Daily Jewel

by Pastor J.T. Carnell, McAlester, OK

“Much More Theology”

“My fruit is better than fine gold; what I yield surpasses choice silver.” – Proverbs 8:19
“Therefore I tell you, do not worry about your life, what you will eat or drink; or about your body, what you will wear. Is not life more than food, and the body more than clothes? Look at the birds of the air; they do not sow or reap or store away in barns, and yet your heavenly Father feeds them. Are you not much more valuable than they? Can any one of you by worrying add a single hour to your life?” – Matthew 6:25-27 If there are two things that I have learned from being not only a Pastor but also a Christian is that one: God is great and is worth giving your time and best efforts worshiping Him, serving Him and learning all you can about Him while you have the time on this earth! Solomon, over and over and over continues to use this analogy—that there is nothing on this earth, be it jewels, gold, silver, fame, sex, absolutely nothing that can compare with what we can have when we seek this relationship with Lord of lords and the King of kings. There is a chorus we sing that reminds of this: Lord, You are, more precious than silver. Lord, You are, more costly than gold. Lord, You are, more beautiful than diamonds, And nothing I desire compares with You! Notice the word, more that appears in three out of the four verses. Remember as children when learning math the symbol that represented, “greater than?” That 5 is > 4. Sounds pretty simple, right? So by using the same math, God is > gold. He is > silver. He is > diamonds. Nothing or no one is ≠ who He is. The second thing I have learned is according to God, nothing compares to His love for us. He considers us to be the “Apple of His eye,” and will go to any length to secure that love in us. If you question that then read the Gospel of John today. Read it over and over and over and hopefully to you reach that same conclusion. The text I listed in Matthew is another prime example of this fact—especially when He poses the question, “Are you not much more valuable than they?” The two words that stand out to me are pretty clear; much more! That even though they too, are His creation, you are “much more” valuable than birds. And flowers. And the seas, the mountains…we are > all those things in the eyes and heart of God! We tend to too easily degrade ourselves and treat this life with contempt—damaging our bodies in reckless behaviors, living with little or no regard for what God has created. And then when things get tough we obsess about what we don’t have instead of focusing on what we do have. It is then we hear these words: “Therefore I tell you, do not worry about your life, what you will eat or drink; or about your body, what you will wear… Look at the birds of the air; they do not sow or reap or store away in barns, and yet your heavenly Father feeds them. Are you not much more valuable than they?” No matter what you think is great…it is nothing compared to the wisdom and knowledge of not just knowing God but having Him in your life. And no matter what others say…you are worth more than what Hollywood, or Wall Street says you are. You do not have to have the perfect body, the most expensive car, the designer clothes to be loved by the One who is always >.

Pastor J. T. Carnell