Reason to Follow

 DEVOTION

THE GOSPEL ACCORDING TO MATTHEW

REASON TO FOLLOW

Matt 8:18-20

 18 When Jesus saw the crowd around him, he gave orders to cross to the other side of the lake. 19 Then a teacher of the law came to him and said, "Teacher, I will follow you wherever you go." 20 Jesus replied, "Foxes have holes and birds of the air have nests, but the Son of Man has no place to lay his head." 

NIV

What a strange response Jesus gave to this teacher of the law. It is interesting that it was customary for every teacher to have a few disciples follow them everywhere they went. It is supposed that this gave the teacher of the law, in this case, worthy men with whom he might have an intelligent conversation regarding the law. Certainly, Jesus has hand-picked his disciples, however, it appears Jesus did not pick men the would be considered by the standards of that day to be worthy, or intelligent men with which the teacher, Jesus, could have an intelligent conversation. Instead, Jesus spoke the truth into them. Spoke of the inner man, the spiritual man, and about eternal matters. We are not told why this teacher of the law desired to follow Jesus wherever he went, however, it is supposed, by Jesus’s response, this teacher of the law was looking for some way to advance his position in this world. To follow someone who was able to garner such a large group of listeners whenever he taught, would give him both a degree of prestige and a way to learn how to get bigger crowds for his teaching. Jesus was telling him that he can gain nothing in this world by following Him everywhere, for Jesus has no home here, He is but a sojourner, who is even poorer than foxes and birds, or any creature who has a den, or nest. Although, we know Jesus is not poor, for He is the Lord Almighty who created all that was ever created. He owns the cattle on a thousand hills, yet during his time when He came in the limited constraints of the human form, he showed no signs of wealth but rather remanded himself to the support of others, His creation. It would be wise for us to understand our reason for wanting to follow Jesus. Of course, it is not for material or social gain, as some of those false teachers of today proclaim is the result of following Jesus. We follow Jesus because He gives us eternal life. It might seem selfish to say this is the main reason we follow Jesus, but what other reason could there be? If we were to say because he heals us, that too is selfish. If we say it is because He provides for our daily bread, that too is selfish. If we say that it is because He guides our lives, that too is selfish. The whole idea is that Jesus is the reason we follow Him because He is Jesus, and He is the only way to eternal life. It does not matter our position or how much wealth we have in this world, but it does matter in the world to come. Although it is true that He does heal us, He does provide for us, He does guide us, those are because He desires to do so because He loves us. That is our motivation for following and serving Him, it is because we love Him. We want to lift up Jesus.

Healing All

 DEVOTION

THE GOSPEL ACCORDING TO MATTHEW

HEALING ALL

Matt 8:16-17

16 When evening came, many who were demon-possessed were brought to him, and he drove out the spirits with a word and healed all the sick. 17 This was to fulfill what was spoken through the prophet Isaiah: "He took up our infirmities and carried our diseases."  

NIV

It would seem that Jesus is still at Peter’s house, and dinner is over that was served by Peter’s mother-in-law after Jesus healed her from a fever. Again, where can Jesus go that He does not draw a crowd? Certainly, they did not enter the house, but stood outside and hearing them, Jesus went outside and began healing everyone who was sick and He drove out every demon just by a word. If there was no one else there who knew the absolute divine authority of Jesus, it was the evil spirits, here called demons. These demons were those angels that were cast out of heaven because they followed Lucifer in the revolt against God. They were and still are engaging in an all-out assault on God’s creation, specifically mankind. Because man’s soul has lost contact with God, or we could say, man’s spirit is dead, or empty, the evil spirits have full reign to possess that inner man and thus can influence the outer man to cause harm to himself. When we accept Jesus into our heart and are baptized with the Spirit, He enters our inner man, and there is no place for any demon to get to, for the Spirit protects us. However, these people had not yet met Jesus and upon being in His presence, upon His word, the evil spirits had to leave, departing forever. Jesus also healed all, not just a few, not just those worthy of healing, not those that had done enough good deeds, or were without sin, but he healed them all, every last one who was sick. Although we do not have anything to worry about regarding being influenced by demons, as in being possessed, we do have the situation of getting sick from time to time or having some infirmity. What do we do about that? We know there are times, at least we have one instance in the bible, where God told Paul that His grace was sufficient and that God wanted Paul to serve him amid whatever was that thorn in the flesh. But that was only once, and Jesus gives us literarily hundreds upon hundreds of people he healed, in fact, he healed all who came to him. It seems we want to quote one instance and forget about hundreds of others. Maybe it is the doubt that causes us to not come to Jesus. Maybe we enjoy our infirmities as it seems we have sort of fun, sharing the list of our ailments we each other, and sometimes we have encountered those who it seems what to outdo ours with either a greater ailment or a larger number of them. It seems like ailments are a badge of honor among Christians. We know that sounds cynical, almost judgment, but it is not, it is simply how it seems. Why would we not want to list all the times Jesus has healed us? That would be far better, than listing our ailments, unless we include that Jesus healed each one. Jesus still heals and we need healing. 

Showing Up and Healing

 DEVOTION

THE GOSPEL ACCORDING TO MATTHEW

SHOWING UP AND HEALING

Matt 8:14-15

14 When Jesus came into Peter's house, he saw Peter's mother-in-law lying in bed with a fever. 15 He touched her hand and the fever left her, and she got up and began to wait on him.

NIV

We are not told how much time after Jesus was at the pool of Bethesda and then at the temple, that he and his disciples arrived at Peter’s house. Having been there we are to understand that this was the house of Peter’s mother-in-law and Peter, and his wife was staying there, perhaps to care for an aging mother. Nevertheless, we are also not told that anyone asked Jesus to interrupt this woman’s life and heal her. From the narrative, it appears the group arrived at this house, and Jesus saw that woman was sick and just went into her room and healed her. This certainly appears to be a move of compassion on the part of Jesus. Here, Jesus just touched her. Again, we are not told he said anything to her, but only touched her and the fever left, and she got up and began to make dinner for this group of men that showed up in her home. We are sure that is not why Jesus healed her so that she could serve him dinner. Nevertheless, that is what she did, perhaps out of gratitude, or just because that was being the hospitable thing to do. There are at least two truths we can glean here. First, Jesus just shows up and it is his nature to heal, even when he isn’t asked. Certainly, this was an interruption in this woman’s life, although a pleasant one, having a fever and being in bed. Second, her fever is gone, she feels so much better like she had never been sick, restored to her healthy state, and able to do that which she loved doing, one of which must have been serving people in her home. No doubt, Jesus does cause some interruption in a person’s life, when he shows up, things change. We also know that it isn’t always when we ask him, however, He has told us to ask. But, here we are not aware of anyone asking him to heal this mother-in-law. We also know that we should not have to ask Jesus to show up in our lives, as we have already done that many years ago when we ask for the forgiveness of our sin, repented, changed the way we think, and asked him to be our Lord and Savior. He has never left our side, or rather our inside, in fact, in one respect. We know that the physical Jesus has ascended back to heaven to sit at the right hand of the Father, but we also know that Jesus is omnipresent, and therefore the Spirit dwells within us, and because they are three-in-one, we must conclude that Jesus is right here with us. We do not need to pray that he would touch us, because he just shows up and heals. Certainly, this does not preclude us from asking, but in one sense his nature is to heal, so we need only believe. We are not told this woman objected to her healing, telling Jesus, No thank you, I would prefer to be sick. So then why would we want to be sick? Jesus is right there, showing up and healing. 

It Will Be Done

 DEVOTION

THE GOSPEL ACCORDING TO MATTHEW

IT WILL BE DONE

 

Matt 8:5-13

5 When Jesus had entered Capernaum, a centurion came to him, asking for help. 6 "Lord," he said, "my servant lies at home paralyzed and in terrible suffering." 7 Jesus said to him, "I will go and heal him."  8 The centurion replied, "Lord, I do not deserve to have you come under my roof. But just say the word, and my servant will be healed. 9 For I myself am a man under authority, with soldiers under me. I tell this one, 'Go,' and he goes; and that one, 'Come,' and he comes. I say to my servant, 'Do this,' and he does it." 10 When Jesus heard this, he was astonished and said to those following him, "I tell you the truth, I have not found anyone in Israel with such great faith. 11 I say to you that many will come from the east and the west, and will take their places at the feast with Abraham, Isaac and Jacob in the kingdom of heaven. 12 But the subjects of the kingdom will be thrown outside, into the darkness, where there will be weeping and gnashing of teeth."  13 Then Jesus said to the centurion, "Go! It will be done just as you believed it would." And his servant was healed at that very hour.

