Matthew 5:43-47 : New King James Version (NKJV)
"You have heard that it was said, "You shall love your neighbor and hate your enemy.' But I say to you, love your enemies, bless those who curse you, do good to those who hate you, and pray for those who spitefully use you and persecute you, that you may be sons of your Father in heaven; for He makes His sun rise on the evil and on the good, and sends rain on the just and on the unjust. For if you love those who love you, what reward have you? Do not even the tax collectors do the same? And if you greet your brethren only, what do you do more than others? Do not even the tax collectors do so?In the class I am in at church, we spent quite a bit of time recently discussing the matter of forgiveness. Forgiveness is more than a virtue that others can appreciate. It is a command of God. And why is it so important to forgive others. While we're at it, why is it so hard to do this?
Forgiving someone for hurting you is more than a way to dispel animosity among you. It is a way to soothe your own soul. Remember the command from the Sermon on the Mount? "Forgive, and you will be forgiven" is not just a suggestion, you know. It's a command with the benefit of forgiveness right after it.
But sometimes it's so hard to forgive, isn't it? We know that we are to forgive others. We know to turn the other cheek. We know that this is the revealed will of God and to act in the contrary of the will of God is sin. It is a measure of human pride that does this. To truly forgive others, we must ask God for the will to forgive. We need to look to the monumental act of forgiveness that God has bestowed on each of us and use the sacrifice of His son as a model of forgiveness.
It's not easy, but it is liberating. It heals wounds. It reunites the love of friends and family. It salves the tensions that occur when out in public. It keeps you in a pleasant state of mind. Forgiveness isn't just a suggestion and it's more than a command. The call to forgive is a sign of God's love for us.
Today's reading is found in John 5:1-47, Mark 2:23-28, Matthew 12:1-8, Luke 6:1-5, Mark 3:1-6, Matthew 12:9-14, Luke 6:6-11 and Matthew 12:15-21.
I'm not sure what to say about these Pharisees. With their position came power, and they say power corrupts. I'm not so sure about that phrase. I'm more of the mind that power attracts the easily corruptible. This sort of a person is trying to accomplish one thing. They want to retain this power for as long as possible.
Jesus came on the scene and threatened this power, and they started to look for ways to discredit him. Naturally, they turned to what they knew first, the Law of Moses. When Jesus defended his actions to them, He wasn't just speaking to them. He was speaking to all of us, otherwise his words wouldn't have been added to the Bible. His message was to confirm that the Sabbath wasn't created to install rules for people, but for people to have a needed day of rest. He also chastised them for working all their lives for the praise of each other, rather than the praise of God.
Kinda puts things in perspective, doesn't it?
Today's reading is found in Mark 3:7-19, Luke 6:12-16, Matthew 5:1-12, Luke 6:17-26, Matthew 5:13-48, Luke 6:27-36 and Matthew 6:1-4.
Next up: the Beatitudes. I don't have the space to go into details, but I will touch on the overall message. These Beatitudes are much like the Fruits of the Spirit. They are both blessings that are made available to anyone who follows Him.
The first Beatitude refers to those who are poor, but this has nothing to do with their economic status. A closer definition is given as "poor in spirit" which can also be described as humble or gentle. The blessed person is willing to remain humbled, no matter their status or condition for God's sake.
The others are fairly straightforward in their presentation. I just wanted to point out that being either poor or rich often has nothing to do with money. I know some morally bankrupt people who would be considered rich and I know people who struggle to put food on the table who are the richest people I have ever met. I guess it all comes down to priorities.
Due to the misguided priorities of Israel to this point, Jesus also clarified some points here. For example: it's not enough to not kill someone when you're angry. We're expected to be better than that and set the example by using forgiveness and prayer.
Today's reading is found in Matthew 6:5-7:6, Luke 6:37-42, Matthew 7:7-20, Luke 6:43-45, Matthew 7:21-29, Luke 6:46-49.
How do others see you? If you answered something along the lines of "That's their concern" then you passed the test. This day's reading is all about perception. There were people that would pray loud and long, using as many catchwords as they could. They're still around, and when I hear all of the "Thees" and "Thous" I wonder if there isn't any posturing going on. I'm not saying that people who use these words are praying in a wrong way, I'm just saying that it seems a little uppity to me. I believe prayer should be honest and genuine. Why should you change your style of speaking during prayer? If I were God, I'd rather hear the praise and supplication of a person who longs to be nearer to me. But you're not praying to me, are you?
Next comes a passage that I have clung to desperately for the last year or two. I'm not a wealthy man in financial measures. Sometimes the bills stretch our resources to the point where we wonder how we'll pay for things. Sometimes, the stress gets so great, and Ben needs a new pair of shoes, and the cupboard is getting bare, that I just go to the one room in the house that I can be alone in and read Matthew 6. That puts things back into perspective for me. How much does God love a bird, to see that it has all it needs to live? How much are you loved?
