Worry-free Living

Jan: 00:00

With this is going back to that audience who had this idea of, like, waiting for the Savior to come and overthrow the government and save them, and maybe they would live happily ever after, where they're, like, the chosen people. And so maybe Jesus is saying this, and they're like, Oh, you're missing the whole point. Like, get on to when you tell us how you're gonna, like, do this thing. And so it's almost like trying to, like, sort of reframe that, like their expectations. And it's like, I think when we have our own selfish ambition and expectations, it's hard for us to hear or, you know, things become marred. But when you trust God with the outcome, then you can go into this space where you're not worried, because it's on him to do he's doing.

Nathan: 00:52

Welcome to the Loveshaped Life podcast, where our dream is to see, experience and live in the wonder of God's love. We're in season eight, and this is episode four. Worry free living, by the way, before you forget hit that like and subscribe button, we would love for you to follow us and wanna I'm Nathan, by the way, friend Bob here in the studio today and with Jan for this season eight, and having such an exciting time going through Jesus teaching in this middle section of his mountainside address last time we talked about reframing reality, how we perceive the world, the things we take in, anything you want us to remember from that previous episode,

Bob: 01:37

yeah, I would say that when God is living in you, he's the one who reframes your reality, so you can see life through His eyes, right? We we can work on our own ideas, on reframing our reality, how we see life, and I don't think that's a bad thing, but to have it truly reframed, it's when God is living in you. Good.

Nathan: 02:00

Thank you. All right, we're gonna go, yeah,

Jan: 02:03

just to piggyback on that. I think, as Bob talked about that reframing, that that truth is what truly sets you free, so it also brings us freedom, which I think is very important.

Nathan: 02:16

So, yes, absolutely good. I want to piggyback on that. Keep going, we'll see how many thinking back so you can

Bob: 02:23

get so it's this word truth, right? That's kind of not heard very often in our society. I don't think Time Magazine once had a cover. A number of years ago, it said lying, everybody's doing it. So telling the truth and understanding truth, I think we need to, like, maybe define it, right? So coming at from the storyline of Scripture, Jesus said, I am the Way, the Truth and the Life. And Jesus also said, Thy word is truth, right? So the word of God is truth. Then when we're when we're living in harmony with that. That's that's where that freedom is found. I'm just picking back up.

Nathan: 03:05

That's important. That's right, that's good, yeah. And truth is a declaration of the nature of reality. And according to Scripture, the nature of reality, the big nature of reality, is love. Now we've talked about how we're self interested beings. There's a problem of sin or self centered living here on planet Earth, but the big picture is that we were designed to live in love. We were designed by a God who is love, and the story of Scripture is inviting us back into that rhythm, beautiful. So today we're looking at a couple of sections, actually the longest section in this season, but we're going to start with a short section, and it's no one can serve two masters. For either he will hate the one and love the other, or he will be devoted to the one and despise the other. You cannot serve God and money. So what I'm going to say, just jump off the bat on this one, is Jesus is introducing a really powerful principle. He's not making a rule here. He's just declaring the truth of reality. We can't have two masters. We cannot serve two masters. I think sometimes in life, we kind of think that we can have our cake as the saying goes, and eat it too. But in our life, we have and master is simply like the final authority, or the one to whom you give ultimate devotion. Jesus says, Only one thing in your life can get ultimate devotion. What do you guys think about that? Or what's your take on this verse?

Bob: 04:45

Well, I think Jesus is making it clear that you can't live your life with a divided heart, right? And I think that again, having a heart that is fully devoted, there's freedom. Know, and peace of mind in that divided heart is it's just not a reality

Nathan: 05:05

like does a divided heart actually exist? He's saying it doesn't.

Bob: 05:09

You're one or the other. I think we always as human beings, apart from God, we think we're smarter than everything you know. So we try many things. So many people have tried divided hearts, but it doesn't work. You know, there's plenty of examples in scriptures of divided hearts. I think Saul, who was the first king of Israel, had a divided heart. He would yield to God sometimes, and then he would do his own thing sometimes, right? And in the end, it really is what destroying Saul, right?

Nathan: 05:43

So did he really have a divided heart? Or was it just the appearance

Bob: 05:47

of the divided No, he had a divided heart.