NIV

Jesus is talking about gentiles coming from the East and the West and we will believe in Jesus just as this centurion, a Roman soldier, a gentile who understands the authority that Jesus holds over creation. Jesus also mentions the Jews as those who are the subjects of the kingdom and because of their refusal to believe, they will not be saved but thrown out into the darkness. However, this is not just about believing in Jesus, for this is about believing Jesus has the power to heal, just by saying so. So often we hear people say or pray that Jesus will lay his hands on someone, or touch someone, or even pray that the Spirit will. We might pray that Jesus would touch our back, or shoulder, to heal the pain. The reality is Jesus does not need to touch us, but merely say the words, just as he said to that centurion, “Go! It will be done just as you believed it would.” That is the key, right there, just as you believed it would. That is not to say that Jesus isn’t the key to everything, but if we expect, and maybe that is what believing is all about, expecting Jesus to heal us because he can and we have to believe that if we come and ask, he is going to say, “I will heal you”. We have to believe Jesus is always willing to heal us, but we must believe, we must expect Him to heal us. We pray, but maybe we do not pray with that kind of expectation that centurion had. When we read this narrative, we know everything was done, the servant was healed the very hour Jesus said he was, not partial, but the servant was healed completely, restored. This was not a process of getting better each day and eventually overcoming his illness. This was an instant healing, one moment he was sick, the next moment he was well. We think, maybe we tell Jesus how He should heal us, such as through the hands of a doctor, a surgeon, or through a bunch of medications. That is not to say Jesus couldn’t or perhaps wouldn’t use someone to heal us, through some method of medicine, but maybe we should not look first to the medical profession as the hand of Jesus at work. Maybe we should simply look to Jesus first, and then, and only then, when we hear the voice of God, tell us something different, such as go see a doctor, I will use him this time. Sometimes we just must ponder. Why shouldn’t we expect Jesus to heal us, right now, just because he says so? When we pray the Lord’s prayer, we pray that His will be done on earth as it is in heaven. We know from reading, and experience that the will of the Father includes healing. Jesus said, “It will be done”.

I Am Willing

 DEVOTION

THE GOSPEL ACCORDING TO MATTHEW

I AM WILLING

Matt 8:1-4

8:1 When he came down from the mountainside, large crowds followed him. 2 A man with leprosy came and knelt before him and said, "Lord, if you are willing, you can make me clean." 3 Jesus reached out his hand and touched the man. "I am willing," he said. "Be clean!" Immediately he was cured of his leprosy. 4 Then Jesus said to him, "See that you don't tell anyone. But go, show yourself to the priest and offer the gift Moses commanded, as a testimony to them." 

NIV

Why wouldn’t a crowd follow him, considering what good doctrine he taught with all authority? However, the big story here is this leper and what happened when he came to Jesus. We notice that he knelt, he humbled himself, he recognized something about Jesus, something special about him, that he knew he must kneel before him. This could symbolize the diseased state of someone with a sinful soul, or in the state of sin, in need of the redemptive act of Jesus to be healed, to be made whole, saved from his corruptive sinful state. However, let us just look at this on the surface, of a leper, a man with a horrible skin disease, who is considered unclean, and must quarantine himself from the rest of the town, including all his family. We do notice that this leper does not have any question whatsoever about the fact that Jesus can make him clean. He does not ask Jesus if He is able, but if He is willing. This leper makes is clear that if Jesus is willing Jesus can make him clean. Jesus says those wonderful words, that should ring out to anyone who comes to Him humbling themselves, “I am willing, be clean!” and in this case, immediately he was clean. If, we took this on that deeper level, seeing the leper as representing a person’s sinful state, and when that person knees humbly before Jesus, then that person is immediately saved. But what about on the surface, with so many of us believers who have some form of disease, such as this Covid, where we must quarantine ourselves from the rest of the community? Should we not be able to kneel before our Lord and tell him that if he is willing, He could make us whole? He could cure any disease, any infirmity, or illness, if only he were willing. Wait, He said He was willing, at least to this leper, so was that the once and a lifetime that Jesus was willing to heal? No, we have listed for us many times He healed, and sometimes we are just told that He healed them all, all who came to Him. We say that we believe in healing, it is part of most evangelical and holiness churches, statements of faith, or the, what we believe statements. So how come so many of us believers are not healed? It is a real dilemma to ponder on. We wonder if we are really coming to Jesus with the faith this leper had. Maybe we put more faith in the medical profession than we do in Jesus. Just a thought, not a judgment, for not one of us can know another man’s heart, for all we can see is the outside, the appearances we project on the surface, God is the only one who looks at a man’s and knows that man’s heart. Maybe we do come to Jesus, but we hang on to just enough doubt that, first, He is willing, and second, that He will make us whole. Maybe we might just think that we have too much unworthiness to ask Him, that we feel we do not deserve His healing. We just are not sure of any of it. But what we know is that Jesus is able to heal us, He is willing to heal us, so it has to be something on our end that makes the difference. We simply cannot believe Jesus is not able, or that He would tell us, No I am not willing, stay sick, stay unclean. It seems we want to quote what He told Paul, that His grace is sufficient, so stay with that infirmity, to excuse us not being healed. Don’t know, again, we cannot know why any one of us is not healed, but we can only know our own hearts. Let those words of Jesus soak in, “I am willing, be clean!”

Authority

 DEVOTION

THE GOSPEL ACCORDING TO MATTHEW

AUTHORITY

Matt 7:28-29

28 When Jesus had finished saying these things, the crowds were amazed at his teaching, 29 because he taught as one who had authority, and not as their teachers of the law.

NIV

Men can teach only that what they have learned, Jesus teaches that which simply is. He is the “I AM” and therefore he is the authority over all things for nothing was made that He did not make it. Men have only a smidgen of authority and even that is only because God has bestowed it upon those he determined. Jesus has been given all authority in heaven and on earth therefore that is the reason the people were amazed. This should also give us reason to be amazed. We should not live our lives being dull or bored, or simply without any amazement, for we not only know Jesus, but we have the Spirit, the living God dwelling within us. This should give us every reason to live in total amazement. At the same time, we should understand enough to live in complete humility because we have no knowledge, nor wisdom, no authority regarding the truth unless we have been given it by God. Those teachers of the law were among the most learned men, the highest educated men in their time, spending years studying the law, committing it to memory, making it as understandable as possible, and yet they could not explain it to anyone with any authority, or at least authority when compared to the authority of Jesus. Who of us can compare any of our knowledge, our understanding, our education, our wisdom with that of Jesus? We are so small and unimportant in the grand scheme of things, except in the eyes of our Lord. He places a great amount of value on us, for we are His creation whom He created for His pleasure. Our only value is to God and so we should not get so puffed up with all our knowledge, thinking more highly of ourselves than we should. We may be more like those teachers of the law than we want to admit, putting in all those years of study only to find that it gives us no authority only than what Jesus gives us and He bestows it freely. The Lord makes that point very clearly through James.

James 3:13-18

13 Who is wise and understanding among you? Let him show it by his good life, by deeds done in the humility that comes from wisdom. 14 But if you harbor bitter envy and selfish ambition in your hearts, do not boast about it or deny the truth. 15 Such "wisdom" does not come down from heaven but is earthly, unspiritual, of the devil. 16 For where you have envy and selfish ambition, there you find disorder and every evil practice.

 

17 But the wisdom that comes from heaven is first of all pure; then peace-loving, considerate, submissive, full of mercy and good fruit, impartial and sincere. 18 Peacemakers who sow in peace raise a harvest of righteousness.

NIV

So let us simply submit to the authority of Jesus. 

Rock or Sand

 DEVOTION

THE GOSPEL ACCORDING TO MATTHEW

ROCK OR SAND

Matt 7:24-27

24 "Therefore everyone who hears these words of mine and puts them into practice is like a wise man who built his house on the rock. 25 The rain came down, the streams rose, and the winds blew and beat against that house; yet it did not fall, because it had its foundation on the rock. 26 But everyone who hears these words of mine and does not put them into practice is like a foolish man who built his house on sand. 27 The rain came down, the streams rose, and the winds blew and beat against that house, and it fell with a great crash." 

