Focus

DEVOTION

THE GOSPEL OF MATTHEW

FOCUS

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

This statement of Jesus is mainly just the middle of the larger teaching, which started with not storing up wealth for ourselves and ends with not being able to serve two masters, God and money. That we can only serve one of them. Here he makes the point about our eyes. It has been said, “The eyes are the window to your soul” , William Shakespeare. Also a great Roman philosopher Cicero said, “The face is a picture of the mind as the eyes are its interpreter”.  These are just variations of what Jesus speaks here. But the idea is about the simple view of the eye, it is meant to focus on one object at a time and in the case Jesus is making, our eye should be focused on God. But if the eye is wandering, is spasmodic, seeing double, or multiple visions, then as the eye is considered unhealthy so is the body, or the mind which controls the body. This matches with his teaching about seeking first the kingdom of God. When we have eyes that are distracted by all the stuff of this world, our mind follows suit bringing us to seek them, perhaps not first, but along with the kingdom. This is blurred vision, double vision, confused vision, not able to remain fixed on any one thing, such as the kingdom of God. This is why this is in the middle of not storing up and serving two masters, God and money. We can see that the eye is the symbol of what our focus is on and it should be on God. How much time do we spend on the things of God compared to the time we spend focused on money, either the lack of it, or how we are going to ensure the gaining of more of it, or how best can we store it up? It would appear in the whole of the context of his teaching, we cannot focus on both. The two are not compatible. The truth is, as we focus our eyes on Jesus, as we look fully into his wonderful face, the things of earth will grow strangely dim, in the light of his glory and grace. But if our focus is blurred by the wants of the earth, our whole body is affected, we are overcome by the darkness, and we have a darkness within, instead of the light of Christ. He told us that we are the light of the world and that we are to let our light shine before men so they can see our good deeds, our love for God, and then they will praise God. But if our light is not the light, but instead our focus is on the same things theirs are, we have a darkness within and therefore we have no light to shine. If we show them a double focus, saying we are seeking after God, but they see us seeking after the same as them, money, and the storing up of it, in the case, then what they see is a hypocrite, not the light of Christ shining forth. What do our eyes say about us? Where is our true focus? Is it singular? Is it on the things of God, or earth, or do we have double vision? How do we not get distracted by our eyes? How do we not focus on the needs of this life? Again we have to remember Jesus said to seek first the kingdom of God, and he will add all the things we need for our lives. He will supply all our need, all the stuff we require to live when and where he has determined and directed us to live. Singular focus on the light. 

Storing Up

DEVOTION

THE GOSPEL OF 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

Clearly Jesus did not mean we should not invest for our future material needs in our old age. Certainly he was not speaking about investing in stocks and bond, or 401K’s or IRA accounts or annuities, or any other type of storing up for ourselves. But alas he was speaking about all of that. Surely they did not have that type of system during the time he spoke these words, but man has always wanted to stockpile wealth. We have the story of the foolish rich farmer and his bigger barns as a prime example of that.

Luke 12:16-21

16 And he told them this parable: "The ground of a certain rich man produced a good crop. 17 He thought to himself, 'What shall I do? I have no place to store my crops.' 18 "Then he said, 'This is what I'll do. I will tear down my barns and build bigger ones, and there I will store all my grain and my goods. 19 And I'll say to myself, "You have plenty of good things laid up for many years. Take life easy; eat, drink and be merry." 20 "But God said to him, 'You fool! This very night your life will be demanded from you. Then who will get what you have prepared for yourself?' 21 "This is how it will be with anyone who stores up things for himself but is not rich toward God." 

