Pathways Press.com

MEDITATION:

Written by Os Hillman, a contemporary speaker, author, and consultant on faith at work.

Becoming a new person in Christ is part of a life-long journey that begins at conversion. Before coming to Christ, we were living (in a metaphorical sense) in Egypt, in the land of bondage. Just as the people of Israel toiled as slaves in Egypt, we were slaves to sin and worldly ambition. Before we came to Christ, we sweated and toiled to build our career and acquire material possessions. Work was our idol. Greed was our taskmaster. We may have had all the trappings of power in the business world – a corner office, a staff of our own, a key to the executive washroom – but we were living as a slave in the land of Egypt. We didn’t run our career; our career ran us. Jesus once said, “No servant can serve two masters. You cannot serve both God and money” (Luke 16:13). In the original language, the word translated “money” was an Aramaic word, Mammon. This does not refer merely to money as a medium of exchange but also to a demonic spirit designed to promote a mindset of ambition for riches, power and worldly gain. The word is capitalized in the original text because the people of Jesus’ day thought of Mammon as a false god. Jesus was saying that those who spend their lives seeking worldly gain are idolaters. No one can serve two masters. No one can worship both the true God and a false god.  We cannot experience the grace that God gives to His children because we are too busy striving for riches and enslaved to Mammon. The only way we can be free is to turn away from Mammon and allow the one true God to transform us into a different person. Ask yourself today if your life is best represented as Egypt or the Promised Land.

PRAYER:

Written by Janet Breitenstein, a contemporary author.

Lord, help us to both abide in You and engage in the world, so Your Gospel is lived out among us; so it becomes public truth. Holy Spirit, we beg you for revival in our hearts and in this place. Show us our hearts. Bring down the idols among us so You are sovereign over all here. In light of the souls at stake, grant us boldness to take risks and even to fail for the sake of Your kingdom. Breathe that Kingdom to life here. Amen.