The sci-fi dream

This morning I woke up in a sci-fi dream. I was part of a team mining essential minerals on a foreign planet. We were not to disclose who we were or where we came from or how much we’d found, since teams from other countries were seeking the same resources.

The stakes were high. If our enemies beat us, we may not have a future. We weren’t sure how far they would go to stop us. There were rumours of teams using chemicals and explosives for purposes other than mining. We never knew if the threat was genuine or disinformation.

We were warned of moles in our own team. We trusted no one. Even our quarters were bugged. The fear and isolation were getting to us. We were questioning why we’d come, and how long we could live like this.

When I woke, I realized this dream had not come from science fiction. For days I’ve been meditating on the heart of the Sermon on the Mount, where Jesus asked us to question what master we serve.

Our master isn’t the mining magnates or company directors or government forces. Fear binds us to these other masters, the fear we might not survive without them.

Financial security may be an oxymoron, but it’s the taskmaster driving most of our friends’ lives, if not our own.

There was this moment when God freed Hebrew slaves from Pharaoh. They watched in glee as Pharaoh’s forces sank in the Sea (Exodus 15). And then they realized they’d lost their only visible means of support. “What are we to drink?” they screamed (15:24). The wilderness was not economically secure: “There we sat around pots of meat and ate all the food we wanted, but you have brought us out into this desert to starve the entire assembly to death” (16:3).

“Which master will you serve?” Jesus asked. “You cannot serve God and financial security” (Matthew 6:24).

“Either you’ll love the one and hate the other, or you’ll be loyal to the one and distrust the other. What I’m saying is, don’t be stressed about your lives — what you should eat or what you should drink.” (6:24-25).

I guess he was serious about calling us to rely on our Father for our daily bread (6:11).

Only when we trust God to free us from our enslavement to financial security are we able to seek a lifestyle that isn’t based on economics. Emancipated from the need to supply ourselves, God’s providence makes us as free as a bird (6:26).

Why spend so much effort trying to look good in front of everyone? Wildflowers know better than to waste their brief but beautiful lives doing that (6:28).

We’re not trying to survive in an alien world that destroys us if we stop accumulating resources. We’re living in a blessed world where our Father provides enough for his whole family — people, fauna, and flora.

There is a better way to live:

So, don’t be stressed, saying, “What should we eat? What should we drink? What should we put on to impress people? That’s what the nations seek for. You have a heavenly Father who knows what you need.
Seek God’s kingdom as your priority, his reign that sets everything right. Then everything will be provided to you. (Matthew 6:31-33).

Jesus prioritized seeking the kingdom over seeking financial security. What does that mean to you?

What others are saying

Elizabeth Cheney:

Said the robin to the sparrow,
“I should really like to know,
Why these anxious human beings
Rush about and worry so.”

Said the sparrow to the robin,
“Friend I think that it must be,
That they have no Heavenly Father,
Such as cares for you and me.”

Related posts

• What is seeking the kingdom? (Mt 6:33)
• When the church doesn’t get the kingdom
• Stressed about your social standing? (Mt 6:25-34)
• The kingdom is God with his creatures (Mt 10:29-31)