This series of devotions are focused around Soren Kierkegaard’s “Christian Discourses etc.� The biblical text to consider during these devotions is: Matthew 6:24-34.
A person supposes, in fact, that riches and abundance should keep (the person) free from anxieties – also from anxiety for riches I should like to know! For riches and abundance come hypocritically clad in sheep’s clothing, pretending to be security against anxieties, and they become then the object of anxiety, of “the anxiety�; they secure (a person) against anxieties just about as well as the wolf which is put to tending the sheep secures them…against the wolf.
Many things pretend to be security. I remember someone speaking about the notion of Mutually Assured Destruction (MAD) in regard to the nuclear arms race with the then Soviet Union. We spent (and spend) so much money on the weapons that promise to make us secure and less anxious that we make for a world that is completely insecure and very anxious. For example, one of the greatest threats today is that someone is going to rip off a nuclear device and use it in an act of terror. Another example is the simple fact that we have given so much money to what we say is security that we do not even consider securing the basic aid to people – shelter, food, clothing, medical care. Are we any less anxious today than we were yesterday? The Wall is down. The Soviet Union is dismantled. Saddam is captured. And yet, we seem to live within a more anxious society today than I can ever remember.
Connection: Remember, security that demands all our time and effort in order to support it…isn’t a very good source of security. That is why we are told to trust in God alone – no need to support or uphold this One that promises life abundant.
Lord God, you bring in the fullness of your Reign by inviting us to trust in you. In you there is the promise of peace and the assurance of enough. We give you thanks as you continue to abide with us and hold us securely within you loving embrace. Amen.
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