NIV

This, therefore, includes everything He said, which includes starting with the beatitudes, being the salt and the light of the world, righteousness, being a gift to the altar, forgiveness, settling matters, even looking with lust, oaths, loving everyone, don’t do acts of righteousness before men, don’t pray like the hypocrite, the Lord’s example of how to pray, forgiven men, so God forgives us, fasting without showing it, not storing up wealth for self, what we look at, not serving two masters, not worrying about our life, if we judge, God will judge us, the plank and the speck, dogs and pigs, asking and receiving good things, and finishing with the narrow gate and road vs the wide road and the false teachers. All of that we are to put into practice if we are a wise person who builds our life on Jesus who is the Rock of our salvation. It sure looks like we should spend a great deal of time studying in more detail all of Matthew five, six, and seven, which we refer to as the sermon on the mount. That fact is we have to ask ourselves if we are indeed putting all of what Jesus said into practice. This means, not just some or part of it, that we feel comfortable with, or is already instinctively a part of our lives. If we are building our lives on Jesus, then we have to take every one of his words and put them into practice. The whole of the sermon on the mount plus all the rest of what Jesus said. That is a very tall order, and we cannot be sure that we are able to do it all perfectly for we are frail and weak and human. The danger is also that we could turn his words into sort of a law, again trying to live by a set of rules that we think is what Jesus meant. The fact is we do want to do all that Jesus said we should, or rather be the person that he desires us to be. This has to be a process that we go through during the course of our lives, being in this constant state of being transformed into the likeness of Jesus, through the power of His Spirit. Perfection, doing everything perfectly will elude us until we reach heaven, but that does not mean we abandon the effort, or the process because we are making every effort to live in a manner that pleases God, and that is believing in the one the He sent, Jesus. But that still means that we are to make changes in our lives, to try our best, with the help of the Spirit, to pattern our lives in accordance with what Jesus said, building our lives on Him. When we do that, whenever situations come into our lives, adversities, calamities, or those storms, we will stand firm, we will not be moved, for we are firmly standing on the Rock, we have and are continuing to build our lives on Jesus. All others, who try to build their lives without Jesus, are building on the sand, the sinking sand. Their lives will crash and be washed away, but we are on solid ground, and our lives are safe and secure from all alarm. 

Evildoers

 DEVOTION

THE GOSPEL ACCORDING TO MATTHEW

EVILDOERS

Matt 7:21-23

21 "Not everyone who says to me, 'Lord, Lord,' will enter the kingdom of heaven, but only he who does the will of my Father who is in heaven. 22 Many will say to me on that day, 'Lord, Lord, did we not prophesy in your name, and in your name drive out demons and perform many miracles?' 23 Then I will tell them plainly, 'I never knew you. Away from me, you evildoers!'

NIV

What a most dreadful thing it would be to hear Jesus say that to us. Why would he say those things to someone who does so much such as prophesy in the name of Jesus, and drive out demons and even do miracles? It almost sounds as though Jesus is speaking directly toward those who minister his word, who preach the gospel, leading people in the direction of the divine almighty God. Considering these words gives us the idea that the only way to heaven is through doing the will of the Father, which could lead us to think that through works we will be saved. However, what we know is that when men asked Jesus what are the works that God requires, Jesus told them the work that God requires, the will of God that He requires of them is to believe in the one He sent. This is the one perfect will of the Father, to believe in Jesus, to accept Jesus as our Lord and Savior, depending solely on Him for our salvation, for it is by faith we are saved and not through works. We think these words are directly related to the words right before he said this, about men who come in sheep clothing but are furious wolves seeking whom they can devour. They come preaching, appearing to be men of God, but in their hearts, they are men of the flesh. There serve themselves rather than God. But they have the words, they speak the gospel message, falsely, they put on a good show for the praise of men, but inwardly they are evildoers. This does not mean that everyone who still has some sin in their lives is an evildoer, for who can say they have no sin whatsoever, that they have attained the perfect state of Christ. No, these evildoers are false prophets. What minister of God, which pastor can say they have completed the course, run the race to its fullest, and reached sinlessness? These warnings of Jesus are directed at those false teachers, those who appear to profess Jesus, but only use his name for their own evil desires of self-adornment, self-gratification, and self-advancement among men. If we love the Lord and believe in Jesus in our heart, and desire to please God, living as right as we are able, even in the midst of failing, hating it, always aware, always seeking forgiveness, we have nothing to worry about, for it is not what we do, or what we do not do, works that are either good or bad are not the rule by which God judges us, but by our heart. Therefore, let us not worry about the evildoer, other than not listen to their falsehoods, but listen to the Spirit who dwells within us. 

fruit Tell All

 DEVOTION

THE GOSPEL ACCORDING TO MATTHEW

FRUIT TELLS ALL

Matt 7:15-20

15 "Watch out for false prophets. They come to you in sheep's clothing, but inwardly they are ferocious wolves. 16 By their fruit you will recognize them. Do people pick grapes from thornbushes, or figs from thistles? 17 Likewise every good tree bears good fruit, but a bad tree bears bad fruit. 18 A good tree cannot bear bad fruit, and a bad tree cannot bear good fruit. 19 Every tree that does not bear good fruit is cut down and thrown into the fire. 20 Thus, by their fruit you will recognize them.

NIV

We do not know about any false prophets that lived in the time of Jesus, but we are more than aware of how many of them there have been over our lifetime. It is only a matter of listening to them and we can hear the bad fruit spewing from their tongues. Even if the Spirit did not manifest His gift of discernment, it is easy to hear all their false words, their twisting of the scripture to benefit themselves, rather than those they have deceived into becoming their followers. On the other side of that coin, we have to ensure that we are always exhibiting good fruit both in the words we write and those we speak, as well as in our manner of living. Of course, we can find so much in the scripture giving us the examples, or ways in which we can, through the power of the Spirit, bear good fruit. The one way to bear good fruit that we have held close is within the first psalm. Those three areas that we are to avoid are taking any advice from the ungodly, walking in the way of sinners, and sitting in the seat of mockers. If we can avoid those and simply delight in the law of the Lord, that is His Word, and meditate on it day and night, then as a result we will be like a tree planted by the spring of waters, having our roots firming soaking up living water, we will bear good fruit in our season, our life, and our leaf will not wither, that is will be soaking up the rays of the Son all the days of our life. Photosynthesis is what the leaf of the tree causes the tree to grow along with the nourishment of the water being drawn up from the roots. This is such a wonderful picture of how we bear good fruit, and it is also a way to be known as a child of God. Just as we can tell one type of fruit tree from another by the fruit it bears, we also can tell a believer from a false prophet by the fruit they bear. We must always have our roots in the word of God, drawing all the nourishment we can so people will not only see the good fruit we bear, but they will be able to enjoy that fruit, even pick it from us so they can experience love, joy, peace, goodness, kindness, gentleness and yes, even self-control. Let us be known by our fruit, and let it be good fruit. 

Two Roads

 DEVOTION

THE GOSPEL ACCORDING TO MATTHEW

TWO ROADS

Matt 7:13-14

13 "Enter through the narrow gate. For wide is the gate and broad is the road that leads to destruction, and many enter through it. 14 But small is the gate and narrow the road that leads to life, and only a few find it.

NIV

We have been accused of being narrow-minded, and that is just fine. Why would we want to be wide-minded, as that would be conforming to the pattern of this world, to accept every form of lifestyle and any type of religion or spirituality? There is only one way to think, one way to live, and that is to be narrow-minded, being focused only on Jesus, for he is the one and only way to attain eternal life. Who in their right mind would settle for temporary life? Who would want to live for today and the hell with tomorrow for that is the destiny of those who travel the broad road? In fact, conforming to the pattern of this world leads right to destruction and there is a whole lot of people on that road. The traffic is too much on that road, it is a mess, with many accidents along the way. We have decided to take that exit labeled, the narrow road so that we have a better less traveled road. Although it is clearly marked, Jesus says that few find that narrow gate and narrow road that leads to life. Why would someone choose to walk that broad road that leads to destruction rather than a road that leads to life? It seems rather foolish to travel any other road than the narrow one. Yet the wide road may be easier to travel. In some sense the wide road has less resistance, there is no speed limit or restrictions as to how one should walk. There may not even be any warning signs along the way. But there is always an exit that is marked as a narrow road. That exit is always there, and anyone, at any time, can take that exit to the narrow road. There is one other difference as well. All who are on the wide road that leads to destruction are chained up or penned up like lambs being led to the slaughter.  When anyone decides to take that exit to the narrow road, Jesus breaks their fetter or chain, and they can turn onto the narrow road and walk freely without any chains, or burdens. However, this narrow path does require keeping our eyes on Jesus. He will lead us, guide us along this narrow path that leads to life. We are so thankful that we saw that sign, that we heard him calling out for us to turn from that wide path and join him on this narrow road. There is one more aspect in that this road has no space to turn around and go the other way, it is a one-way road that leads to life. 