Nathan: 05:49

No, would you but what I'm saying is, in other words, he thought he had a divided heart by making these, you know, well, I did this, but really he didn't, but, but, I mean, in the end, if he went down like, like, in other words, the real motive behind everything he did was his self interest. So he didn't really it. He thought he had a divided heart, but in reality, he was fully committed to serving himself and any of the others. Was kind of like lip service to God, because his real commitment underlined everything was actually a commitment to his own best interest, kind of his own way. Does that make sense? It does it. Does that divided heart is kind of an illusion that we create?

Jan: 06:38

Well, I think in some of the examples Jesus has given, and then just thinking about the reality as I see it, this idea of Two Masters is two opposing things, right? So light and darkness. The light will crowd out the darkness, right? Or maybe you try to put a lens over it so it's a distorted light, but you can't both. Can't coexist. Maybe you get a diagnosis of cancer, eventually that cancer is going to eat away at your whole body, and you're going to die, right? It can't. You can't have these two things coexisting, this good and this evil. So that's the way I I see it, and you can internalize it if you want. But everything will reveal itself in due time. Nothing hidden will not be revealed. So that's the way I see it.

Bob: 07:24

No, that's good. That's good. They again. Jesus is just saying, look, and give me your life completely. You fully devote it to me in a relationship, and you'll experience the greatest life you could live.

Nathan: 07:40

It wasn't maybe he talked telling the crowd you can't serve two masters, because as he's looking into the audience, he sees everyday people who are trying to live that compromised existence. Well, I want these ideals, but I also don't want to let go of you know, I want to, I want to follow Jesus. I want to do things Jesus way, but I can't stop hating the Romans, right? Where there's, like you said, the light and dark, there's this inner competition, and Jesus sees it in the faces of his audience that they want both. And where he comes out and says, You can't have beautiful that's

Bob: 08:18

not possible. And I think is what Jan said, one that eventually dominates the other. Really, I believe, if that's what you were saying, so that divided heart, where it's the person who hated the Romans is still wanting to hold on to it, right? Eventually, that hatred would be the sole dominating force in their life, right? You can't be divided. Go one

Nathan: 08:37

way or the other, and I think we experience, or like to perceive ourselves as having, like, mixed loyalties. But maybe the truth is Starker, that our loyalties aren't as mixed as we think they are, that in the end, we're always really in one direction of the other, and not as compromised

Jan: 08:58

as we think we are. Yeah, I think too, it speaks to God's character of him. He can't be bribed. He can't You can't win his he can't change, right? I think I heard someone say, like, Oh, God loves me as I am, so I don't need to change. And I heard someone say, Well, do you love him enough to love him as he is? And it's like he can't change, but to have a relationship with us, we need to be willing to change. And that's what he wants. He wants that relationship with us.

Bob: 09:25

Yeah, and so wholly devoted.

Jan: 09:28

I think Jesus is like, you can't have this, but I'm showing you a better way. So are you willing to excel this and to grow?

Bob: 09:36

I mean, like in any relationship to God's idea, when two people love each other and they choose to go forward in marriage, the Bible says that they become one in God's eyes. But if one of them has a t shirt on walking down the aisle, it says, Well, I if it's if it's if it's the groom saying, I Miss Mary and I miss Kathy and I miss earrings. It's the. Fight it hard, right? That marriage you got to fail miserably because they're not committing themselves to that individual, right?

Nathan: 10:06

Right? So the point here that Jesus is getting at, though he actually makes a specific application to his audience, he says, You can't serve both God and money. Why is Jesus pointing that out? And I think that's sort of a trend. This is kind of a transitional moment for us. What do you think about just that concept where he specifically applies this you can't serve God and money?

Bob: 10:32

I think when you look at Jesus' parables, a large portion had to do with money, because he knows how money has so much to do with our daily life. We have to work to earn money in order to pay for the things, just to live our food or whatever have you, it's connected to us, right? So while it's part of us and it's part of God's design for us in living we he knows that money becomes almost like an idol for human beings. It becomes something to pursue after that you're like all in and he's just using that as an example, because it's so connected to us to say you can't serve these two because he could, I think he could have used anything else, right? You can't serve God. And like you mentioned, hate the Romans insane tongue, right? So I think he's using money because it's what we relate with as

Nathan: 11:26

human beings. Yeah, I think you're, I think it was pervasive, Yeah,

Bob: 11:31

same thing today. I mean, you know, you just saying, Look, you can't serve God in money. He's not saying you don't make money, right? Just it, don't make it your idol.

