We are living in unprecedented times due to the COVID-19 pandemic that are causing a lot of anxiety and fear. It is precisely in times like these when we can look to the story of Jesus in order to find hope, so that we can face this season with hope and love.

The same reason why we hurt and offend one another and need to forgive and to be forgiven is the reason why we need forgiveness from God: sin. However, God has provided a way for us to be forgiven of our sins through the sacrifice of Jesus. And the same dynamic that makes it so that God can forgive us in Christ, allows us to forgive others, but in order to do that we need to fully understand how God forgives us in Christ.

When we don't forgive the offenses that others commit against us, the anger against those offenses eventually turns into bitterness that slowly poisons us from the inside. However, Jesus invites us to give up that bitterness and embrace the way of forgiveness by looking at the example He presents us of his sacrifice on the cross. This is the first sermon of our Lent series for this year focusing on the topic of forgiveness.

When we believe that we live in a world of abundance, and we engage in the spiritual practices of gratitude and simplicity, generosity will just come naturally. A life of simplicity will give us the margin to give, and a worldview of abundance and gratitude will empower us to give back to God through our tithes and offerings, and to give to others, believing that there is indeed enough to go around for everybody, which will allow us to take care of the poor and of our brothers and sisters in need.

The result of a grateful heart is contentedness. It is the realization that all that we actually need is satisfied in God. What this allows for is the capacity to live a life of simplicity, where we are not attached to earthly possessions as sources of meaning and fulfillment.  This does not mean living a life of asceticism, but it does mean that our decision making when it comes to money is not driven by greed, materialism, or consumerism. This is how we are able to live within our means and not spend money we don’t have. It is also what allows us to choose generosity over accumulating riches.

One of the conditions of living in a fallen world that is beset by sin is that, even though we live in a world of abundance, the way so much of the world functions, including our economic system, assumes scarcity. This makes it really hard, even for Christians, to live lives of generosity. One of the keys to change our mindset of scarcity into a mindset of abundance is to practice gratitude. When we shift from complaining about what we don’t have or coveting what others have, to thanking God for what He has given us, our perspective about the world starts to change, and it becomes easier to believe that we indeed live in a world of abundance and that we can be generous.

One of the most fundamental assumptions in economics is that we live in a world of scarcity, where the needs and desires of people are higher than the available resources. However, in the Scriptures we are presented with a world that is characterized by abundance. A world where God wants to provide for everybody's needs.

When Jesus says "seek first the Kingdom of God" is not an invitation just to put God at the top of a list of competing priorities, or to assign God a section of the pie of our compartmentalized lives, but it is an invitation to put God at the center of our lives. We are called to seek the Kingdom of God first in every aspect of our lives, from our family, to our career, to our bodies.

When Jesus tells us to seek first the Kingdom of God over things like clothes and food, he does not do it because he does not want us to be fed or clothed. But because he knows that we chase after these things in the search of security, meaning and fulfillment, but we'll only ever find that in God, and a life spent chasing after anything else is just a life spent chasing smoke.

As we start the new year we often set goals and plans for what we want to accomplish, whether that be financial, relational, or career-oriented. But for Jesus, the things that we chase after are indicators of what is in our heart, and his invitation is for us to seek first God and His Kingdom, to center our lives around God and then let Him take care of our needs. This is the first sermon of a new series called Seek First.