The Golden Rule

 DEVOTION

THE GOSPEL ACCORDING TO MATTHEW

THE GOLDEN RULE

Matt 7:9-12

9 "Which of you, if his son asks for bread, will give him a stone? 10 Or if he asks for a fish, will give him a snake? 11 If you, then, though you are evil, know how to give good gifts to your children, how much more will your Father in heaven give good gifts to those who ask him! 12 So in everything, do to others what you would have them do to you, for this sums up the Law and the Prophets.

NIV

Here is where we get that “Golden Rule” we heard so many times over the years. But before we get into that, we should consider for a moment that fact that we are evil, at least in comparison to God. We know that we do not want to think of ourselves as evil for we are Christians, and we do those “Good deeds” that we are so proud of. Plus, the fact that we have been given the right to be called children of God, so how then can we be evil. Yet the truth is we are human and as such are not perfect, or rather we have not attained perfection and therefore we have some sin in our lives and would then be considered evil. However, the point is even in our fallen condition we still give our children what they ask for. We treat our children with love and care and want to give them the best life we can. We certainly would not give them a stone if they asked for bread. This is how God is with us. He wants to give us the best life he can, and being God, he can give us the most wonderful live that we have. Again, all we need to do is ask him and he will give us good gifts. Of course, once again, we cannot expect those good gifts if we are asking with wrong motives, that is so we can spend all those gifts on ourselves and thinking only of ourselves. However, here is where that “Golden Rule” kicks in. Because we can expect good gifts from God when we ask him instead of thinking only of ourselves, we are to treat other people as we would expect them to treat us. We are certain that we would want others to treat us fairly, with honesty, honor our person, listen when we have something to say, do us no harm, and generally treat us well. That would mean this is how we are to treat others. We would treat them well, and that means all others which is to say that we cannot pick and chose who we should be nice to and who we can be nasty to, who we can listen to and who we can ignore. It almost sounds like if we want God to be good to us. However, we know that God loved us even before we loved him, and His love for us is unconditional. But this “Golden Rule” should be a result of God’s love for us and the way he treats us. That is just the way we are to live, with love and grace toward others, fulfilling the Golden Rule. 

Just Ask

 DEVOTION

THE GOSPEL ACCORDING TO MATTHEW

JUST ASK

Matt 7:7-8

7 "Ask and it will be given to you; seek and you will find; knock and the door will be opened to you. 8 For everyone who asks receives; he who seeks finds; and to him who knocks, the door will be opened.

NIV

Jesus has more to say about asking and what God will do, but for now, let's camp out on these first words about asking. It sure seems as simple as Jesus says, if we ask, it will be given to us. If we seek God, we will find Him and if we knock, the door will be opened for us. How complicated can that be? The obvious question that plagues us is what is it that we haven’t been given, and how come we have trouble finding or the door seems stuck every once in awhile? The truth is simple, ask and receive. Knock and it will be opened. When we ask, we better darn sure believe that we will receive, that is take Jesus at his word. What may happen to us is that doubt creeps in and if that does occur, then we are not going to receive it. We need to also go to the gospel according to Mark where in the eleventh chapter he records the words of Jesus where He says to have faith in God so that we can even tell a mountain to throw itself into the sea, but we cannot have doubt. It is the same here about asking, we must have faith that God is going to give. We must have faith when we knock. If there is doubt, we are sunk, we are SOL, simply out of luck. Doubt is a terrible thing; it has to be the work of either Satan or self. The thing is that we cannot even have faith without God. In Paul’s letter to the Romans, he makes it clear that we should not think too highly of ourselves, but to think of ourselves with sober judgment according to the measure of faith God has given us. God even gives us our faith; we cannot even muster up faith by ourselves. It is not our faith, but the faith God measures out to us. We cannot help but believe that he measures out the same amount to each of us because He does not show favoritism. Therefore, the conclusion is that if we do not believe that when we ask, we will receive, then we are wasting that faith that God already has measured out to us. Of course, we also have to remember that we cannot ask with wrong motives, as James points out. We must get rid of every ounce of doubt, leave none of it within, and do not let it creep back in. It is good to remind ourselves of all that God has already done when we asked him before. This is one time it is best to rest on God's laurels, rest on all the asking we did in the past and all the times we received from God that which we asked. It helps strengthen that faith God measured out to us. Faith in some sense is like a muscle. We do have to exercise it or it will simply wither away. We can squander this faith if we do not use it. God gave it to us so we could use it, so come here faith, go away doubt, and just ask. 

No Dogs or Pigs Allowed

 DEVOTION

THE GOSPEL ACCORDING TO MATTHEW

NO DOGS OR PIGS ALLOWED

Matt 7:6

6 "Do not give dogs what is sacred; do not throw your pearls to pigs. If you do, they may trample them under their feet, and then turn and tear you to pieces.

NIV

This seems to be one of the most difficult teachings of Jesus to understand fully. What is generally thought by our scholars of old in regarding the meaning of pearls, dogs and swine are as follows: Pearls are the sacred doctrines, specifically the elements of communion. These elements should be withheld from dogs and pigs. Now as to who represents the dogs. There are the people who are always barking or causing chaos in the church. They are the backbiters, the gossips, and slanders, who cannot keep from tearing others down. The pigs are those who always run back to wallow in the mud or continue to live a life of sin, but show up appearing to be a believer. They are living a divided life. We cannot be sure why offering them the elements of communion or other of the sacred doctrines would cause them to tear us to pieces, but we could see how these doctrines are trampled on by false believers, who do not care about this self-examination before taking the elements. We are told that if we take communion in an unworthy manner, we will be sinning against the body and blood of Jesus. The key here is to know what an unworthy manner is. Paul states that it is not recognizing the body of our Lord. This goes back to those who act like dogs or pigs. If someone is a backbiter or gossips or keeps going back to the mud, always going back willfully doing sin while pretending to be a Christian, then it would make sense they would be bringing judgment upon themselves because they do not acknowledge or recognize the body of our Lord. If they did recognize the Lord, then they would not be living in the manner they are. We also need to continually examine ourselves as well, to make sure we have not slipped into wrong thinking. This is assumed by our Lord that we are doing that which is right, that we have accepted Him as our Lord and Savior and that we have followed Him in baptism, both of water and of the Spirit, and that we are living in a manner that is pleasing to Him. Therefore, we are being told to not throw that which we hold dear to those who do not hold the Lord as dear as we do because they are living in a manner that pleases them more than what pleases the Lord. They put themselves before Jesus, instead of Jesus before themselves. We must make sure we are putting Jesus first. Again, this does not mean we are sinless, but we hate the sin within us, we despise our failures and look to Jesus for forgiveness and help in overcoming those areas in our lives that so easily entice us. We are always in the mode of self-examination, unlike those who do not recognize their need for the same, the dogs and pigs. 

Judge This

 DEVOTION

THE GOSPEL ACCORDING TO MATTHEW

JUDGE THIS

Matt 7:1-5

7:1 "Do not judge, or you too will be judged. 2 For in the same way you judge others, you will be judged, and with the measure you use, it will be measured to you.

3 "Why do you look at the speck of sawdust in your brother's eye and pay no attention to the plank in your own eye? 4 How can you say to your brother, 'Let me take the speck out of your eye,' when all the time there is a plank in your own eye? 5 You hypocrite, first take the plank out of your own eye, and then you will see clearly to remove the speck from your brother's eye.

NIV

If there is anyone that we ought to judge it is ourselves. However, it is much easier to see the faults in others than it is in ourselves. Besides, what are we supposed to do about the instruction that Matthew records that Jesus said that if our brother is caught in sin we must go to him and confront him? But then we are not to judge him, just go to him and show him the error of his ways. However, even if we are to do that, we still have to first make sure our brother cannot come back at us and say that we are doing either the same sin or even worse. Before we do anything in the way of showing anyone that they are sinning, we better make darn sure we are not sinning, and how can we do that, being human? In Fact, that is what Jesus is saying. First, we need to get rid of that blatant sin in our lives before we go nit-picking some little offense in our brothers’ life. Why are we so interested in someone else’s sin anyway? The only thing that we can think, is that could make us feel better about ourselves. Oh, look how that person is behaving, surely that is not how Christians behave, we don’t do anything like that. Oh really? We have our own faults to work through and so we need to keep our eyes focused on us first. We need to let all the judging up to Jesus. How do we stack up or hold up under the judgment of Jesus? We know that just a little later in this chapter he told some who profess to follow him, to take a walk, even those who profess they are doing good deeds, driving out demons, or prophecy in his name. He talks about if we know his word and do not put it into practice we are in trouble. So, here is the putting into practice of these words. We do not judge anyone, and we do not look for anyone’s sins. We focus on our lives, what are we doing wrong, and what are we doing right. Of course, our sin is forgiven, but even that has conditions in that we must forgive others their sins. In some sense, it is live and let live. We are all in the same boat, and we all are in Christ. How can we love our neighbors as ourselves if we are looking for their sins, and not ours? There is so much that we should be doing that we are not and so much that we are not doing that we should. So, again it appears in some form or another that we simply need to see ourselves as we are and not bother looking to see how others are. It kind of boils down to living and letting others live, and knowing that Jesus is the judge of all of us. 