Nathan: 11:39

No, is this true only if you're if you're wealthy, like is he only talking to the wealthy in the crowd? Of course not.

Jan: 11:47

No money is, I think it has its power to corrupt like nothing else. Um, so whether you've got no you can be class. I don't care who you are. It's this pursuit. It's a state of the heart. It's not, it's not about what you physically have.

Bob: 12:04

Yeah, people can sacrifice who they are, seems like, very easily, for financial

Jan: 12:11

gain, and sacrifice others and sacrifice so do it in a justifiable, holy way, right?

Nathan: 12:18

We can actually do a lot of conversation around this, just a lot going through my mind. What would it take? Let's, let's say, let's just make it really practical. Let's say there's a situation in your workplace that if, if you open your mouth about this unjust let's say something is going on that's just really, it's truly not like it's not ethical, but if you open your mouth and call it out, you know for sure you're going to lose your income, and you might even lose your reputation, you might lose potential hiring opportunities. How many of us would be willing to take the ethical stand versus compromising our income potential? Well, it's a confession time for us, but like, that's where it meets the road, right? How much am I going to do that will compromise my income? Like, how, how far do my ethics go? Right? That's kind of what Jesus is getting at. How far do your ethics go? If, if you have, like, What power does money have? I guess is really the question.

Bob: 13:32

Did you want to come? How long you take that? You know, number one, except by God's grace, there go. I right. The only thing that can make us faithful to God, to stand in any position is His grace, because I'm my own worst enemy. So but the question is, How deep are you willing to trust God for? Because ultimately, he says later on in this passage, Seek first the kingdom of heaven and its righteousness and all these things will be added unto you, right? He's talking about your needs will be supplied by me. God supplies your needs so you may lose your job there, but God can give you something better, right? I'd rather lose my job than lose my my value as a person and and my relationship with God, you know, because you're not going to look at the result of not weighing out the pros and cons, uh, choosing to do what's right. You may lose your job, but you can have peace of mind. You've got God's promises behind you. We've got God behind you. If you choose the sacrifice because you're afraid that you're not gonna have money to pay your bills or whatever case, maybe that's a reality. I'm not trying to take away that fear, but you lose. I mean, your conscience will bother you, you'll never be the same person. You know, it's just a losing, but there's a pretty radical commitment.

Nathan: 15:01

It. Jesus is saying that if you're not radically, if I'm not radically committed to the way of the kingdom, to God's way, that that means, when push comes to shove, I'm always going to to divert or to go for and compromise on behalf of my my stability, financial stability. I think that's a lot for us to think about. The if I don't radically commit to the kingdom, I'm always going to be the bottom line is, if my income, my health insurance, my stability, is in jeopardy, I will always defer to preserving that and compromise my kingdom values.

Jan: 15:47

I don't think, I think there's enough worry in tomorrow that God is just calling us to today, because it's you don't get to that big choice. It's little. Are you faithful in little choices? And when the big day comes, it's, it's, it's just natural. So you built that trust, and God is so faithful. So I don't, I don't think, I don't, I don't approach it from, from that aspect. You'll get to that point. And even if you do compromise, God is faithful. If you're still breathing, there's still chance, like pray, go back to him. We see in the Bible fall like Moses, Aaron, we, you know, it's God takes, you know, people that are marred in sin, and just does miraculous things sometimes. So I think we focus on God.

Bob: 16:36

He'll take care of the rest. And I just want to say, if somebody's listening, and perhaps they have sacrificed their integrity to to run to God. Don't run from God, right? Because he can restore you, and he's a forgiver, right? So don't allow your poor choice to hold you back from experiencing God's forgiveness, you know, and restoration.

Nathan: 16:59

It's good. It's huge. I think this is another one of Jesus pretty serious teachings about what it means to be Kingdom people who are not washed don't become wash outs in society.