NIV

Jesus is going to expand on this idea which we will get to in the next several passages, but this is enough to chew on for the moment. The point is we simply are acting against the word of God when we store up wealth for ourselves in any form. It reveals our lack of trust in his provision. It is not that Jesus would have us be poor. It is not that Jesus is against us making a lot of money. It is that he does not permit us to store it up for ourselves. The key of this foolish rich farmer was that he only needed to build one new, bigger barn for his good crop. But he had to make a big show of his wealth and tear all the barns down and build all brand new barns. This was for his own good pleasure so to retire. But the other key is that it was alright that he was rich, but being foolish he stored it up for himself instead of being rich toward God. That is he could have said, “I already have plenty, and God has blessed me with more than enough, so I will give some of this extra to some people in need”. Nope, he kept it all for himself, stored it up just for him and his. Jesus does not even mention here about the fact that the system we now have developed is about investing in the markets, which are in fact businesses, like IBM, Apple, Walmart, Target, or whatever other companies trade open stocks. The fact is many companies support ideologies which are diametrically opposed to the scriptures. Jesus knew all this would happen, as he is God in the flesh and he has full knowledge of all human time, as he is always in the present. A mystery the human mind has difficultly grasping as we are linear. He is not, so he spoke these words knowing we would have the stock market and other forms of storing up for our retirement, which we know has no merit or support in the scriptures, so we never are to retire. (I remind any reader, this is my devotion, my thoughts for my life, I write in the third person so if you find any truths for yourselves, it is easier for you to insert yourself into the devotion, as opposed to simply viewing me) Nevertheless, this seems to be the point Jesus is making. We are not to store up wealth here on earth, but rather in heaven. The question is: can we store up wealth innocently, without setting our heart upon it, without the wealth being that important of an issue? Perhaps we might, as long as there are no widows and orphans anywhere to be found in our area. Can we store up money, without being concerned how it is growing or not? Why would we set our heart on that which is temporary instead on that which is eternal? Have we separated the two, thinking there is no connection between them? Certainly God intends for us to take care of our own first, then if we have any leftovers, we can see to the needs of others. But do we ever have any leftovers, and is that what God wants, our leftovers? Oh there is so much about this subject, it would take a book to discuss it all. Plainly put, no storing up, period. 

A private matter

DEVOTION

THE GOSPEL OF MATTHEW

A PRIVATE MATTER

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 should be noted Jesus used the words, “when you fast”. This is not a teaching on the principle of fasting, but on the concept of not wearing our fasting on our face. In fact, this is about not letting anyone know we are fasting, when we fast. If we were to look at the concept of fasting, the word used here means to abstain from food for religious reasons. There are times it would seem it is appropriate to abstain from food for a religious reason, or should we say a spiritual reason, for there may be many who fast for their religiosity, but it may not have anything to do with spiritual matters. Nevertheless, there is sufficient teaching in the scriptures to indicate there are times when fasting would or could enhance either our petitions before the Lord or our hearing from him concerning his will or purpose for our being. However, the time frame or length of such a fast is untaught. It could be for one meal, or for one day, or for a week, month or forty days. But it needs to be for the purpose of hearing from God, or showing God our commitment for some reason. Yet these words are not about this teaching, as we started with. Jesus is telling us that our fasting is completely a private matter between ourselves and God. We should not even admit to another person the fact we are fasting, unless as in one example the disciples were fasting together in prayer about anointing missionaries. Paul and Barnabas fasted together for the anointing of elders. But the point Jesus is making about keeping any fast from being a public display. We could extrapolate this to include any form of a public show of religiosity. That is not to say we should refrain from being spiritual or praying for the needs of others, whenever the opportunity arises. This is also not to say we should refrain from sharing the gospel message, quite the opposite, we should be open to share our faith, living it out loud, being a person who cares about those who are lost and being there with love, concern, mercy, compassion, and with Jesus. This is not about telling them all the things we do not do, or how much we attend church, or how spiritual we are, or that we fast and pray, or whatever else that would lift ourselves above others. It is about being a believer, doing that which the Lord has called us to do and doing it for him, not for ourselves or for a show to others. So back to fasting, only God should know when we fast. If we are fasting then do not put ourselves in situations we have to tell someone we are fasting. Don’t go out to a restaurant with friends then simply order water, telling them we are on a fast.  Don’t attend a church gathering when food is present, then not eat, making it known you are fasting. Simply put, keep it between ourselves and God, when we fast. Fasting is a private matter. 

