17 And the book of the prophet Isaiah was given to him; and having opened the book, he found the place where it was written: 18 The Spirit of the Lord is upon me, because he has anointed me to preach good news to the poor; He has sent me to heal the brokenhearted; To proclaim liberty to the captives, and to see the blind; To release the oppressed; 19 To preach the acceptable year of the Lord. 20 And he rolled up the book, gave it to the minister, and sat down; and the eyes of everyone in the synagogue were fixed on him. 21 And he began to say to them, Today this Scripture has been fulfilled before you. 22 And they all bore witness to him, and were amazed at the words of grace that came out of his mouth, and said, "Is not this the son of Joseph?" Luke 4: 17-22
Jesus comes from being baptized by John the Baptist, having passed through the desert and overcoming every temptation and the enemy; He is beginning his ministry, and this is his first message. He could talk about anything, but he chose this verse, in which he talks about the different areas that a person should leave. Economic freedom is a topic that, for many, should not be discussed in the church, because they do not have the correct perspective; It is God's desire to free man from everything that oppresses him. And Jesus, in his first message, chooses to talk about how he comes to give good news to the poor. What is the good that is said to a poor person? What will remain in need and someday go to heaven? No. What is said is: You do not have to live more in poverty, you can get out of that condition. But one thing is to pursue something, another thing, to get out of something. It is not about pursuing riches; When you pursue money, you become a slave to what you pursue and search with anxiety and despair. The message of Jesus was one of prosperity, but it was one of getting out of certain conditions.
The Lord what he is preaching is the way out of all these conditions, problems, difficulties. It is not merely pursuing something; It is to leave the current condition in which you find yourself. If your focus is to pursue riches, money, abundance, you can become an ambitious, despotic, corrupt person. One thing is the pursuit of riches, another, the exit from a condition for which you have not been created.
You were not created for poverty, to be a slave or for disease. God wants to get you out of that. Jesus came to bring freedom from your oppression, from poverty, to get you out of that condition. And what brings glory to God is that you can get out of the slavery in which the world has wanted to put you. When you put yourself in the right position and pursue the right things, your life changes, your thoughts change, your emotional state changes, your focus changes, and you begin to see the miracles of God take place on your behalf.
God wants your life to change. Pursue the right thing.
What should you, then, pursue? For the Lord to be able to take the people of Israel to the promised land, first he had to free them from Egypt; So, first there had to be an exit to be able to free them. The problem of the town was that, when God takes them out of that circumstantial condition, they stop looking for what they really should look for in order to enjoy the promised land. Curiously, even when the people deviate from persecuting God, from seeking God and their plan, the promise of the promised land remained; And it is that God is not going to return his children never to slavery, to poverty; After God takes you out, you may stay in the desert, but He does not return you to the state of slavery. God takes them out of Egypt, wants to take them to the promised land, promises them abundance, freedom, but He does not want them to persecute the promised land; He wants them to persecute Him, to seek Him, to focus on Him, so they can enjoy the promised land. And, when you look at the message of prosperity, sometimes, the focus is the wrong one. People may think that they have to chase after the money, but if you do, you will be as tied as when you did not have it because, you may leave Egypt, but when you chase the money, you forget what is really valuable and, therefore, you re-tie and paralyze your life forever.
Today is the day to understand that God wants to take you out of your circumstances, that slavery, but your approach has to be the right one. You have to be directed towards what has real value, for you to achieve all that God has for your life.
In Matthew 6, Jesus makes a dissertation about anxiety, tells us how this causes us anxiety, how not having something to eat causes anxiety in us. And he adds: But seek first the kingdom of God and his righteousness, and all these things will be added to you. The wrong approach to a message of prosperity is to teach you to chase money; The correct approach is the freedom of a condition for which God has not called you to live. In other words, the goal is not to pursue riches, but to get out of any condition in which you should not live, be it disease, poverty, or whatever it is called. God wants to get you out of that place, but your focus should be to pursue the right thing so that the moment you leave, you can enter the promised land. And, what is the right thing? To seek the kingdom of God and its justice, to seek Him, to seek how He does things, how his kingdom works, to persecute Him.
God did not want to see his people oppressed any longer; He said: It came to the limit, I have to get them out of here and keep my promise. And, when it does, the first thing that happens is that they make a golden calf; They focus and look for the wrong things, and they are locked in the desert and never enter the promised land.
Focus on the right thing. Chase God, seek his kingdom. Do not pursue money, riches anymore; Let them chase you, while you persecute God. You were not created to live in poverty, in difficulty, and God has his powerful hand ready to help you, to bless you, to free you and to bring transformation and blessing upon your life.