Bob: 17:13

Yeah. I also want to talk about the good news for every human being, right? That if you look at the history of humanity. And you go back in the storyline of the Bible, we see that since the fall of Adam, Adam lost the ability to be faithful not only to God, but to fellow human beings. And so you go down through the storyline like with Abraham, God made a promise to Abraham that the Savior would come through his lineage. But then you look at going down through his, you know, his children and so forth, they were not faithful. Human beings have a difficult time, an impossibility of being faithful, not difficult. Impossibility of being faithful to God and to each other. But Jesus comes along and builds a character that is faithful to God and to other human beings, and this is what he's given to us. So what makes us faithful, what enables us to stand up and do what's right is because of Christ living in us, not because it's in me, it's in him. This is the good news. This the good news, the good gift. Yeah, it's that

Jan: 18:24

mercy and grace, which he calls us to have that kind of mercy. And it is, yeah,

Bob: 18:31

it's beyond words. It's beyond words. But that's the beauty of the hope, yeah, the great hope of humanity. It's the good news. Gospel is good news. This is absolutely

Nathan: 18:41

yeah, well, we're going to take a quick break. We've got a message for you, and then we'll be right back.

Bob: 18:47

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Nathan: 18:55

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Bob: 19:19

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Nathan: 19:25

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Bob: 19:37

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Nathan: 19:44

All right, welcome back to the podcast. We are going to transition into the longest section for this season anyway, and Jan's going to read that for us. And again, we're in Matthew six. We're near the end of Matthew six. I think you said 20. I'll be starting at 2424 Sure.

Jan: 20:00

Okay. Therefore, I tell you, do not be anxious about your life, what you will eat or what you will drink, nor about your body. What you will put on Is not life more than food, and the body more than clothing. Look at the birds of the air. They neither sow nor reap nor gather into barns, and yet your heavenly Father feeds them. Are you not of more value than they And which of you being anxious can add a single hour to his span of life? And why are you anxious about clothing? Consider the lilies of the field. How they grow. They neither toil nor spin. Yet I tell you, even Solomon, in all his glory, was not arrayed like one of these. But if God so clothes the grass of the field which today is alive and tomorrow is thrown into the oven, will he not much more clothe you. O you of little faith. Therefore, do not be anxious saying, What shall I eat, or What shall I drink, or What shall I wear for the Gentiles seek after all these things, and your heavenly Father knows that you need them all.

Nathan: 21:07

That's beautiful.

Bob: 21:09

Okay, so my first question rolling out of it is, is, um, is being anxious a problem in our society today, in our world today, it's everywhere. It's everywhere. You know, I've heard people maybe have that it's called the United States of anxiety, because the level of people's anxiousness is only increasing. And I think as you look at the world and the condition of the world that continues to, like, break apart, and, you know, really saying it's hard not to be anxious. It's hard not to in the midst of it all. But Jesus is saying, Do not, you know. Therefore, in conclusion, after all, these things do not do don't worry about your life, you know. So my question is, when Jesus says do not what's behind that? Is he? Is he like commanding you, you better not do that, or else. I mean, what's he doing? Well, I'm not sure

Jan: 22:13

if I'm answering your question directly, but something I'm thinking of with this is going back to that audience who had this idea of like, waiting for the Savior to come and overthrow the government and save them, and maybe they would live happily ever after, where they're, like, the chosen people. And so maybe Jesus is saying this, and they're like, Oh, you're missing the whole point. Like, get on to when you tell us how you're gonna, like, do this thing. And so it's almost like trying to, like, sort of reframe that like their expectations. And it's like, I think when we have our own selfish ambition and expectations, it's hard for us to hear or, you know, things become marred. But when you trust God with the outcome, then you can go into this space where you're not worried because it's on him to do what he's doing, and your burdens become so light, like your yoke is a lot lighter when you're not trying to control and fit your reality into like this, you know what you want, or how you envision, or I don't know the ambitions that you have, Right? So that was, I don't know that was something that I was thinking about. So maybe when he's telling them, like, do not like he, you know, he reiterated this over and over, so trying to, like, reframe them a little bit,

Bob: 23:31

that's good. It's good because, you know, when you think about what they were thinking about, if they were become the ruling power of the Romans, then they would have all the riches, right? Then they wouldn't be the poor ones, right? And Jesus, like, you know that's not where it's at, right, right? That's not what my kingdom is all about. But I just want to set something straight. If you trust, trust me, you don't worry. You don't need to worry about these things. It's not up to you. You don't need to take control the Romans in order to get some more money,

Nathan: 24:03

right, right? But isn't also possible that this therefore don't be anxious, that if we spend our time being anxious about what we're going to eat, drink, put on, etc, that if that's what we're focusing our energy on, that is it possible that that's also what's controlling us, like when he says, You can't serve God and money? Is it possible that if, if our anxieties are all about earthly survival, that then our decisions are driven by survival, and he wants us to be motivated and driven by something higher.