Which Race

 DEVOTION

THE GOSPEL ACCORDING TO MATTHEW

WHICH RACE

Matt 6:28-34

28 "And why do you worry about clothes? See how the lilies of the field grow. They do not labor or spin. 29 Yet I tell you that not even Solomon in all his splendor was dressed like one of these. 30 If that is how God clothes the grass of the field, which is here today and tomorrow is thrown into the fire, will he not much more clothe you, O you of little faith? 31 So do not worry, saying, 'What shall we eat?' or 'What shall we drink?' or 'What shall we wear?' 32 For the pagans run after all these things, and your heavenly Father knows that you need them. 33 But seek first his kingdom and his righteousness, and all these things will be given to you as well. 34 Therefore do not worry about tomorrow, for tomorrow will worry about itself. Each day has enough trouble of its own.

NIV

This is the rest of what Jesus said about not worrying about this life and what clothes we are going to wear. We already quoted what he said about seeking first his kingdom, yet here is where he is saying it. Again, He already mentioned food, drink, and clothes, he expands on the concept of clothing quite a bit. This must be one of those areas in life that are more difficult to overcome. We do not think there was a fashion industry in the time of Jesus, however, we do know the Pharisees were very concerned about their appearance. We know that Jacob made a very fashionable coat for Joseph far above anything his brothers had. So, perhaps people were concerned about their clothing, but we do not think it was as much as what has happened in our lifetime. The fashion industry has gone wild, and our culture is along with it. We are bombarded with new styles and fashions that if we are going to be in the “In group” we simply have to be clothed right. In addition, Surely Jesus meant all the accessories, which today would be all the skin, hair, and nail products that flood the market. Everything to make us look younger, tanner, more beautiful, or whatever other appearance we desire to enhance the way we are seen by others. In some sense, many are just like the Pharisees in that they feel the need to dress to impress. Sure, we should take care of ourselves, and not wear rags, but we cannot be like the pagans, who run after, who spend so much time on how they appear, what they are going to eat, drink, and their clothes. We cannot get sucked into this chaos of the world and its constant need of wanting more, wanting better, and wanting everything new. Let them run that rat race and they will be the first at the finish line of perishing. No, we left that race, and now we press on toward the kingdom, we seek first and foremost the kingdom of God, that is our only goal, our one, and only desire. We are fixated on the kingdom, who cares about if we have the best of foods, the tastiest of drinks, or the most impressive or most fashionable of clothing, we have Jesus and we have eternal life. However, there is a silver lining of less importance than eternal life. That is because we have decided to seek the kingdom of God above all other things, and let the pagans chase after them, God will make sure that we have all that we need, good food, tasty drink, and fairly nice clothes to boot. In addition, we need not ever worry about tomorrow. It has been said that yesterday is a canceled check, tomorrow is a promissory note, but today is cash in the hand. We need to be spending all of the cash today, for we can do nothing about yesterday, or for that matter, we have no promise of tomorrow. We only have to once again consider that rich farmer who thought he had all his next tomorrows covered by storing up all his wealth, and God said he was a fool for that very night his soul was required of him. No, we are going to leave the pagans to that rat race, we are going to stay the course, run the race, seeking the kingdom of God. 

Worry or Trust God

 DEVOTION

THE GOSPEL ACCORDING TO MATTHEW

WORRY OR TRUST GOD

Matt 6:25-27

25 "Therefore I tell you, do not worry about your life, what you will eat or drink; or about your body, what you will wear. Is not life more important than food, and the body more important than clothes? 26 Look at the birds of the air; they do not sow or reap or store away in barns, and yet your heavenly Father feeds them. Are you not much more valuable than they? 27 Who of you by worrying can add a single hour to his life?

NIV

These words are on the heal of not serving two masters. That we can only serve one and it will be either God or money. Jesus intends for us to choose God and thus he now tells us that because we choose to serve God that we need not worry about our lives. This implies that if we had chosen to serve money, we would have to worry about our lives and about what we will eat or drink or about what we would wear. However, we do not need to worry for we choose to serve the living God and He holds us in great worth for he created us to be in His image. Just to consider that we are the image of God is quite awesome. It is sort of a mystery as to how that image appears. Does God have a human-like form, or are we made in a three-in-one image? We do have a soul, a spirit, and a body. The soul would relate to our mind, the spirit would relate to who we are, and of course, the body houses us. It is rather confusing to separate the soul and spirit so that may not be an accurate three in one and therefore it could be in some other way that we do not understand. However, the fact remains God made us in His image. Still, it is recorded that God said, “Let us make man in our image”. This is why in some way we are three in one, and that goes directly to the fact that he will always see us as having great worth. He will take care of us. He will see to it that we do not need to worry about even the basic needs of life, food, drink, and clothes. Once again, it is reasonable that we should work for God has told us to. But we are not to put our trust in the ways of the world but in Him. Once again, we cannot just sit back by the mailbox and wait for God to deliver all our food, drink, and clothes. We are not to rely on the world, which implies mankind to provide for us, that would mean we would need to worry all the time if they are always going to be reliable. However, God is always going to be there for us and as we put our trust in him, he will make sure we are cared for. On a personal note, every means of my income has been at by the direction of God. He has led me every time to where I would work, either for a company or being self-employed. Not once have I had to worry about where I would have enough money to buy the needs of life. When I tried to worry, God showed me how not to, that he would take care of the situation. I am wealthy by the world’s standard, but certainly not by my culture’s standard. Still, God wants us to trust him for every aspect of our lives. We cannot departmentalize our lives, living a portion of it by the ways of the world and setting a portion of our lives apart for God. How can we worry about our lives, and trust God at the same time? That would be an oxymoron. Trust God and worry. It must be an either/or and not a both. Worry or trust God. 

One Not Two

 DEVOTION

THE GOSPEL ACCORDING TO MATTHEW

ONE NOT TWO

Matt 6:24

24 "No one can serve two masters. Either he will hate the one and love the other, or he will be devoted to the one and despise the other. You cannot serve both God and Money.

NIV

These words of Jesus are related to what He had said about not storing up wealth for ourselves here on earth and where our treasure is there also our heart. However, now he makes it plain it is about who mastered us, God, or money. The question is how could we make money our master, or rather how could money become our master. Certainly, as Christian we what God to be our master, but even then we struggle with not wanting to be the master of our own lives. After all, we made the choice to follow Jesus, it was up to us to decide. So after that first choice are we to stop making choices and leave God to make all the choices in our lives? That is what being a master is, isn’t it? The master makes all the decisions, and we simply obey. But Jesus said that he does not call us servants, but friends, however, he is still saying that we either serve money or serve God and we cannot serve both, we cannot have two masters. So then, even though Jesus called us friends, we still are supposed to serve God and not money. Again, how could money be our master, if we are serving God? It would seem when we pay too much attention to storing up our money for some later use when we want to sit back and relax, like that rich farmer, then we might be in danger of making that money more of a god than it should be. Although it is true that the concept of retirement is a cultural thing, and along with that is the investment system to enhance our portfolio so we will be able to retire with ease, it could be seen as storing up wealth, which in turn could be seen as making that wealth a form of god. However, that is not to say we cannot have money, but it is not supposed to be our main focus in life. Again, we are to seek first the kingdom of God and His righteousness. God will make sure we have what we need, even enough money to live, of course, that does not mean we are to sit and wait next to the mailbox for a check, but that we are to work by the sweat of our brows all the days of our lives, and in doing so provide for our sustenance, as he instructed Adam of whom we are also fallen, man. Yes, we have been redeemed, but we are not the perfection in which God created Adam and we do not live in the Garden of Eden. Yes, we have the right to be called children of God, but we also are descendants of Adam. So back to the problem, we can have only one master, and He has to be God. 

