Freedom, Focus, Finances & the Father

“But if your eye is bad, your whole body will be full of darkness. If therefore the light that is in you is darkness, how great is that darkness! No one can serve two masters…” (Matt. 6:23-24, NKJV).

(Today’s post will make more sense if you read yesterday’s first.)

Yesterday, I was sharing with you about my conversation with my husband regarding the vital importance of staying focused on the Father during this season. I promised you some follow up thoughts on the matter.

I believe that Daddy really wants to speak this to your heart today. Know why? Because as I was flipping through my Bible after writing yesterday’s post, it “happened” to open right up to the parallel passage in Matthew to what we studied yesterday in Luke. (This is not a page it usually automatically opens to).

When I saw that, I knew Holy Spirit was talking. As I read the hand-written notes I added into the margin nearly two years ago, they leapt out as important to share with you right now. So here goes…

He pointed out to me the connection there between our eye being “good” and the financial topics Jesus discusses in this same passage. In the verses immediately preceding, He emphasizes the importance of having our heart and our treasures in heaven. Then comes our verses about having a good eye and a body full of light. Immediately following, He again addresses financial matters: We cannot serve both God and mammon, or the god of money.

So you see? Having a “good eye,” a clear eye, a singularly focused eye – it’s sandwiched in there between financial teachings. What can we conclude from this? The object of our focus is intricately connected to the kind of relationship we maintain with money. When Daddy is our focus; when He is our treasure; when He is our Master… then our whole being will be filled with light. On the other hand, when money becomes our focus and our “master,” then we have allowed darkness into our hearts.

I’ll share with you an example from my family of origin. Did you know that the spirit of mammon and the spirit of poverty often work together? Did you know that even a wealthy person can live enslaved by a poverty spirit? Tragically, I had a great aunt that lived that way. She had millions of dollars, but she was so miserly that she would take toilet paper from public bathrooms instead of buying her own. When feeling obligated to give a gift, she would grudgingly offer little perfume samples that she had gotten for free. I have never known anyone so mean in spirit. When she died, she had not a single friend. She left her unspent millions to charity to spite her family.

Her heart was filled with great darkness. Mammon was her lord. She lived enslaved by a spirit of poverty, never enjoying the richness of life. The fear of lack relentlessly oppressed her thinking, her emotions, and her relationships. What a tragic way to spend a lifetime!

Jesus invites us into a gloriously better way to live. With our eyes fixed on Him, with our treasures stored in Heaven, with our complete dependence on Him as our Master, we can live full of light, full of peace, full of freedom.

(To be continued tomorrow…)

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Is it surprising to think about the spirit of mammon working closely with the spirit of poverty?