Forgiveness or Not

DEVOTION

THE GOSPEL OF MATTHEW

For thine is the kingdom, and the power, and the glory forever, amen.

No chapter and verse here due to the fact these words do not appear in the original Greek text from the earliest copies of the codex. They were added by the translators of several versions including the King James and the New American Standard. The others have left them out because they do not exist. It appears Jesus did not add a doxology to his example of prayer. However it is understood the Jews were in the habit of such endings and thus these words did make it into some of the later manuscripts which were circulated. There is no question the kingdom is Gods. There is no question he has all the power to maintain the kingdom. There is no question he and his kingdom are full of glory, the shekinah glory that never ever ends. So then let us move on to the next words Jesus did actually speak.

FORGIVENESS OR NOT

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

Harsh words these are, it would seem. Did Jesus actually say if we are in the least vindictive toward any other person, we have sealed our doom, for we do not have the forgiveness of our sins and thus salvation has escaped us? If we do not have the forgiveness of God, then it surely would mean, we have no such place in his kingdom.

Rom 5:6-11

6 You see, at just the right time, when we were still powerless, Christ died for the ungodly. 7 Very rarely will anyone die for a righteous man, though for a good man someone might possibly dare to die. 8 But God demonstrates his own love for us in this: While we were still sinners , Christ died for us. 9 Since we have now been justified by his blood, how much more shall we be saved from God's wrath through him! 10 For if, when we were God's enemies, we were reconciled to him through the death of his Son, how much more, having been reconciled, shall we be saved through his life! 11 Not only is this so, but we also rejoice in God through our Lord Jesus Christ, through whom we have now received reconciliation.

NIV

Once again it would be best to read the entire teaching here in the letter to the Romans, but the point is the while we were still sinners Christ died for us. We cannot ever be perfect enough to qualify for salvation, however once we have made this commitment to follow Jesus, once we have decided to accept him as our Lord and Savior, we have certain attitudes and behaviors which are not acceptable in his sight. As we have learned before repenting does not mean asking for forgiveness or admitting we are sinners, but it is the changing of our thinking. We no longer think as we once did and now we think differently or according to the truth that has been revealed to us through the power of the Holy Spirit. Therefor as we also learned in the example of prayer Jesus gave us, that we are to ask for the forgiveness of our trespasses and we forgive those who trespass against us. That we are to live in the constant state of forgiving other people. Here Jesus doubles down on the concept. If we have not changed our thinking regarding forgiving others on a constant basis then we have no right to expect God to forgive us, for truly we have not repented of our sin, and we have not made Jesus the Lord and Master of our lives. If we just give God lip service then are we any better than the Pharisees, or for that matter the many of so called religious people, who say they believe in God, but never express any born again experience, nor live in any attempt to adhere to the scriptures. They are just good people who believe being a good person is sufficient to get to heaven. We know better than that, for the truth of the scripture has been revealed to us by the Holy Spirit, first in his conviction of our sin, then in his leading us into all truth. So we have experienced being born again, this new birth, this becoming a new creation in Christ, this putting off of the old and putting on of the new. The changing of our thinking, repenting, having a new mind, the mind of Christ. Therefor we have no other way to think then to constantly forgive all others for whatever they do, whether that be against us or God. We cannot have the slightest of any other thinking which would be seen as being vindictive or not forgiving.

Luke 6:37

37 "Do not judge, and you will not be judged. Do not condemn, and you will not be condemned. Forgive, and you will be forgiven.