The Eyes

 DEVOTION

THE GOSPEL ACCORDING TO MATTHEW

THE EYES

Matt 6:22-23

22 "The eye is the lamp of the body. If your eyes are good, your whole body will be full of light. 23 But if your eyes are bad, your whole body will be full of darkness. If then the light within you is darkness, how great is that darkness!

NIV

Why the eye? It seems the eye refers to that which we are focused on. If we look toward heavenly things, that is keep our eyes on Jesus then there is light within our body. That is we will live in the light and we will be the light so that we fulfill the words of Jesus when he told us that we are the light of the world and we need to let our light shine so that men might see the light. In addition, keeping our eyes on Jesus means that our life is good, our body is good. We live with goodness within, a healthy condition. However, if we are looking at other things, as in things of this world, then according to Jesus our eyes have a darkness within them. Darkness refers to the world, for it lives without Jesus. When we focus our eyes on the world, all the darkness that resides there permeates our eyes and into our body or soul. Why would we ever want to keep our eyes focused on the things of the world? Why would we want darkened eyes? But, alas, there is a problem afoot. We cannot see Jesus, but we can see all the things of the world, and they are flashy. The things of the world are always being shown to us in ways that are tempting so that we will want them. In fact, many of them are the necessities of life. We need a home, clothes, cars, food, toys, and all the creature comforts we can afford. We labor diligently so we can afford all the things we have been told we have to have. The advertisements enhance the looks of all the stuff we are influenced to want up and above what we need. Jesus tells us we should not chase after the things of the world but seek first his kingdom and all these things will be added onto us. Our heavenly Father knows our needs, and He will provide for us, but we are not to focus on them, but keep our eyes upon Jesus. Although we cannot see Jesus in the physical, we see him through His word. We know in our heart that Jesus is real, and He is the focus of our life. We filter everything through the word of God, through the eyes of Jesus so that we are filled with light and it always overpowers the darkness. 

Storing Up

 DEVOTION

THE GOSPEL ACCORDING TO MATTHEW

STORING UP

Matt 6:19-21

19 "Do not store up for yourselves treasures on earth, where moth and rust destroy, and where thieves break in and steal. 20 But store up for yourselves treasures in heaven, where moth and rust do not destroy, and where thieves do not break in and steal. 21 For where your treasure is, there your heart will be also.

NIV

It is interesting how our scholars of old dealt with this statement of Jesus. If we take their approach then what Jesus said has no meaning for us today. There is the thought that the treasures Jesus spoke of were clothes, such as the coat Jacob made for his beloved son Joseph. The idea was in those days’ garments were very special because they showed the position of the wealth of a man. Those the thought that the moth could destroy their abundance of garments. However, rust does not consume gold or silver. The other thought which we thought was interesting was that it was more than appropriate to store up wealth because it did not belong to them but to their children. That is it was the designed inheritance for a man’s children so he had no right to give it to the poor. Another way they saw this was that was the only way to be able to continue to do good was to store up your wealth and keep the principle, spending only the interest on the poor. If one withdrew all one's wealth then he would not be able to continue to do good for all his wealth would be given to the poor. All that sounds good, but is that what Jesus taught? It seems right to make provisions for loved ones should we advance to heaven before them and leave them no form of sustenance. However, on the other hand, it seems right that Jesus meant we were not to store up wealth for our own personal use to sit back and take life easy. This would mesh well with the story of the rich farmer who built bigger barns to store his abundance of crops so that he could sit back and relax. The main thrust here is the idea that where our treasure is, there also in our heart. The question is if we can store up wealth without our heart being concerned about that wealth. That is are we consumed with how much we can increase our wealth and that this is the focus of our lives. Is it possible to live a life focused on Jesus, focused on the work of God, doing that which we have been called to do for God, for His kingdom, and still store up wealth for ourselves? Another interesting thought is regarding our tithe. Usually, we consider giving a tenth of our income as the tithe. However, if we tithe the whole while we work and store up wealth for our golden years of life, retire and sit back doing whatever pleases our fancy, then we no longer have an income to tithe. Does that mean when we retire, we can stop tithing, or giving? How do we deal with the concept that God told Adam, the first man, he had to work by the sweat of his brow all the days of his life? Are we men, has anything changed? Are we exempt from that directive of God? Does it mean that because Jesus freed us from the bondage of sin, the inheritance Adam gave us, this original sin, that we no longer need to work by the sweat of our brow all the days of our life? Does that mean because we are in Christ, we can accumulate enough wealth for ourselves so we can retire and take life easy? That still seems that we are putting more value on wealth than we should, or that is where our heart is. How do we justify this storing up wealth for ourselves? Can we justify it? 

Fasting

 DEVOTION

THE GOSPEL ACCORDING TO MATTHEW

FASTING

Matt 6:16-18

16 "When you fast, do not look somber as the hypocrites do, for they disfigure their faces to show men they are fasting. I tell you the truth, they have received their reward in full. 17 But when you fast, put oil on your head and wash your face, 18 so that it will not be obvious to men that you are fasting, but only to your Father, who is unseen; and your Father, who sees what is done in secret, will reward you.

NIV

It seems the main thrust is usually put on the word, when, which is used to make that point that our Lord indicated that it is a given that we would fast. He did not say, If you fast, but when, and that Greek word has that direct meaning of whenever, at the time. We have to conclude that there are times that we would fast, but what is missing in this instruction of our Lord is why would we fast, for what purpose would we fast, or what is the benefit of our fasting. When we look at all the examples of fasting in the bible, we find most references were in the Old Testament and it was the whole assembly of Israel fasting, or a prophet telling the people to fast. There were a few times individuals fasted, and a few times in the New Testament, but it was always before people, or groups fasting. Jesus implies here that our fasting should be as an individual and that not a single person would be able to detect that we are fasting. This cannot be a church fast, or a time when a Pastor tells the church that a certain day is a day of fasting and praying for then all of us would know each other is fasting and we would have already received our reward. Jesus is teaching us here that when we fast, that is when we are prompted by the Spirit to fast, that we cannot cover ourselves with sack cloth and ashes and go around with a foreloin look. In fact, whenever we are prompted by the Spirit and not by men, to fast, we are to appear as though we are not fasting. We attended a church years ago where the Pastor announced he was going to fast for a certain time. The truth is, his fast was useless, for he already received his reward, the praise of men, but non from God.  Then we also must deal with exactly what consists of fasting. In the past, the Catholic church instructed its people to fast on Fridays only by abstaining from fish, during the Lenten season. But again, the whole of the church knew everyone was fasting from fish on Friday, unless, of course, someone received special dispensation. This is not what Jesus was teaching. Again, if we are prompted to fast from all food for a day, a week, or simply prompted to fast from a certain type of food, say like, chocolate or however the Spirit prompts us, no one can know. Any fast at all must be done in absolute secrecy so that God is the only one who sees our fast. Perhaps it would be appropriate to fast for the purpose of seeking direction from God or when we are facing a very difficult time. But this has to be individual fasting only in the sight of God. 

If we do, if we don't

 DEVOTION

THE GOSPEL ACCORDING TO MATTHEW

IF WE DO, IF WE DON’T

Matt 6:14-15

14 For if you forgive men when they sin against you, your heavenly Father will also forgive you. 15 But if you do not forgive men their sins, your Father will not forgive your sins.

NIV

If you, God will, if you don’t God won’t. That is it in a nutshell, That seems pretty harsh, but this is one of the promises that some may have either forgotten or simply refuse to accept. How can we say that our sins have been forgiven if we hold anything against someone, or hang on to a grudge because of what someone did to us or to one of our loved ones? If we were to ignore all the scriptures that tell us to love our neighbor or our enemy and all the scriptures that tell us to live a life of love and grace, we cannot ignore this one for it brings our salvation front and center. If we do not forgive every single person for whatever wrong that may have been done to us or to our loved ones, then there is no question whatsoever that we are not saved. It does not matter how much we confess that we love Jesus, or that we have accepted Jesus as our Lord and Savior. If we do not forgive everyone then God is not going to forgive our sins, and therefore are sins are not forgiven that only leaves us to conclude we are not going to heaven. These words of Jesus should strike right at the core of every believer. We can reverse his words or change the concept to say that if we forgive everyone who offends us or sins against us or our loved ones, then God will forgive our sins. However, it is still if we, then God. Saying it another way is that God’s forgiveness is depended on our forgiveness. Conversely, God’s wrath is dependent on our wrath, using wrath as another way of saying unforgiveness, for if we fail to forgive, we are showing that person our wrath. No matter how we look at it, we always must come back to it, if we do, then God will, and if we don’t then God won’t. So, we better keep on keeping on living a life of love and grace, always forgiving. 

