Matthew: Chapter 6

Matthew: Chapter 6
16 "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 than food and the body more than clothing? Look at the birds in the sky; they do not sow or reap, they gather nothing into barns, yet your heavenly Father feeds them. Are not you more important than they? Can any of you by worrying add a single moment to your life-span? 17 Why are you anxious about clothes? Learn from the way the wild flowers grow. They do not work or spin. But I tell you that not even Solomon in all his splendor was clothed like one of them. 18 If God so clothes the grass of the field, which grows today and is thrown into the oven tomorrow, will he not much more provide for you, O you of little faith? So do not worry and say, 'What are we to eat?' or 'What are we to drink?' or 'What are we to wear?' All these things the pagans seek. Your heavenly Father knows that you need them all. But seek first the kingdom (of God) and his righteousness, 19 and all these things will be given you besides. Do not worry about tomorrow; tomorrow will take care of itself. Sufficient for a day is its own evil.

I used to think that I was the only one that struggled with the many issues that surround life. I then came to a point where I understood the world by saying we all struggle with the same things. I soon realized the fallacy of that statement. I am currently at the stage where I realize we all have our own unique set of struggles that are our own. They may overlap in areas but together they are unique.

The first statement leaves us all alone. The second statement believes that we can solve our problems together, which I believe has it's place, the last statement shows our need for God.

Silence or Speak

Ecclesiastes 3:7b (NKJV) "A time to keep silence, And a time to speak;"

This is a difficult balance to accomplish. If you haven't figured out one of my dreams is to learn how to find this balance. I find many times we are silent when we should speak. I find that many of our problems are rooted in our silence. Things like struggles, joy, and problems should be said because many people struggle and when we are silent we think we struggle alone. Many people are joyful but don't share it, God's goodness I think should be shared. Sometimes it is our misconceptions of other peoples words or actions that pull us apart, and other times I talk to much and don't listen to what people are trying to tell me. The problem is it is hard because I worry what other people think about me. I worry because I am not sure about the consequences of saying things (or silence), and this worry drains my energy. I believe that Satan many times revels in our silence. This is where I am learning to trust God, and say it is all yours anyways.

So God this is a prayer for myself and everyone,
that we would learn how to keep our silence when it is needed,
and learn to speak when we need to speak.
God bless us,
God lead us.

Galatians 6:2-3 (NKJV)
"Bear one another's burdens, and so fulfill the law of Christ. For if anyone thinks himself to be something, when he is nothing, he deceives himself."

Trusting God

Chapter 13

1 And as he went out of the temple, one of his disciples said to him, Teacher, see what wonderful stones and buildings!
2 Jesus said to him, Do you see these great buildings? there shall not be one stone left upon another, that shall not be thrown down.
3 And as he sat upon the mount of Olives across from the temple, Peter and James and John and Andrew asked him privately,
4 Tell us, when shall these things be? and what will be the sign that all these things are about to be fulfilled?
5 And Jesus said to them, Take heed lest any man deceive you:
6 For many will come in my name, saying, I am he; and shall deceive many.
7 And when you hear of wars and rumours of wars, do not be troubled: for such things must happen; but the end is not yet.
8 For nation shall rise against nation, and kingdom against kingdom: and there shall be earthquakes in various places, and there shall be famines: these are the beginnings of birth pains.

I find many times people use these verses to convince people buy gold, stock pile food ... and the rest. To convince people that the world is going to end right away. The truth is that Jesus is saying that everything will fall apart. But the question becomes where do we put our trust. I find that sometimes we use this to envision a future where we forget all ties to the world and go live in the mountains, but look closely does Jesus draw that conclusion anywhere. If you think about it buying gold, ammunition, food, etc. really is the transferring this trust in the system to a trust in my ability to prepare myself. Is that what Jesus intended? I don't believe so. I believe that Jesus wants us to trust him. So what does that mean, what does trusting Jesus look like? And that I believe is the million dollar question.

Up Close

Matthew 9:13 "But go and learn what this means: 'I desire mercy and not sacrifice.' For I did not come to call the righteous, but sinners, to repentance"

Matthew 12:7 "But if you had known what this means, 'I desire mercy and not sacrifice,' you would not have condemned the guiltless"

Jesus is quoting Hosea 6:6

The religious leaders of the time focused on sacrifice. If you read the passages around these verses the the Pharisees are telling Jesus that he and is followers are not following the "rules." They were not making "sacrifices". The were using condemning Jesus because he healed on the sabbath, because his disciples threshed wheat and eat it on the sabbath. This can be translated into how we quickly point out all the areas where other people are not following God. Who would you say is not following Jesus and why?

Jesus offers this radically different idea where the greatest commandment is to love God. The rules are not our salvation but they become important to the person or community as we learn to love, and as we are lead by the holy spirit. I think this is what Hosea is saying, he is crying out for to God because he wants mercy and not rules to set straight wrongs. Hosea feels the weight because no one can live according to the rules that God has set in place. This is exactly why Jesus came to offer us mercy instead of sacrifices.

This leads me to think about what we teach people, are we teaching people to follow rules or to love God? I think many times we teach people rules because it is so much easier to do.