Bob: 24:43

That's good. That's good. Yeah, we become blinded by it, right? We're blinded by our problems, by what we're being anxious about. They're consuming us. I don't know about you, but when you have those times where you're allowing that to gain the better. Or half in something that you're dealing with. It just wears you out. It just, I call it, it's like a life sucker. It just takes the life out. You just wait out. I mean, go to bed and see about wake up and start this over, because it just is destroying Right, right? But this is the way people can live 24 hours a day, you know, seven days a week, just full of worries and frettings about all these things, right? So I want to, I just want to clarify when I was saying, do not. What would you when God speaks behind what he speaks is the power to do it. That's the beauty. You know, because God spoke, and he know he spoke the world into existence. He thinks he speaks, right? So when he says, Do not worry, there's a power behind that. It's not the it's not on me, right? To create this non worry environment. I can choose it, but I can't create it, but I can trust that he can do it in me, right, right? So when he's saying, Do not, he's offering you the power to have the experience that he's offering, right?

Nathan: 26:08

And I think that's how he frames it. At the end, your heavenly Father knows you need all of this. I mean, that's pretty powerful this. So Jesus is is framing the secret for worry free living, as believing that God has us in his hands, our food, our drink, by the way. I mean, think of think of this in the audience drink. They couldn't go to a faucet, like when we're thirsty. We should go to a faucet. We've got glasses of water here. This is clean, palatable water. We did not go to the well today to get it. We did not have to wait in line somewhere to get it. This was not like the fact that you could take a drink of water in the time of Jesus was not a guaranteed like saying that's true. The well could dry up tomorrow, and you don't know how far you may have to go to get to that water, food. They were working every day. For many they were working every day just for the hope that they could have enough of cash or resources to trade so they could have a meal. And if the rats got into their grain store, this starvation was a serious risk. So when Jesus says, Don't worry about what you eat, don't worry about what you drink, it's much more radical. I mean, and the clothing like, don't worry about what you wear. This was not like, don't worry about whether you wear a white t shirt or a blue t shirt. Don't worry about whether it's long sleeve or short sleeve. Jesus was saying, Don't worry about whether or not you have something to wear. So, like, what we hear him saying was magnitudes bigger to his audience. He's asking them not to worry about their daily survival at a level that I don't think we really register with.

Bob: 28:08

Well, because it's interesting, because then he keeps going, right? He's going, he said, don't worry. But then he wants them to do some reflection, right? So like when he said, Look at the birds of the air, for They neither sow nor reap nor gather into barns. Yet your heavenly Father feeds them. Are not you of more value than they this just that text, right? What is your value to he's asking them. They're sitting on a mountainside, right, right? So they're out in nature, anything look around you really the birds, right? Are they struggling? Are they worrying over what they'll eat. Your heavenly Father, you're of more value than those birds. This was radical for them, and I think it's kind of radical for us, too, to come to the point of realizing that God is our Father and we're its children, and that we're of more value in his eyes and how he takes care of the birds we're valiant to rest in that. See, they're saying it's one thing to see it, it's another thing to experience and just the beauty for who God is. And we're going to rest in it, right? So what do you think of when you think about the birds of the air and you see them being fed and, oh, I

Nathan: 29:16

mean, I love being out in nature, listening to the birds on the back porch or taking a hike.

Bob: 29:22

I did a little search as to how many birds are in the world. Oh, what did you get? Well, they're just guessing approximately 50 billion. 50 billion. So you imagine 50 billion birds being fed every day, every day. They don't sow, they don't reap, don't have barns, but their food is provided for them. God gives it to them, right? And God says, are you, you and I and everyone else? Are you? Not much more value to me than them, right?