Deliver us From Evil

 DEVOTION

THE GOSPEL ACCORDING TO MATTHEW

DELIVER US FROM EVIL

Matt 6:9-13

9 "This, then, is how you should pray: "'Our Father in heaven, hallowed be your name, 10 your kingdom come, your will be done on earth as it is in heaven. 11 Give us today our daily bread. 12 Forgive us our debts, as we also have forgiven our debtors. 13 And lead us not into temptation, but deliver us from the evil one.'

NIV

One thing we know for sure, and that is God does not tempt any man. James it clear on that when he says that when we are tempted, that we should not day that God is tempting us for God cannot be tempted by evil nor does he tempt anyone, but that we are draw away by our own evil desires, in fact James says we are dragged away and enticed. Why would Jesus teach us to pray to God that He would not lead us into temptation when we know that he would not do that. Perhaps the translation of this Greek word gives us a misconception of asking God not to lead is to temptation. It is possible this word could be seen as trial, or proving, as the most direct, or wooden translation is experiment. So then how do we make sense of this? Maybe it would be better asking God not to allow us to be tested. A teacher administers a test to either see how much we know, or for the purpose of passing us, but never to make us fail. No teacher wants their students to fail. God does not want us to fail. It is better to see this as asking Him not to allow us to suffer the temptations either from the evil one, or as James says, from our own desires. The Spirit within us certainly has something to say when we are faced with our own evil desires. However, we do need to first, hear his voice, and second, pay attention to His voice and repent or change the way we think. Instead of considering the evil in our heart, consider God and pay that He will not lead, or allow us to follow this temptation. Then, of course, there is the evil one, which is generally thought to be Satan of the devil. Again, we know that Satan is not omni-present and therefore he is not able to attack all of us all the time. However, that are demons, one third of all the angels that were cast to earth alone with Lucifer. Still, we do not know how many of them they are, and as our population continues to expand, it would seem that just is not enough demons to go around, to always being tempting all men at the same time. But we also know that Satan is a lair and nothing he says or promotes is true. This would also make sense of the evil that it within us. It is a not true, it deceives us. God is the only one who is true, and therefore we need Him to lead us in paths of righteousness, thus delivering us from the evil one, who could be Satan, or it could be ourselves. God will only lead us to the truth, to himself, but He will deliver us from all form of evil. Just as the children of Israel were in bondage in Egypt, and God delivered them, we are in bondage to the evil that is within us, and God can and will deliver us from evil. 

Forgive

 DEVOTION

THE GOSPEL ACCORDING TO MATTHEW

FORGIVE

Matt 6:9-13

9 "This, then, is how you should pray: "'Our Father in heaven, hallowed be your name, 10 your kingdom come, your will be done on earth as it is in heaven. 11 Give us today our daily bread. 12 Forgive us our debts, as we also have forgiven our debtors. 13 And lead us not into temptation, but deliver us from the evil one.'

NIV

It is time to deal with asking God to forgive us, however, with condition that we forgive those who offended us. Jesus is going to expand this principle following this example as to how we are to pray. It is interesting that the word choice of debts and debtors is used rather than transgressions or sins. In the gospel according to Luke when he recorded the Lord’s Prayer, He uses the word that means sin and it is translated as sin. We would have to believe this debt is seen as a sin. Certainly, we cannot be in debt to God in the sense that the Greek word translated as debt means owing someone money due to a legal contract, which we are obligated to pay. If we used this word in that manner, then we would have to forgive anyone who owes us money. If that were the case, all believers could not enter into any financial agreement with another believer, because we could not have one believer owing another because the lending believer would have to forgive the debt of the borrowing believer and therefore no debts would ever occur. Therefore, we must see this as asking God to forgive our sins, in the same manner as we forgive anyone who sins against us. We will get to that in more detail as Jesus does. However, for now, we must understand that we must forgive others if we are going to want God to forgive us. Forgiving does not mean forgetting, but it does mean that we will not hold a grudge or retaliate or speak irreverently about that person we have forgiven. Yes, it would be beneficial to have a conversation with that person who offended us or sinned against us. But that would have to be done in love. We cannot judge their actions, nor can we condemn their actions, all that is only up to God. All we can do is forgive them, which means we never, ever, not ever, not even once remind them of their offense. We know that love does not keep a record of wrongs and here is where that rubber hits the road. We know that we have sinned against God, and we know we will sin again in some way, for we have not yet attained perfection. That perfection will be attained the day we leave this body and step into the presence of our Lord. But, in the meantime, we need to ask God to forgive us daily when we sin, and we are assured that he will forgive us. However, he will forgive us just as we forgive others. So, if we do keep a record of their wrongs against us, God will keep a record of our wrongs against him and where does that leave us. no, we have to forgive, we have no other choice if we are followers of Jesus.  

Bread of Life

 DEVOTION

THE GOSPEL ACCORDING TO MATTHEW

BREAD OF LIFE

Matt 6:9-13

9 "This, then, is how you should pray: "'Our Father in heaven, hallowed be your name, 10 your kingdom come, your will be done on earth as it is in heaven. 11 Give us today our daily bread. 12 Forgive us our debts, as we also have forgiven our debtors. 13 And lead us not into temptation, but deliver us from the evil one.'

NIV

Having looked at the holiness of the name of God and that we are wanting the reign of God in our lives, submitting our will to Him. We now consider what Jesus meant by telling us to pray that He gives us this very day our daily bread. We know that Jesus also refers to himself as the Bread of Life, which is recorded for us in the gospel of John. This is one of the seven “I AM” statements of Jesus. “I AM the bread of life”. It is interesting Jesus used the very same word that is used for a loaf of bread. It is also interesting that bread is the basic substance of life. A person can life for a long time only on bread and water. God brought down bread from heaven for the Israelites when they were wandering in the wilderness. Jesus referred to himself at that last meal with his disciples as bread, when he took a loaf of bread, broke it and said that this is his body and told his disciples to eat all of it. The point being that when we ask for our daily bread, we could see this as asking the Father to provide our basic needs of material food. Of course, we can go buy all the food we want, so why would we ask the Father for something we can go buy, unless we have no money at all and are completely destitute. But that is rarely the case, we are also have been told, as descendants of Adam, that we will work the ground by the sweat of our brow all the days of our life for our sustenance, which implies we work, and we get paid, and we buy food. Therefore, we are left with seeing this daily bread as Jesus. We should pray to God that he gives us our daily supply of Jesus, the food that does not spoil, but food that leads to eternal life. If the physical bread can sustain our physical life, then our daily bread, Jesus, sustains our spiritual life. It is also interesting this is a daily experience. We want a daily portion of Jesus, every day, all day long. It is not just those once in awhile times when we take the elements of communion that we are to remember that Jesus, the bread if life, was broken for us and that we are to eat it all. However, that also implies that we want all of Jesus in our lives. Father, give us our daily bread. 

Whose Will Be Done

 DEVOTION

THE GOSPEL ACCORDING TO MATTHEW

WHOSE WILL BE DONE

Matt 6:9-13

9 "This, then, is how you should pray: "'Our Father in heaven, hallowed be your name, 10 your kingdom come, your will be done on earth as it is in heaven. 11 Give us today our daily bread. 12 Forgive us our debts, as we also have forgiven our debtors. 13 And lead us not into temptation, but deliver us from the evil one.'

NIV

What did Jesus mean when he taught us to pray that His kingdom comes, His will be done on earth as it is in heaven? Of course, we have changed your to His and we also recognize that we are praying to the Father, so it is the Father’s kingdom. This might also be the time to interject the fact that we do not pray to Jesus, but that we pray to the Father, in the name of Jesus. In order words, the only way to the Father, even in prayer, is through Jesus. Now, on to this idea of praying that the Father’s kingdom will come and that His will be done in our lives, just as His will is done in Heaven. The Father has absolute authority in heaven, nothing happens in heaven without the expressed will of God. If an angel thinks he can go here or there based on his own plans, it isn’t going to happen, because the Father has to approve everything that goes on in heaven. We are praying for that same authority of the Father to be here on earth, which implies in our lives. When we pray this, or something like this, as again, Jesus did not say that we should quote, or recite his exact words repeatedly for years and years. However, the point is that when we pray that the Father’s will be done, that is we pray that His absolute authority is present on earth as it is in heaven and by implication when we say earth, we mean us. Therefore, reciting this prayer without full understanding or a true desire for our prayer to be answered is just words, and not actually what we want to happen. In general, we think more than fewer believers do not what God’s will to be done in their lives. We struggle with that sometimes when we want our will rather than His will. How much of our lives are controlled by us, and how much is under the absolute authority of God?  How is it that we recite this prayer, and it would seem it is never answered if we are not fully under the authority of God, forfeiting our will completely? Maybe that is not what Jesus meant for us to pray. Maybe he meant that we should pray that one day, this earth, that is all the peoples of this earth will be like heaven. Maybe he meant that someday this earth will be the new earth and new heaven and that God will rule in the new city. But alas, that is not it. We are fully convinced Jesus meant for us to pray that God’s will be done in our lives, just as it is done in heaven. We are praying that we will be fully under that absolute authority of God. This means we do not do anything unless God approves it. It also means that we do not do that which God disapproves of. How do we justify any sin then, for that is us doing our will instead of His, and we know we are not free of all sin, at least at this moment? One day we will be free for all sin, but for now, we know that our sin is covered by Jesus, and we know that is the will of the Father. Jesus brought the kingdom of heaven to earth, and so as we accept Jesus as our Lord and Savior, we are perfectly doing the will of the Father. His will is done because we are in Christ. But that does not give us a license to do our will, just because Jesus has set us free. No, let us pray that God’s will be done in us, each day. Let us want His will, not ours to be done. 

