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Matthew 6:24-34 : Seek Ye First the Kingdom of God

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24 No man can serve two masters: for either he will hate the one, and love the other; or else he will hold to the one, and despise the other. Ye cannot serve God and mammon.

25 Therefore I say unto you, Take no thought for your life, what ye shall eat, or what ye shall drink; nor yet for your body, what ye shall put on. Is not the life more than meat, and the body than raiment?

26 Behold the fowls of the air: for they sow not, neither do they reap, nor gather into barns; yet your heavenly Father feedeth them. Are ye not much better than they?

27 Which of you by taking thought can add one cubit unto his stature?

28 And why take ye thought for raiment? Consider the lilies of the field, how they grow; they toil not, neither do they spin:

29 And yet I say unto you, That even Solomon in all his glory was not arrayed like one of these.

30 Wherefore, if God so clothe the grass of the field, which to day is, and to morrow is cast into the oven, shall he not much more clothe you, O ye of little faith?

31 Therefore take no thought, saying, What shall we eat? or, What shall we drink? or, Wherewithal shall we be clothed?

32 (For after all these things do the Gentiles seek:) for your heavenly Father knoweth that ye have need of all these things.

33 But seek ye first the kingdom of God, and his righteousness; and all these things shall be added unto you.

34 Take therefore no thought for the morrow: for the morrow shall take thought for the things of itself. Sufficient unto the day is the evil thereof.

From Swedenborg's Works

 

Arcana Coelestia #1749

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1749. That 'nor anything that is yours will I take' means that nothing of that nature exists with celestial love becomes clear from the fact that Abram said he was unwilling to take anything from the king of Sodom. 'Abram' represented the Lord, who was now the victor, and so represented the things that belonged to celestial love, which He acquired to Himself by means of victories. 'The king of Sodom' represented evil and falsity, nothing of which existed with the Lord the victor, that is, with celestial love.

[2] What these words are used to mean in the internal sense cannot become clear unless the situation in the next life is known. Among evil and hellish spirits self-love and love of the world reign; consequently they imagine that they are the gods of the universe and can accomplish much. When they have been overcome, even though they realize that they can achieve nothing at all, the notion of their own power and dominion still remains with them, and they imagine that they themselves are able to contribute much to the Lord's power and dominion. Consequently in order that they may reign together with good spirits they offer them their services. But because it is nothing but evil and falsity by means of which they imagine they can achieve anything, while with the Lord, or celestial love, nothing but good and truth reside, the reply made here to the king of Sodom, who represents such people, means that nothing of that nature existed with the Lord, that is, none of the Lord's power came from evil and falsity.

[3] Dominion from evil and falsity is the complete reverse of dominion from good and truth. Dominion from evil and falsity consists in the desire to make slaves of everybody else, but dominion from good and truth consists in the desire to make them free men. Dominion from evil and falsity consists in destroying all people, but dominion from good and truth in saving them. From these considerations it is clear that dominion from evil and falsity is the devil's, while dominion from good and truth is the Lord's. That these types of dominion are complete opposites becomes clear from the Lord's words in Matthew 12:24-30, and from His saying that nobody can serve two masters, Matthew 6:24; Luke 16:13.

  
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Thanks to the Swedenborg Society for the permission to use this translation.