Nathan: 29:54

So I'm gonna throw a wrench in what do we do with this text when we also. Have born witness on the news of mass like mass bird starvations.

Jan: 30:05

Well, I think it's important to see, I don't see anywhere in this text where it says like, you'll be blissful living forever, because the very person who spoke this ended up being crucified, right, not too long after. So that's where I think it's he's God is inviting us to step outside of this, like a small, myopic view into this bigger picture, and knowing that whatever we face on this earth, we are never alone, he is with us. It is for a greater purpose, and that, again, is inviting us, you know, up to see with his eyes, to see, right? Because I, I think something else that I found personally, when you're so consumed by yourself, you miss everything going on around you, right, like family. 10 years pass, and it's like, where did that, that relationship could have gone, or there's people suffering all around us, and we're consumed where we can be ungrateful for what we have and not helping those around us. So to me, I don't It's not this blissful living. It's called into this greater purpose about why we're here and how you can live purposefully in the short time that you're on this planet.

Bob: 31:17

Yeah, I appreciate you. Mentioned back about, you know, reframing, right? It's reframing how we see things. And I like the practice of of when we get when we get lost, sometimes in our own little world. And it's easy to get lost when circumstances are facing you, and maybe your eyes are not turned towards God by taking time out to just do some reflection, because Jesus is saying, Look, yes, consider, in other words, think about it. So take time out and you talk about the small picture, but try and look at the bigger picture. So as we look at the birds and reflect on it, and begin to think, wow, there's 15 billion birds in the world, and say, God feeds them all, it's giving us a bigger picture, right? We're stepping outside of our little right framework, and it's freeing us. It's freeing so I think it's a good habit to get into develop that when we find ourselves in those positions, to take a step back, take a deep breath and begin to reflect upon various passages like this, you know, and that you and again, we talked about those four principles, see, meditate and accept that you are a value in the eyes of God. I think it's really important for us to really say, Lord, I'm choosing to accept the fact that I'm a value in your eyes, spite of what the voices in my head might be telling me, in spite of what circumstances might be telling me I'm going to rest in the fact that I am a value in your eyes.

Nathan: 32:47

So seeing in the created world the evidence of a loving Creator we we do know that the world we live in now doesn't is not the best representation, because it's been affected by human rebellion and angelic rebellion, right? So there's some breakdown, there's birds that die, etc, but the big picture is that God built a beautiful world, and that God is this loving, compassionate Creator who is working for the best interest of his creatures, yeah, and that we rest in his compassionate care.

Bob: 33:22

And remember, he's seeking to penetrate like you're talking about resting in his compassionate care. So he's seeking to penetrate the mind of this crowd that's come from a religious background, that they see that if they become sick, it's because God is punishing them if their child is born with some type of handicap is because of their sins, right? So this is the picture that they have of God, and Jesus is flipping this thing all of a sudden to say, You know what? You're not this God is not an arbitrary God that's going to zap you and punish you in this way that God cares for you. He feels your heartbeat. You're his child. He's going to take care of you, right, right? You're a value in his eyes. This was huge, because the picture that they had of God was not something that you felt valued in the eyes of God, because you're only value in the eyes of God when you lined up right perfectly with all of the rules, which nobody did. And so really they they must have felt like they had no value. And a lot of them that were in that crowd, we know from further stories, felt like they had no value, because the religious people leaders look right on them, they did as if they were worthless. And Jesus comes along to say, you're not worthless. God doesn't see you as worthless, right? Your value. So, man, he's lifting them, same thing. He wants to lift us today. Say, in this world, you're of value. You matter to me because, because, even in corporate America and perhaps in other places the world, but I'm just using corporate America oftentimes, people are just a

Nathan: 34:58

number, right? Yeah, there's more of

Bob: 35:00

you weary from yeah, there's more of you so you can be replaced, right? So, but God is not like that, right? Exactly. You're precious and you're a value in his eyes. He's trying to lift them. Yeah, absolutely. Because then he goes on to say, which of you by worrying, can add one Cupid to a statue, right? Does worrying do anything for you?

Jan: 35:26

Might take away some fears in your life cause you nervous what's going on and time and time.

