St. Aidan's Anglican Church
  • Home
  • Worship Online
  • The Preachers Blog
  • Bible in a Year
  • About Us
  • Contact Us
  • The Re-Gathering
  • Youth
  • Cords
  • Prayer Requests
  • Request Pastoral Care
  • Give
  • Grocery Pick Up
  • Statement of Faith
  • Video Archive
    • 2023 Videos
    • Real Lives
    • 2022 Videos
    • 2021 Videos
    • 2020 Videos
  • Sermon Audio Archive
    • 2020 Sermons
    • 2019 Sermons
    • 2019 Sermon Series >
      • Gospel Centered Eternities November 2019
      • The Real Joy of Easter - Holy Week 2019
    • 2018 Sermons
    • 2018 Sermon Series >
      • Gospel Centred Church Spring 2018
      • A Gospel Shaped Church Fall 2018
    • 2017 Sermon Series >
      • The Servant King Christmas 2016
      • The Saviour King Lent 2017
      • The Victorious King Holy Week 2017
      • The Living King Easter 2017
      • The Brother King Fall 2017
      • Worship the King Advent 2017
    • 2016 Sermon Series >
      • Real Obedience Lent 2016
      • Unity of the Church
      • The Servant King Christmas 2016
    • 2015 Sermon Series >
      • Real Gifts 2015
      • Real Mission 2015
      • Mission Discerned
    • 2014 Sermon Series >
      • Real Church 2014
      • Real Lives 2014
    • 2013 Sermon Series >
      • Real God 2013
    • Sermon Archive From 2014 - 2017
  • Christianity 101
  • The Psalms Blog
  • Bible in a Year
  • The Re-Gathering

the  Preachers  blog

Blogs are posted every Wednesday

What are you looking at? (By Lory Persaud)

7/28/2020

 
Reading: Matthew 6:19-34

When I was fresh out of high school, I worked at a children’s Bible camp, which also happened to be a ranch. One day we were trying to teach the kids how to direct their horses with their weight and posture. An egg was placed on the ground and the kids were tasked with walking their horse over the egg to break it. When the rider looked worryingly down at the egg, their weight shifted in the saddle and the horse would move away from the egg, missing it completely. But when the rider looked straight ahead and rode toward the egg without looking directly at it, the egg made a satisfying “crack” as it crushed beneath the horse’s hoof. The gaze of the rider had a direct impact on the path of the horse.

In Matthew 6, we are told that the eye is the lamp of the body. If our eyes are good, our whole body will be full of light, but if our eyes are bad, our bodies are full of darkness. So, the eye, our vision, plays a significant role, impacting the rest of our bodies and this means we ought to be both careful and intentional about where we fix our gaze. I find it particularly meaningful that this nugget of wisdom is squished into the context of a particularly rich section of scripture.

Jesus has just told his listeners that, “where your treasure is, there your heart will be also.” He is encouraging them not to be materialistic, desiring to accumulate worldly wealth. Having the wrong focus equals choosing the wrong path: if a person desires to be rich and seeks after worldly wealth and material possessions, they will completely miss finding that which is of true worth—the immaterial treasures of heaven.

So what are these otherworldly treasures? Scripture teaches us that we are “created in Christ Jesus to do good works, which God prepared in advance for us to do.” (Eph 2:10) We are to work at these things as if we were working for the Lord and not for men, and he promises, “You will receive an inheritance from the Lord as a reward…” (Col 3:24).

But it’s not just about doing these good works to gain a reward some day, it’s about the gift and treasure of knowing our Father God and having relationship with him, knowing our identity as his children. When we recognize how valuable we are to him and we set our eyes on our King and his Kingdom, we can be assured he will give us all that we need to fulfill the calling and purpose for which he made us. In contrast, worrying about our wealth or well-being, having a distracted focus, much like those kids looking down at that egg, is a sure way to miss the mark in terms of walking in our God-given destiny.

With all the tumultuousness of the last 7 months of this worldwide pandemic, are we seeing our values, the way we spend our time, our relationships, the way we work and do business, the way we live our lives, differently than we would have a year ago? We know the saying, “hindsight is 20/20”. In the global reset of the Year 2020, we have been given the opportunity to stop and reflect and re-calibrate back to clear 20/20 vision.

So what are you looking at? What distractions have gotten in the way of you enjoying your relationship with Father God? Are you confident you are walking in the purpose he has for you? What is one thing you can do today to gain more clarity about the direction your life is heading?

Songs:
Where You Belong/Turn Your Eyes on Jesus
Give Us Clean Hands

Comments are closed.
    Picture
    Picture

    Preachers Blog

    In 2023, each week's blog is a follow-up reflection written by the preceding Sunday’s preacher to dig deeper into the sermon topic and explore engaging discussion questions.

    ​Thank you for joining us as we journeyed through the Bible in a Year in 2021 and the Psalms in 2022.  All past blogs remain available if you wish to catch up with any days missed.

    Archives

    February 2023
    January 2023
    December 2022
    November 2022
    October 2022
    September 2022
    August 2022
    July 2022
    June 2022
    May 2022
    April 2022
    March 2022
    February 2022
    January 2022
    December 2021
    November 2021
    October 2021
    September 2021
    August 2021
    July 2021
    June 2021
    May 2021
    April 2021
    March 2021
    February 2021
    January 2021
    December 2020
    November 2020
    October 2020
    September 2020
    August 2020
    July 2020
    June 2020
    May 2020
    April 2020
    March 2020

    Categories

    All

    RSS Feed

    Who is Jesus?
At St Aidan's, it's our desire to know our Real God,
to grow as a Real Church and
​ to live Real Lives for Him.

Picture
St Aidan’s Anglican Church
274 Campbell Street | Winnipeg, MB R3N 1B5
Phone: 204.489.3390 Email: staidans.churchoffice@gmail.com
  • Home
  • Worship Online
  • The Preachers Blog
  • Bible in a Year
  • About Us
  • Contact Us
  • The Re-Gathering
  • Youth
  • Cords
  • Prayer Requests
  • Request Pastoral Care
  • Give
  • Grocery Pick Up
  • Statement of Faith
  • Video Archive
    • 2023 Videos
    • Real Lives
    • 2022 Videos
    • 2021 Videos
    • 2020 Videos
  • Sermon Audio Archive
    • 2020 Sermons
    • 2019 Sermons
    • 2019 Sermon Series >
      • Gospel Centered Eternities November 2019
      • The Real Joy of Easter - Holy Week 2019
    • 2018 Sermons
    • 2018 Sermon Series >
      • Gospel Centred Church Spring 2018
      • A Gospel Shaped Church Fall 2018
    • 2017 Sermon Series >
      • The Servant King Christmas 2016
      • The Saviour King Lent 2017
      • The Victorious King Holy Week 2017
      • The Living King Easter 2017
      • The Brother King Fall 2017
      • Worship the King Advent 2017
    • 2016 Sermon Series >
      • Real Obedience Lent 2016
      • Unity of the Church
      • The Servant King Christmas 2016
    • 2015 Sermon Series >
      • Real Gifts 2015
      • Real Mission 2015
      • Mission Discerned
    • 2014 Sermon Series >
      • Real Church 2014
      • Real Lives 2014
    • 2013 Sermon Series >
      • Real God 2013
    • Sermon Archive From 2014 - 2017
  • Christianity 101
  • The Psalms Blog
  • Bible in a Year
  • The Re-Gathering