Chasing Carrots

"I have seen all the things that are done under the sun; all of them are meaningless, a chasing after the wind." - Ecclesiastes - 1:14

The idea of chasing carrots comes from the carrot and stick metaphor first written about in the mid-1800s. Imagine a cartoon drawing of a donkey with a carrot dangling just out of reach. The rider holds the carrot on a long stick and uses it to motivate the donkey to race. For the donkey, the reward is always just one more step away.

Do you ever feel like the donkey?

Long before the 1800s, King Solomon lamented the futile pursuits in life as nothing more than “chasing after the wind.”

Have you ever tried to catch the wind? It’s always just one more step away.

The tricky thing about “just one more step” is that there’s always just one more step. Just a few more years in this job, or once you graduate, or as soon as you get married, or when the kids are older, or when your faith is stronger, or when you can afford the next thing that promises happiness. Just. One. More. Step.

There’s a better way to live. You can step off the performance treadmill. There is so much more to life than bigger and better.

Jesus addressed this frenzied quest for more in Matthew 6. As you read Jesus’ words today, try this. Take a deep breath and empty your mind of your concerns. Imagine you’re there as He’s teaching. What are you sitting on? How does the air smell? How does His voice sound? What else do you hear? What do you see? What is unraveling inside of you at the sound of his voice?

After you’re done reading today’s Scripture with the method above, here are two questions to consider. Wasn’t it nice to slow down and be around Jesus? How can I make more room for Jesus in my life?

Read: Matthew 6:19-34

19 “Do not store up for yourselves treasures on earth, where moths and vermin destroy, and where thieves break in and steal. 20 But store up for yourselves treasures in heaven, where moths and vermin do not destroy, and where thieves do not break in and steal. 21 For where your treasure is, there your heart will be also.

22 “The eye is the lamp of the body. If your eyes are healthy,[a] your whole body will be full of light. 23 But if your eyes are unhealthy,[b] your whole body will be full of darkness. If then the light within you is darkness, how great is that darkness!

24 “No one can serve two masters. Either you will hate the one and love the other, or you will be devoted to the one and despise the other. You cannot serve both God and money.

Do Not Worry

25 “Therefore I tell you, do not worry about your life, what you will eat or drink; or about your body, what you will wear. Is not life more than food, and the body more than clothes? 26 Look at the birds of the air; they do not sow or reap or store away in barns, and yet your heavenly Father feeds them. Are you not much more valuable than they? 27 Can any one of you by worrying add a single hour to your life[c]?

28 “And why do you worry about clothes? See how the flowers of the field grow. They do not labor or spin. 29 Yet I tell you that not even Solomon in all his splendor was dressed like one of these. 30 If that is how God clothes the grass of the field, which is here today and tomorrow is thrown into the fire, will he not much more clothe you—you of little faith? 31 So do not worry, saying, ‘What shall we eat?’ or ‘What shall we drink?’ or ‘What shall we wear?’ 32 For the pagans run after all these things, and your heavenly Father knows that you need them. 33 But seek first his kingdom and his righteousness, and all these things will be given to you as well. 34 Therefore do not worry about tomorrow, for tomorrow will worry about itself. Each day has enough trouble of its own.

Pray: After reading today’s Scriptures, pray and ask God to slow you down enough to hear from Him throughout your day.

Invitation: You are invited to join us Sundays at 10:30AM for this new message series "Chasing Carrots" at Crossroads of Grace - 423 SE County Road 21, Hawthorne, FL