Bob: 35:34

You know, when I used to be in construction, right? And I would bid a job, I remember I would spend nights thinking about the night before the job began, whether I bid it correctly or not. And I went through my mind everything, and I always came out it seemed like with a negative end, right? Like I didn't do enough, I didn't do this, I didn't do that. And then I get to the job, and get into a few days, and I realize things are rolling just where I thought they would roll. So I think back, and I would think I used to spend all that time occupying my mind was something that never was reality, right? Had you ever done that before? Yeah, you know, say so it's robbing us of time. So worrying is also robbing us of precious time, like in the moment where we can non productive, non product as well. Yeah, I once saw a cartoon of Ziggy. It was cartoon character Ziggy, and he did a rocking chair. And underneath it, it said, worrying is like rocking in a rocking chair. It gives you something to do, but it doesn't get you anywhere. It occupies your mind and it drains us. So Jesus trying to say, Don't live like this. Don't live like that, you know. And when you feel yourself sensing we all this is just the world we live in, sensing ourselves, leaning into this worry, then turn to me right. Turn to Me and rest in Me, because I've got you,

Nathan: 36:52

that's right. So I wanted to go back to a line, something that you said reminded me of this. This line is not life more than food, because you were talking about how we can get this myopic vision. And I think Jesus is in part, noticing that, in this phrase, Is not life more than food and the body more than clothing, that when we are consumed with our survival, all these sort of mundane, everyday things, we can lose sight of what, what really matters, those relationships that you can neglect for 10 years, the worry that you can spend fritter away precious sleeping hours consumed with anxiety Jesus, like, isn't there more to life than this stuff? Right? That's a question that's relevant today. You look at all the commercials that come back to back on TV, and so much of it is lifestyle improvement, stuff like a new car or a better vacation location. I'm just trying to think of some of the stuff I've seen, or the latest physical some kind of stuff, something to put on to to improve your external and Jesus saying, isn't there more to living than this? Like we're missing living when we're consumed with surviving?

Jan: 38:16

Yeah, because evil is often cloaked and good. So it can be like, well, this is a good career. I need to provide for my family or something. But there's there's costs, there's opportunity cost on all things, right? And some of that can be the selfish ambition, right? And then you look and your kids don't even know you, or you know you've just lost precious, precious things that money cannot buy you,

Bob: 38:41

right, exactly. And then the question is always, how much is enough, right? Because it seems like

Jan: 38:47

that's the thing when it's not from God, it's never enough.

Nathan: 38:49

It's never never enough, never enough, you know, and it never satisfies. That's one of the things you achievement, that kind of achievement, when you get there, it's never what you expect it to be, and it destroys you, and it

Jan: 39:00

destroys you, right? God is the only thing we can worship that actually builds us. Everything else will

Bob: 39:06

degrade you, right? What's that little saying you have on your email when you send it to me? Oh, I don't,

Nathan: 39:15

I don't remember what

Bob: 39:17

at the end it says, nothing else really matters, but what's, what's the Yeah,

Nathan: 39:20

something about I forget, but I do have one that I know, I know I saw, one that's good, though that's good though there's, there's, there's a pastor that I listen to periodically. I think he's up in like Minnesota, but he his, his definition of idolatry is where you get your life. So what is that thing that you reach out to, to feel filled up, to feel salad satisfied, to feel validation to what is that thing you plug into? So if the thing I plug into, to give me a charge is my career or my finances or. Whatever it is, that thing that I'm plugging into to get that security boost, that's an idol, in the biblical sense, that's an idol. So he says, get all your life from God. His solution, this is exactly what you had said of Jan, is when you get all your life from God, that's really the only safe place to sort of be fully plugged in and charged from, because any other source has a way of corrupting us.

Jan: 40:23

Yeah? And it could be good things. It could be religion, family, relationship, like, Yeah, I think there's the devil. Can be very deceit, like, he's not it, yeah, a lot of it is just hidden in the details, right?

Nathan: 40:40

So where do we draw our life from? I think that's the big Jesus. That's what Jesus is telling, right? Exactly, exactly. So, so what would you say for, you know, if we're gonna break here would be the sea.

Bob: 40:55

My seeing is that God is inviting us into the space of trusting him as a father who cares about every aspect of my life, and he's asking me to just rest in that care. That's what I see.

Jan: 41:18

Don't worry. I like that. I liked what you mentioned earlier about that creative power. And I think God is inviting us to do that. We know that faith is it pleases God trust. So I invite people in us to just take him at his word and watch what happens. Just give it right.

