Wednesday: The Mastery of the Material
WEEK 11
WEDNESDAY
THE MASTERY OF THE MATERIAL
Matthew 4:4; 6:24
We proceed now to another, very important mastery that began with the coming of the Holy Spirit—the mastery of the material.
To relate the spiritual life to the material life is one of the crucial problems of human living. Unless this adjustment is made, and made rightly, the spiritual life is one series of frustrations after another. There are three possible ways to relate oneself to the material. First, transfer the seat of one’s life and live in the material as if it were the be-all and end-all of human existence. Second, try to run away from the material, reduce one’s contacts with it to a minimum, and endeavor to live one’s life in the spiritual entirely. Third, accept the material as God-given; dedicate it to God; and use as much of it as will make us more physically, mentally, and spiritually fit for the purposes of the kingdom of God. This third way is the Christian Way. The other two ways are unworkable save as they work disaster.
Take the first. Jesus said a very illuminating thing, “A man’s life does not consist in the abundance of his possessions” (Luke 12:15 RSV). In all ages, our chief endeavor has been to disprove that, and there has been one result—and only one result—frustration and unhappiness. It works that way with as much precision as two plus two makes four. If the seat of one’s life is in the material, then the seat of one’s life is in unhappiness—invariably. We are inherently too big to be satisfied with a material existence.
The second alternative is almost as unworkable. You cannot run away from the material and try to act as though it weren’t here. It is here, very much so. You must come to terms with it—right terms—or there is disaster. “Tell me, Sir, how to get rid of my body, it is my enemy; it drags down my soul,” said an obviously unhappy sadhu, or holy man, of India. “Please don’t talk to me, for you distract me and bring me into contact with the world,” said one Indian ex-High Court judge, clothed in ashes and sitting in meditation.
O Lord, teach us how to relate ourselves to this world in which we live and move but in which we must not have our being. Teach us to live. Amen.
AFFIRMATION FOR THE DAY: My life shall not be directed by the material, nor shall I desert it; I shall dedicate it.