AP

Psalm 49:15-19  But God will redeem my life from the grave; he will surely take me to himself. Selah.  Do not be overawed when a man grows rich, when the splendour of his house increases;  for he will take nothing with him when he dies, his splendour will not descend with him.  Though while he lived he counted himself blessed – and men praise you when you prosper – he will join the generation of his fathers, who will never see the light of life.
I wonder if Jesus had these verses in mind when he preached his ‘Sermon on the Plain’ recorded by Luke, when he said, “But woe to you who are rich, for you have already received your comfort.  Woe to you who are well fed now, for you will go hungry.  Woe to you who laugh now, for you will mourn and weep.  Woe to you when all men speak well of you, for that is how their fathers treated the false prophets” (Luke 6:24-26).

The Psalmist was struggling with the pressure of his surrounding culture which placed so much emphasis on the pleasures and blessings of this world – the idols of success and fame – forces so powerful in exerting their influence even without the help of facebook!  It was the same in Jesus’ day, affecting even (and especially!) the religious hierarchy.

Jesus came to proclaim the Kingdom of God, the Kingdom of Heaven: an attitude and lifestyle focussed not on the things of this world, but the world to come.  The way the Psalmist dealt with the pressure was by a mindset that declared its focus on ‘the world to come’: “But God will redeem my life from the grave; he will surely take me to himself.”  As Jesus said in his Sermon on the Mount’: “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” (Matthew 6:31-33).

The history of God’s people shows us, over and over again, how important it is to perform a regular ‘stocktake’ on our own mindset as we live so much under the pressure of a world that has numerous cunning devices at its disposal to lure us unsuspectingly away from where it ought to be focussed!
– Bruce Christian