“Provide neither gold nor silver nor copper in your money belts,
nor bag for your journey, nor two tunics,
nor staffs; for a worker is worthy of his food.”
Matthew 10:9-10 NKJV
“Acquire no gold or silver or copper for your belts,
no bag for your journey, or two tunics or sandals
or a staff, for the laborer deserves his food.”
Matthew 10:9-10 ESV
“Provide neither gold nor silver nor copper in your money belts.”
I have neither gold, nor silver, nor copper. I have no back up plan. I have no man-made provision. I have no worldly worth nor position. It’s only You Jesus. You are my Provider. You are enough. I have no back up plan for your provision. I carry no worldly currency, the only currency I carry is hunger for God.
Gold, I have no riches in the eyes of the world. My currency, hunger, is not guaranteed by the standards of the world. The currency of the world does not apply to me because I live by another system.
Silver, I have no standing in the eyes of the world. I have no recognition. I have no means of bribery or appeasement in this world.
Copper, I have no trade in the world. I have no worldly conductant.
“No bag for your journey.”
No means of storing up for yourself the things of this world. No means to store up worldly possessions. No way to carry the things or cares or riches of this world. I carry no baggage.
“Nor two tunics.”
I have only one tunic. I have but one identity. I wear the clothes of righteousness that Your Son purchased for me on the cross. I wear only the tunic that my Father placed around my shoulders. I have no other identity apart from the wedding garments of my Bridegroom, Jesus Christ. I have no other association, I have no other means or appearance of righteousness.
“Or sandals.”
No sandals. Exodus, 3:5b, “Take your sandals off your feet, for the place on which you are standing is holy ground.” Nothing that hinders my closeness to God. Nothing that hinders my expression of holiness. The things that aren’t necessarily bad, even the good things of this world, but that affect my closeness His holiness. I take them off. I cast them far from my dwelling. I freely forsake the good things of this world, to better experience Your presence. To better experience Your goodness and Your holiness. I throw off anything that hinders. Anything that keeps me from being just a little closer to You. I do anything to get just a little closer God. I let no personal comfort come in between my being, and Your presence.
“Nor a staff.”
No thing of the world to lean on. No thing of the world to support me when I am weak. No worldly comforts. I desire it so that I must always draw my strength from You, O Lord. I recognize where my strength comes from. I carry no thing that keeps my hands closed to You. Nothing that allows my fists to remain closed. I want to be open handed before You and ready to receive. I do not carry a means to sound out Your way ahead of me. Nothing of this world to check out the path that You have set before my feet. Nothing that lessens my reliance in faith on You. No wisdom of the world to determine if Your path is good. If Your ways are right. I want to come up from the desert leaning on You, not on a support system that comes from the world. Song of Songs 8:5a, “Who is this who comes up from the desert leaning on her Beloved?” I want You to be my steadying source of strength.
