Fasting Day 8 of 40 | Second Thursday of Lent
He then made ten bronze basins, each holding forty baths and measuring four cubits across, one basin to go on each of the ten stands. 1 Kings 7:38
Did you know 1 Kings 7:1 says it took 13 years for Solomon to build his palace? In Scripture, 13 implies drifting from God. And 40 appears with the number of baths he had. If we look at Solomon’s story, while God gave him wisdom and riches, the vanity led to a divided heart.
In The Imitation of Christ, Thomas à Kempis writes. “This is the greatest wisdom—to seek the kingdom of heaven through contempt of the world. It is vanity, therefore, to seek and trust in riches that perish. It is vanity also to court honor and to be puffed up with pride. It is vanity to follow the lusts of the body and to desire things for which severe punishment later must come. It is vanity to wish for long life and to care little about a well-spent life. It is vanity to be concerned with the present only and not to make provision for things to come. It is vanity to love what passes quickly and not to look ahead where eternal joy abides.”
Thomas à Kempis (1380-1471) in The Imitation of Christ) excerpt from Chapter 1, “Imitating Christ and Despising All Vanities on Earth (Grand Rapids, CCEL), p. 5.
To grow in giving this Lent, commune with God in prayer to ask what areas you might wrongly pursue vanity in your heart. Why do we drift toward vanity? It happens when we cherish the gifts of God over God.
God, save me from cherishing Your gifts over You. Amen.
Fasting, prayer, and giving are linked in Lent and in life. To seek God’s kingdom, how might God want you to have contempt of the world.
I am speaking at a pastor’s conference in Denver today on “Generosity in the Economy of God in 1 Timothy, Ephesians, and Your Church or Ministry.” I aim to equip them to abandon the economy of this world thinking which leads to a scarcity mindset, and instead to adopt economy of God thinking which gives us a sufficiency mindset.
I appreciate your prayers. Thanks.