a break, or a treat?!”
Perhaps nothing. But, “where your treasure is, there your heart will be also” (6:21). And there’s the rub. Why do we strive after these things?
Jesus notes: “So do not worry, saying, ‘What shall we eat?’ or ‘What shall we drink?’ or ‘What shall we wear?’ For the pagans run after all these things, and your heavenly Father knows that you need them. But seek first his kingdom and his righteousness, and all these things will be given to you as well.”
Does our pursuit of fulfilling needs stem from a lack of confidence in God? Like pagans, are we fearful of capricious gods and goddesses denying our needs and wants? Or do we approach needs with the confidence that by pursuing God, the rest will either fall into place or cease to matter?
What can we do differently? Perhaps, a starting place would be to pause before grasping at one of the solutions money can offer to our needs.
And, then consider what we may already have from the God who has clothed the lilies of the field and fed the birds. We might begin to see ourselves as already poised at the top of Maslow’s hierarchy, with the creativity, spontaneity, and insight that affords.
