Joel M Bradshaw

29And do not seek what you are to eat and what you are to drink, nor be worried. 30For all the nations of the world seek after these things, and your Father knows that you need them. 31Instead, seek his kingdom, and these things will be added to you.–Luke 12

I have the pleasure of visiting a nursing home every Sunday to visit my 90-year-old friends. I bring my guitar “Irene” with me and we sing classic hymns together. My friends and I read Scripture together and find hope together. Afterwards we sit around tables in the dining room and have coffee together while we catch up about life and then pray. I look forward to my visit every week.

At the nursing home, we often apply the Bible from the inside out. For much of their outside situations have changed from when they were younger. But for many of them, their thoughts are still vibrant and active. It feels just like last week when they were in their 40s like me, after all!

So my application often targets their thoughts, feelings, and attitudes. For some of them, we also look at words and actions, but we always begin with the inside. True biblical change happens from the inside-out anyway. Let’s ask some questions about today’s verses. I used ‘I’ and ‘my’ so you could ask these about yourself.

1. Are the things I seek after most focused more on me and my present situation or on God and eternity? How might God view the things I seek after most?
2. Is my inside life more about anxiety over the things I don’t have and might lose OR about trusting the Father to provide? How might God view how I trust Him?
3. What about my thoughts and feelings and attitudes need to stop and what therefore needs to start in order to make these verses a reality?–JMB