Sandcastle Kingdoms
Greetings church!
When I was younger my family took a trip to Pajaro Dunes for a week, it was awesome. We were nestled 20ish minutes away from Santa Cruz, we had an almost vacant beach to ourselves, and a ton of family time. It’s one of my favorite childhood memories. While we were there I decided I was going to be the greatest sand castle builder of all time, its probably not as lucrative as I would need, but it was my dream regardless.
I brought putty knives and water bottles and shovels to be the greatest and so people would stop in awe of what I had created. Needless to say, no one did and I left my dads tools at the beach, both of us were unhappy about it.
But my focus was building my own kingdom, something that I could point to and be proud of because I accomplished it. That is the antithesis of the Gospel. Actually, Jesus calls us to deny ourselves in most areas of our lives.
One specific area is in our finances, he says in Matthew 6:19-21, “19 Do not store up for yourselves treasures on earth, where moths and vermin destroy, and where thieves break in and steal. 20 But store up for yourselves treasures in heaven, where moths and vermin do not destroy, and where thieves do not break in and steal. 21 For where your treasure is, there your heart will be also.”
How often is our kingdom front and center of our desire? If I could just have one more shiny toy, one more renovated room, one more car, then I will be happy? Then my kingdom will be looked at in amazement because of what I did.
The Gospel reminds us that it is not our kingdoms that matter, it is not our accomplishments that should be exemplified. It is God’s kingdom, he just allows us to dwell in it and partner in the work that He is doing. As we enter into a new teaching series regarding money, allow this to frame your thinking, at the end of the day, the only kingdom that matters is Jesus’
Sincerely,
Pastor Peter