31 Days of Unityናሙና

(Re)flect: How often do you buy something that you want and then discover that you don’t actually want it? What made you so certain you wanted it to begin with?

Do you ever spend time thinking about who or what influences your desires? As humans, we are creatures that learn to want by mirroring the desires of others. There are basic needs, such as food, water, shelter, and companionship, that we are programmed to seek out. What we desire, however, is deeply influenced by what we see in the lives of others. We mimic and mirror the world around us.

Understanding that helps us understand that media and advertising impact our desires. We are bombarded by images designed to make us desire products, services, and lifestyles, created by companies that profit from our consumption. Much of what we want we only want because someone else has convinced us to want it.

What we desire will determine how we live. Or, as Jesus says “For where your treasure is, there your heart will be also” (Matthew 6:21) Jesus calls us to set our eyes upon God’s kingdom so that it will become the source of our desires. Jesus is our example that we are called to mirror or imitate. When we imitate Jesus we reflect the heart of God to the world.

This is a transcendent desire, a desire that goes beyond the here and now and connects our life to the eternal. A desire like this puts us in conflict with the momentary and shallow desires offered by money and the world around us. We can’t serve the masters of this world and God. If our hearts are set on money and wealth we will always be distracted from the desires of the heart of God.

As we continue to reflect on our call to unity and why there is so much brokenness in the church, we must take heed of this simple but vital call of Jesus to be devoted to God over and against devotion to money and the promises of this world. Unity is a transcendent desire rooted in our faith in God's ultimate plan for the world and Jesus' work to reconcile all things. Unity is only possible when the kingdom shapes our desires.

Looking at the brokenness within the church, we need to ask ourselves some hard questions about our desires. How much of what is broken among and between us is broken because we are chasing the desires the world has given us rather than the heart of God?

After you read the passage, ask yourself these questions:

• What does it mean to store up treasures in heaven?
• What are some signs that would make it clear to you, and anyone looking at your life, that your source of desire has shifted from the world to God?
• Is it possible to serve the desires of money when you are poor or struggling? If so, how?
• How has chasing money sown division within the church?

Our Prayer for (Re)flection:

Lord, reveal how we have failed to be obedient to you and to love one another as the children of God. We long to be unified through your love and as the body of Christ. Renew our hearts and minds through your unending love, and give us the courage to surrender ourselves to your Spirit this day. Amen