NIV

We will also see that Matthew records this also, which Jesus in not just doubling down, but tripling down on this same concept. If we expect to be  forgiven by God and not judged by him or condemned then we have no other alternative then to not judge, not condemn, not carry any unforgiveness in any manner at all, ever. If we do, then could we say that we have not put off the old and put on the new? Could we say then we have not become a new creation in Christ? Could we say then we have not been born again, living a new life in Christ and therefore we never repented, we never changed the way we think about God, about Jesus, about the truth and consequently we are not true believers and are still living in sin, condemned by our own sin, not having the forgiveness of God? If we do not forgive, God will not forgive us, it seems it is that simple, so then, we better never ever harbor any unforgiveness in our heart.

Tempted

DEVOTION

THE GOSPEL OF MATTHEW

TEMPTED

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

We now come to the question whether God would actually lead us into temptation. Why else would Jesus want us to make this petition? Yet we know through the words James was inspired to pen, that God cannot be tempted nor does he tempt.

James 1:13-15

13 When tempted, no one should say, "God is tempting me." For God cannot be tempted by evil, nor does he tempt anyone; 14 but each one is tempted when, by his own evil desire, he is dragged away and enticed. 15 Then, after desire has conceived, it gives birth to sin; and sin, when it is full-grown, gives birth to death.

NIV

So then this petition not to be lead into temptation must carry some meaning other than asking God not to lead us into temptation. It is clear that our own heart is what leads us or is drawn to things which tempt us. Our own heart drags us away and is enticed by the material things or the pleasures of the flesh. Yet it is also clear that temptation is not sin. It is when we allow that temptation to conceive, that is we plan how we are going to achieve that desire, whether that material object, or goal, or that physical pleasure, it will give birth to sin. This prayer then has to deal more with how David prayed.

Ps 141:3-4

3 Set a guard over my mouth, O LORD; keep watch over the door of my lips. 4 Let not my heart be drawn to what is evil, to take part in wicked deeds with men who are evildoers; let me not eat of their delicacies.

NIV

He was praying that God would not allow him to be tempted by his own heart. He prayed that God would strengthen his resolve to resist the evil that dwells within his own heart. We all have this choice. We all have a certain amount of evil which dwells within our heart.  Although God made a declaration regarding mankind prior to the great flood, it holds true for all mankind for all generations, which include us.

Gen 6:5-6

5 The LORD saw how great man's wickedness on the earth had become, and that every inclination of the thoughts of his heart was only evil all the time.

NIV

When we accept Jesus Christ as our Lord and Savior we repent, have a change of thinking, we change how we think about everything. So then, knowing our heart contains evil, that it is drawn toward the temptations which so easily beseech us, instead of readily giving in without any reservations, we pray that God will give us the strength to overcome, that he would not allow our hearts to be dragged away, to be drawn to what is evil. However our heart is not the only source of temptation. The evil one is also coming against the kingdom of God. He truly does not actually care if we sin or not. He does not have any particular cause to gain our soul. His aim is against the kingdom of God. His goal is to strike back at God, and so if he can achieve tempting us to the point of giving up our faith and falling prey to the desires of our heart all the time, he has struck at the core of God’s heart. If this be the case, then our prayer to be delivered from the evil one is for the honor of God, rather than for our own safety. Lord, keep our hearts pure and let not temptation either from our own heart or from the evil one keep us from honoring you. 

Forgiving

DEVOTION

THE GOSPEL OF MATTHEW

FORGIVING

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

Jesus tells us to ask for the forgiveness of our debts, or transgressions against God, or in other words, or sin. However there is a twist. We are asking him to forgive us in the same manner as we forgive people who have transgressed or sinned against us and in essence owe us the due of asking we forgive them. Yet are we only obligated to forgive them if they ask? Does God forgive us if we do not ask? Are we not told that while we were still sinners, Christ died for us?

Rom 5:6-8

6 You see, at just the right time, when we were still powerless, Christ died for the ungodly. 7 Very rarely will anyone die for a righteous man, though for a good man someone might possibly dare to die. 8 But God demonstrates his own love for us in this: While we were still sinners , Christ died for us.

