Luke 12:22-24 English Standard Version (ESV)

²² And he said to his disciples, “Therefore I tell you, do not be anxious about your life, what you will eat, nor about your body, what you will put on. ²³ For life is more than food, and the body more than clothing. ²⁴ Consider the ravens: they neither sow nor reap, they have neither storehouse nor barn, and yet God feeds them. Of how much more value are you than the birds!

The KJV renders ravens as birds of the air. I prefer that wording which allows me to see a chickadee rather than a scavengers. Being from Maine I know that the chickadee does not migrate south for the winter. They can be seen all winter in Maine. Maine winters can be very harsh, so the image of the chickadee is pleasant to me.

Ravens are opportunists. I would not like to think of myself as an opportunist. How they survive harsh winters is not a pleasant image. Thinking that way makes me anxious. Since the issue of these verses is anxiety, what reassurances can we find in them?

God provides. How do we find God’s provisions? Since the previous devotional was about Kingdom living then the King provides by decree. He tells us what we deserve, where we can obtain it, and how to access it. It is all about hearing the decree of the King. Otherwise we go through life like scavengers.

The happiest people are the ones who can make a living doing what they love. The only question to be answered there is, which kingdom do they call their home? The world or God’s Kingdom are the only two choices.

Kingdom dwellers seek for God to be glorified. Worldly dwellers seek glory for themselves.

Who do you idolize?

John 3:5 English Standard Version (ESV) Jesus answered, “Truly, truly, I say to you, unless one is born of water and the Spirit, he cannot enter the kingdom of God.”

We live in the world and yet our citizenship is in the Kingdom of God because we are born in the Spirit by faith in the effectual works of the Cross of Christ. We struggle in the world trying to make a living, raise children, staying safe and being responsible citizens according to the laws of man,

What does Kingdom living look like? Is it a struggle like living in the world? Can we live in both worlds without neglecting one or the other?

Romans 12:2 English Standard Version (ESV) Do not be conformed to this world, but be transformed by the renewal of your mind, that by testing you may discern what is the will of God, what is good and acceptable and perfect.

Is it like this, that we can change our minds and that is sufficient for Kingdom living?

Philippians 3:21 English Standard Version (ESV) who will transform our lowly body to be like his glorious body, by the power that enables him even to subject all things to himself.

Or is it something that happens to us which is beyond our control?

The key seems to be subjection. Who rules over us? Christ or the world? How can it be both?

Matthew 22:19-21 English Standard Version (ESV)

¹⁹ Show me the coin for the tax.” And they brought him a denarius. ²⁰ And Jesus said to them, “Whose likeness and inscription is this?” ²¹ They said, “Caesar’s.” Then he said to them, “Therefore render to Caesar the things that are Caesar’s, and to God the things that are God’s.”

Paul tells us in Romans 8:29 that we are being conformed into the image of Christ. Caesar caused his imaged to be impressed on his money. God impresses the image of His Son on His children.

God wants us in the world expressing His Son so that the lost might know Him. That is rendering to God what is His.