Bob: 41:40

Yeah, and I want to add to that, because sometimes when we talk about faith, for a lot of people, it becomes mysterious, right? Faith is trust, like you mentioned, it's trust, but simply choosing to give God a try, and, you know, and choosing to trust you, God, right? Making a choice, an actual choice of saying, even though I'm not sure I'm not, don't understand it all, Lord, I'm going to, I choose to trust in you. Give God that chance. And like you mentioned, let him work for me. The C

Nathan: 42:15

here is, it's related, I think, to both of you. But this, this thing, this picture of God as loving us well, loving us deeply, that we can live without worry because we believe that this supernatural being really, truly is carrying us, cradling us, treasuring us. It doesn't mean we're gonna have a perfect life. And I liked you mentioning that, like, it's not a guarantee of everything going well. Now, what it's the guarantee of is that in every season of life, I am fully cared for, fully loved, and that God will be with me even when the season means that it's not going the way I expected, for me, that's the thing, that's the heartbeat here, is seeing God as a God who loves radically and with a heart of giant compassion. And I think for me, the experience would be that that gives birth to worry free living. I'm still learning a lot about this. I read that passage and this stuff challenges me, because I see my own, my own values in life, the things that I would, the things that I value, like finances and those kind of securities. It really rattles me to see like, what is my bottom line? So this is for me, is very practical when it comes to experiencing and living. Am I really on board? And I think, like Jan said, it's a growing thing, right? We take it today and we keep growing. But it does Jesus teaching in this point really challenges me to reflect and think, Who am I becoming? Like, what is the bottom line that I really, really think matters

Bob: 44:01

experientially for me, is a reminder that yesterday's food is not sufficient for the day. Yesterday's experience of trusting in God and Resting in God is not sufficient for the day. So today is a whole new set of choices. And so experientially, it's a day by day walk,

Jan: 44:20

yeah, yeah. Experientially, for me, it's been wrestling with God.

Nathan: 44:26

Actually, that's good though, like that's, that is the normal state of walking with God. Is wrestling like there's peace, right? Yeah, you said that you have a rich like, there's this part. You wouldn't trade it for anything. But then there's also this reality that you're saying. It's like

Jan: 44:42

persuasion in my mind, or you learn, and then you wrestle with it, and then, like you, you learn more truth, and then you can, like, put pieces from the past start making sense, and it illuminates the way. It gives you trust in God for the way forward, because you see how he's been. Orchestrating things in the past. So it's, um, yeah, it's like, it's a beautiful struggle.

Nathan: 45:07

It's good, but I think it's fantastic to name it because, like, if that's what you're experiencing, that's normal, so that we're not, like, painting this picture of a rosy, perfect life, like it's normal to just yeah, this dynamic of struggle. And some days we think we got it figured out, and other days we're like, what? I'm really off the mark, and I'm not sure, I don't know if that's you're saying, but just kind of it is this growing dynamic.

Jan: 45:34

It's, I guess, when I say wrestle, it's almost with myself, because I'm like, God gently shows me some air, or like, it's, it's beautiful, it's, it's, um, it's a, it's a welcome battle. That's awesome.

Nathan: 45:53

Yeah, so, and then living, I think that kind of sums up just living. Is this, this daily, daily leaning in,

Bob: 46:02

daily leaning in, and yesterday's victory is not sufficient for the day, which is fine, because we're living right a day at a time today, today is so we're living by applying God's principles daily, right? You begin to worry. Ask yourself, why am I worrying? I'm going to turn to God, seek to let it go and put

Nathan: 46:25

it that's good, and that's what we'll wrap it up. So make sure to like, subscribe and share it with that friend you've been thinking of if you've listened to or watched this podcast, until next time, lean into the love-shaped life.

Bob: 46:43

Ever wonder what it's like to truly experience God's love? At Loveshaped Life, we're here to guide you on that journey through our weekly emails, podcasts, blogs, coaching and more. We're helping people just like you discover the transformative power of Divine Love.

Nathan: 47:00

Join our community at loveshaped.life and be part of a movement that's changing lives. Loveshaped Life, your partner in the journey of seeing, experiencing and living God's love for you.