NIV

We would have to read the whole of that chapter in Romans to grasp the fullness of it, however we can see just from these words that Christ did in fact die for all of us, while we were powerless, still sinful, and as he died, he took all of our sin, so that it is to say that God justified himself to his creation and forgave our sin by the blood of Jesus. Now we say that if we confess with our mouth, Jesus is Lord, and believe in our heart that God raised him from the dead, we will be saved.

Rom 10:9-13

9 That if you confess with your mouth, "Jesus is Lord," and believe in your heart that God raised him from the dead, you will be saved. 10 For it is with your heart that you believe and are justified, and it is with your mouth that you confess and are saved. 11 As the Scripture says, "Anyone who trusts in him will never be put to shame."   12 For there is no difference between Jew and Gentile — the same Lord is Lord of all and richly blesses all who call on him, 13 for, "Everyone who calls on the name of the Lord will be saved."  

NIV

It does not say anything about confessing our sin in order to be saved, contrary to popular belief. Perhaps that is inferred in the saying or confessing that Jesus is Lord. We are told at least once that we are to repent and be baptized in order to be saved.

Acts 2:38-39

38 Peter replied, "Repent and be baptized, every one of you, in the name of Jesus Christ for the forgiveness of your sins. And you will receive the gift of the Holy Spirit. 39 The promise is for you and your children and for all who are far off — for all whom the Lord our God will call."

NIV

Yet we are also told that repentance alone will bring forgiveness of sin.

Luke 24:45-47

45 Then he opened their minds so they could understand the Scriptures. 46 He told them, "This is what is written: The Christ will suffer and rise from the dead on the third day, 47 and repentance and forgiveness of sins will be preached in his name to all nations, beginning at Jerusalem.

NIV

In either case, as we have learned before, the word repentance or repent does not mean to ask for the forgiveness of sin, but to have a change of mind, to think differently. When we confess that Jesus Christ is Lord, which is thinking differently than considering we are the masters of our own lives, that we control our destiny, that we chase after whatever suits our fancy. So then in our statement that Jesus is the Lord of our lives, he is our Lord and therefor our Master, we are accepting the forgiveness of God. But we have not said, “Lord forgive me, I confess I am a sinner”. It seems tradition dictates those words, rather than God. Some would use 1 John to make that case.

1 John 1:8-10

8 If we claim to be without sin, we deceive ourselves and the truth is not in us. 9 If we confess our sins, he is faithful and just and will forgive us our sins and purify us from all unrighteousness. 10 If we claim we have not sinned, we make him out to be a liar and his word has no place in our lives.

NIV

But this is not about salvation, but rather about fellowship. This act of asking for the forgiveness of our sin is about being in fellowship with God, as our sin has already been forgiven on the cross over two thousand years ago. Yet back to the words of Jesus in the pattern of prayer he gives us, he tells us  if ask we for God to forgive us, we should forgive others. So, although he has already forgiven our sin, we are reminded that we continue to sin, but that our sin is already forgiven in Christ. Therefor we need not require others to ask us to forgive them in order for us to forgive them. This would then mean we are forever in the state of forgiveness of any who transgress against us. This would agree with the teaching we are to rid ourselves:

Eph 4:31-32

31 Get rid of all bitterness, rage and anger, brawling and slander, along with every form of malice. 32 Be kind and compassionate to one another, forgiving each other, just as in Christ God forgave you.

NIV

There it is forgive each other, just as in Christ God forgave us. Therefore no need for them to ask us, we just forgive them, period. Plus, of course, we are also ridding ourselves of all bitterness, rage and anger and we are being kind and compassionate to each other. So then we must simply always be in the state of forgiving others.