Holy is Your Name

 DEVOTION

THE GOSPEL ACCORDING TO MATTHEW

HOLY IS YOUR NAME

Matt 6:9-13

9 "This, then, is how you should pray: "'Our Father in heaven, hallowed be your name, 10 your kingdom come, your will be done on earth as it is in heaven. 11 Give us today our daily bread. 12 Forgive us our debts, as we also have forgiven our debtors. 13 And lead us not into temptation, but deliver us from the evil one.'

NIV

As we go through this example of prayer that Jesus gave us, we need to remember this is how we should pray when we are in secret place. We do recognize that this prayer is recited verbatim during corporate worship in many churches. It is not that we think that is wrong, but we do wonder why gf of that instruction about our secret place. However, or whenever we look at this example of prayer, we wonder why we simply recite it and think we have complied with what Jesus taught about how we should pray. What we should do is to take each of these examples and see how our prayer would look like. First things first, and that is to acknowledge the one we are praying to. We also want to acknowledge that He is our Father, the Father of mankind, but on a more personal level, our Father, because as we have accepted Jesus as our Lord and Savior, which means we are born again, or born from above, we have been given the right to be called children of God. Therefore, He is our Father. As in an earthy family, the father is the head of the family, the one who has authority because he has the responsibility and accountability to God for his family. This is the relationship with have with our Heavenly Father. He has all the authority in the family, and He has all the responsibility, and He is accountable to His own words, for He never lies, but always is truthful. So, we acknowledge He is our Father, and we give praise and honor to his very name. This bring us to consider what name are we hallowing, or declaring as sacred and holy, which is what the Greek word translated as hallowed means. The Jews would not pronoun His name because it is too holy.  Sometimes we have referred to His name as Jehovah, and adding adverbs, such as Jireh to indicate one of the facets or traits of God. We have also used Yahweh pronouncing His name in Hebrew. However, the point remains the same, His name is sacred and holy, and it is right to establish this in the beginning of our conversation or prayer with Him. This is not so much that we have the right to declare His name sacred and holy, but it is more for our benefit to know His name is holy and sacred, far above all names, especially ours. Acknowledging the sacredness and holiness of His name puts us in the right relationship with Him regarding any of our requests. So, we begin our quiet time alone with Him in our secret place knowing His name is hallowed, everything about Him is holy and sacred, especially His name. 

When You Pray

 DEVOTION

THE GOSPEL ACCORDING TO MATTHEW

WHEN YOU PRAY

Matt 6:5-8

5 "And when you pray, do not be like the hypocrites, for they love to pray standing in the synagogues and on the street corners to be seen by men. I tell you the truth, they have received their reward in full. 6 But when you pray, go into your room, close the door and pray to your Father, who is unseen. Then your Father, who sees what is done in secret, will reward you. 7 And when you pray, do not keep on babbling like pagans, for they think they will be heard because of their many words. 8 Do not be like them, for your Father knows what you need before you ask him.

NIV

Although these words of Jesus are but the introduction of those words we consider to be “The Lord’s Prayer”, we should consider what he said be before he instructs them, or gives them an example of how to pray. The first impression that we see here is that God is not impressed with how many words we use in our prayer. The second thing we notice is that we should be praying in our secret place. However, this would preclude any corporate prayer, which we are often engaged in. It would seem that every time the church comes together, we feel we must spend time in prayer. However, here is where we might get into a little conflict with Jesus. He instructs us that when we pray, we should no keep in babbling like the pagans, thinking that God will hear us if we use a lot of words. We know some believers who feel the need to use a whole lot of words, carefully crafted words which again cannot be for the purpose of impressing God, which leads us to believe they feel the need to impress men. The whole point Jesus is making here is that God already knows all our needs and all He is asking that we just simple ask. We know there are some who believe that we should pray the scriptures, in which we are reminding God of what he said, or that we can be assured we are praying in his will. First, God needs no reminding, for he knows our need before we ask. Second, we do not think that He gave us His word so we can quote it back to Him, He knows what He said. Yes, we will get to “The Lord’s Prayer”, and yes, it is a pattern as to how we might pray in our secret place, when we are just having conversation with him about our times and troubles. But, again, are we just to recite His words back to Him, or are we to use His words as a pattern for prayer? This is not discarding those times as a congregation when we recite His prayer in unison. There may be some benefit in that, bringing us together, being of one mind, at least for a moment. But then we should also take those words to heart as we say them, rather than just rattling them off, keeping up with the lead prayer. Prayer does not have to be a long dissertation, but only needs to be speaking the request. If someone asks us to pray for them, we merely must pray for them, and not for all the unsaved in the world, or for our leaders, or the missionaries around the whole. When we are asked to prayer for someone, pray for them and them alone, for that is their need. It also does not need to be long and drawn out, it merely needs to be a prayer for their need. This “Lord’s Prayer” does not fit into those times of prayer, but it fits for us to use as an example of how to pray when we are in our secret place. For now, we simply need to ask for the need, the one God already knows we have, and we also know that he desires to bless us, to answer us. We do not serve a god of stone, or metal, crafted by human hands, that cannot speak. We serve a living God who speaks into our hearts, who knows us, knows our need, and wants us to just ask, and He will answer, but we must listen. 

Zip Your Lips

 DEVOTION

THE GOSPEL ACCORDING TO MATTHEW

ZIP YOUR LIPS

Matt 6:2-4

2 "So when you give to the needy, do not announce it with trumpets, as the hypocrites do in the synagogues and on the streets, to be honored by men. I tell you the truth, they have received their reward in full. 3 But when you give to the needy, do not let your left hand know what your right hand is doing, 4 so that your giving may be in secret. Then your Father, who sees what is done in secret, will reward you.

NIV

Now, let us deal with one of the three specific areas of the Christian life that Jesus expanded, or brought into the New Covenant. We think this is different that bringing the tithe into the storehouse as, in general, the tithe usually has nothing about giving to the needy. Usually, the tithe goes to pay the salaries of the church staff, some of which can become large. One church we attended had six paid pastors, several part-time paid assistant to the pastors, plus all the secretary and janitorial staff. The budget was as large as the church. Nevertheless, no matter the size of the church or its budget, the tithe seldom see any needy. This is simply people helping people. It may be that some churches have programs to help the needy, or support faith-based organizations that help the needy. However, what ever the way we help the needy, whether that is through directly giving them money, or some of their physical needs, such as clothing and food, or whatever other material needs they may have, we are not to announce it. There is the center of it all, there can be no announcing how we give to the needy. How ever we give it has to be done secretly so not even our right hand knows what our lieft hand is doing. But we want people to know that we do this or that for the needy. Some how we might think that in the case of a church, someone feels the need to inform all the congregation how the church is doing in its giving to the needy. Maybe that is different than us personally giving to their needs. If we are so impressed by the Spirit to give to the needy personally, then not a single other person in the world must know about it, except our spouses, of course. We could take this to apply toward our giving at church, in the tithe or just a gift above our tithe. Again, usually we expect someone to keep a record of our giving so we can have it for our taxes, getting our reward though a write off. But could this principle of giving apply to that tithe, which some of which does go to the needy. So then, how do we keep that a secret? Tithe in cash would be the only way no one would ever know who it came from. However, we cannot be sure that it applies to the tithe, but just to our personal giving to an individual in need. Either way, it is good not to boast about any giving, however that happens. In essence, Jesus is saying zip your lips.