Getting My Share
and the worries of the world, and the deceitfulness of riches, and the desires for other things enter in and choke the word, and it becomes unfruitful Mark 4:19
Worries of the World – The theme song of this world is musical chairs. Musical chairs is a zero-sum game. Do you know what that means? A zero-sum game begins with the assumption that there is only so much to go around. Each person who takes some of the limited total reduces that amount left for the next person. Since there are more people than the total amount of goods available, the last one will always be left out. If you aren’t quick to get your chair, you lose.
The world wants you to believe that life is a zero-sum game. If that is true, then you must spend your life grabbing for your fair share. If you don’t, someone else will get it and you will be left out. You must live by the world’s mottos: “Get it while you can,” “Watch out for Number 1,” “The early bird gets the worm.”
When Jesus said, “the worries of the world”, He was talking about concern over my fair share. We see this immediately in the Greek. The words are merimnai tou aionos toutou (literally, “share of this age”). Jesus is not talking about terrorism, disease, natural disasters, job security, racial prejudice or a hundred other global concerns. He is taking about my preoccupation with what I think I deserve. My share. My rights. My wants. That’s what neutralizes the Word of God. The Word gets planted but it can’t grow because I believe that I have rights and needs to take care of myself.
Notice that Jesus says, “the share of this age”, not “the world”. Jesus is not directing our attention to world problems of the 1st Century or the 21st Century. He says that “my share” thinking is part of “this age.” The word He uses is not temporally specific. It means, “the indefinite time period characterized by a world seduced into zero-sum behavior”. It is the world in opposition to God’s provision and care. It is “my share” thinking in any time period in the world. It is the age of me playing god.
The word comes to me. I hear it. I take it in. But I start to worry about my piece of the pie. Who will take care of me? How will I be protected? How will I be fed? Will I be successful? The concern with my share takes over. I might not want a lot. I might be quite willing for others to also succeed. But beneath the skin is the fear that there won’t be quite enough. I need to do something about my needs now, while the time is ripe. Carpe diem and all that!
And I choke.
Are you gagging on zero-sum? How much of your behavior is motivated by your “right” to have what you want? How often are you living the life of getting your fair share?