Daily Bread

DEVOTION

THE GOSPEL OF MATTHEW

 DAILY BREAD

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

Here we have a request for daily bread. Much has been composed by our scholars of old regarding the meaning of the Greek word that has been translated bread. The point is, however this is not about a loaf of flour and water mix. True, this does represent a request for our daily needs being given to us by God. It demonstrates our dependence upon God for our daily supply or provisions. This is in opposition of us relying on our own abilities to provide for ourselves. Although we do in essence do just that by working for a paycheck which provides us with our homes, cars, food and other luxuries of life which we so desire to obtain. It could be that we get trapped into thinking we are the reason for what we have or don’t have. But here we are told to remember that we should ask God for our daily portion. This would imply we should not be so concerned about the future that we store up our resources for a rainy day or rather our old age. We are told over and over in different ways throughout the scripture regarding the danger of storing up for tomorrow, yet many Christians do exactly that, invest and store up by becoming partners with the world, in order to gain enough resources for their retirement, so they can sit back, take life easy and enjoy the golden years. Yet here we are told to ask for our daily bread, not weekly, monthly, yearly or enough to store up for the next day, week, month or year. The Jews would have been more than familiar with the story of God providing daily manna from heaven to understand the meaning asking God for our daily bread, that which sustains life. Yet within all this Jesus may well have been giving us an even greater insight in this daily bread. So we journey to the Gospel of John to see this meaning.

John 6:30-35

30 So they asked him, "What miraculous sign then will you give that we may see it and believe you? What will you do? 31 Our forefathers ate the manna in the desert; as it is written: 'He gave them bread from heaven to eat.'" 32 Jesus said to them, "I tell you the truth, it is not Moses who has given you the bread from heaven, but it is my Father who gives you the true bread from heaven. 33 For the bread of God is he who comes down from heaven and gives life to the world."  34 "Sir," they said, "from now on give us this bread." 35 Then Jesus declared, "I am the bread of life. He who comes to me will never go hungry, and he who believes in me will never be thirsty.

NIV

We have a daily need for Jesus in our lives in order to sustain us. We would die without Jesus as our daily portion. This would imply that although we could say the “sinners prayer” confess our sin, accept him as Lord and Savior, then go about living the same life as any non-believer, suppling our own needs, we would die, if not physically, certainly spiritually. If we are just giving God lip service declaring our trust in him, not only for salvation, but for everything which sustains our lives, then we truly are in the process of spiritual death. We need Jesus daily. We need the bread of life each and every day, as God provided the bread from heaven for the children of Israel in the wilderness, we need Jesus each and every day as we travel through the wilderness of this world. As the wilderness did not provide any source of food for them and they needed the manna, the bread from heaven, this world does not provide anything for us which sustains our life. We need the bread from heaven, the true bread of life, Jesus. We cannot store him up, we cannot rely on yesterday’s spiritual experience, but we need our daily experience with Jesus. If we are fed only once a week on Sunday morning surely we are in a death spiral. We need a daily feeding, a daily experience with Jesus. This could look like a daily time set aside to read the word, to ingest the word, to seek out truths for our daily life as a believer. This could look like a time set aside for meditation and prayer, seeking his will for our daily life in this world. In every way, this will always look like daily time with Jesus. He is the sustainer of our lives. There is also something here in the word “give”. This Greek word means to bestow, to bring forth, to deliver, and to give. This means we cannot earn it, we cannot get it ourselves, and we must ask him to deliver it to us, to deliver the bread of life on a daily basis. This implies that we in and of ourselves cannot even understand the bread from heaven, Jesus, the word. He provides the Spirit who leads us into all truth. This could mean that in all our study, all our educational endeavors into the scriptures, we can only understand it, by the power of God, the Spirit. The proof of this is in those men who were what we called “revelation preachers” They had not attended bible colleges, in fact there were not many to attend, but they were revealed the truth by the revelation from the Spirit. Today we may have lost that portion of our daily bread and become dependent on men to teach us a form of the truth, their form of the truth. The fact is all we need is Jesus, our daily bread.