Materialism. Reliance on temporary things. Seeking the praise of humans. These are the values that Jesus warned us to guard against. Making God the most important thing - that's what Jesus advocated. I explore the Gospel scripture about these topics in this episode of The Top 11 Themes of Jesus - #8, Focus on the Spiritual, not the Material.
I'm joined in the back half of the podcast by author John Rabins, who learned valuable lessons the hard way about emphasizing the spiritual over the material. John lost his home, his possessions, a rental home, and historical buildings on his property during a 2013 forest fire in Colorado. John says the fire was the ultimate decluttering tool! Starting over from scratch, John learned seven lessons about the spiritual vs. the worldly, and he shared those in his book, "Defined by Fire: Seven Life-Changing Lessons from Devastating Tragedy." John speaks in the podcast about the tumult and result of the fire, what it was like to rebuild his life, and what God revealed to him in the midst of his confusion and despair.
In the first half of the episode, I'll share classic scripture from the Sermon on the Mount regarding this heart-and-mind battle between the spiritual and the material. Jesus also addresses this topic quite a bit when upbraiding the Pharisees in Jerusalem prior to his arrest and crucifixion; there are a couple of key passages included in the analysis, along with two famous parables.
Refocus yourself on the spiritual and on the ways of God by listening to this podcast. You can navigate to all outlets from CecilTaylorMinistries.com/free-content, or search Apple, Spotify, or Podbean for "Cecil Taylor Monthly Podcasts."