There's truly so much to say about this day's reading! I suggest reading it more than once and maybe reading it in sections, rather than as a whole. There's some great stuff in here that needs to sink in.
Today's reading is found in Matthew 8:5-13, Luke 7:1-17, Matthew 11:1-19, Luke 7:18-35, Matthew 11:20-30 and Luke 7:36-50.
In this reading we have a story about the faith of a centurion. A centurion was an army commander with about 100 men under his control, and such a profession would seem to make this man a poor candidate for a believer of Jesus, but his faith was evident. This man was also very humble, which is not a trait I'd think of in a military commander. These two traits actually modified the manner that Jesus was going to use in this miracle! Think about that. Faith and humility shaped a miracle. That's bigger than I can even say!
The sinful woman in Luke 7 is another good illustration that is valid for today's world. This woman had done some bad things and she knew it. She entered the Pharisee's house where Jesus was eating and wept at his feet. All the Pharisee thought of was how bad the woman had sinned, but Jesus didn't some to look down on those who need him the most. He forgave her sins and used this as an object lesson for the Pharisee. The woman loved him more than one who had only sinned a little because her faith had set her free from a terrible burden.
Today's reading is found in Luke 8:1-3, Mark 3:20-30, Matthew 12:22-45, Mark 3:31-35, Matthew 12:46-50, Luke 8:19-21, Mark 4:1-9, Matthew 13:1-9, Luke 8:4-8 and Mark 4:10-20.
Much of Jesus' teachings were done by parable. A story would be told with an object lesson behind it. Some of these stories were familiar in the sense that the listener could easily identify with the parable. The parable we heard of the man who would rescue his lamb on the Sabbath was one example. This is one where only a few people could actively identify with it, but anyone could understand it.
Farming was a more labor-intensive practice in that time. The field would be plowed and a man would walk among the furrows, throwing seed. People could see examples of birds eating the seed that landed on the path near a field. Rocky ground was obviously not a good place to plant, even those who stayed in the city instinctively knew that. Thorns and weeds are the most natural enemies of any crop. None of this was a secret. A parable is a way to take something of common knowledge and use it as an object lesson. The lesson here is that much of the effort of the church would be for naught, but when it works, it really can take off! The word of God is falling around you. You can choose to give it an environment that will allow it to grow or you can let prejudice or fear stifle it. What's it gonna be?
Today's reading is found in Matthew 13:10-23, Luke 8:9-18, Mark 4:21-29, Matthew 13:24-30, Mark 4:30-34, Matthew 13:31-52, Mark 4:35-41, Matthew 8:23-27, Luke 8:22-25.
Pesticides were unknown in the fields 2000 years ago. So when weeds were planted along with a crop, there was little to do. Sure, you could let them grow to a height that they could be pulled, but as the reading suggests, you may damage your crop in the process. The way to handle the problem was to let them both grow until the time for harvest came and separate the plants at that time.
Satan has planted weeds in the world, and the variety he has added is numerous. There are religions out there that are similar to the truth, similar enough to distract those who are seeking God, but with enough subtle differences to cause the seeker to miss the mark. At the end of the age, or when Jesus makes His return, those false religions will be destroyed, but the damage will have been done. Just as a weed will pull nutrients from a crop, these large religions will pull people from the truth that would have set them free. The statement that Allah is just another name for God is one example of this. There are approximately one BILLION Muslims in the world today. All of them believe that they will reach glory from their works, but most of them will never see glory because they view Jesus as nothing more than another prophet of Allah. They claim to base their belief on faith, but their faith is based on mandatory, often forced, prayers to a counterfeit deity. They need to be in our prayers that they will discover the truth about Jesus.Today's reading is found in Mark 5:1-20, Matthew 8:28-34, Luke 8:26-39, Mark 5:21-43, Matthew 9:18-26, Luke 8:40-56.
My first thought when seeing a powerful man possessed with multiple demons would be how to escape, but not our Lord. You may not have been to happy with me last week, saying Jesus is the Lord of demons, but here's just another such example. And he (the demons) begged Jesus again and again not to send them out of the area. If Jesus didn't have power over evil spirits, they wouldn't have been begging Him for anything. Likewise, if He wasn't over them, how could He have commanded them to leave the people they were torturing? Jesus is NOT an evil one, but He does claim the title of Lord over All.
We also see here that He is lord over sickness and death. This is His domain and He is powerful enough to manage it as He sees fit. If you have a problem, no matter how great or small, take it to Him. God answers prayer in His time and in His ways. There is no greater power you can wield than the power of Christ. Thus, the position you can take with the best authority is on your knees.
Weekly LinkFrom the website: My wife and I were Jehovah's Witnesses all our lives. (we are both third-generation JWs) We have served this organization in various capacities believing we were being faithful to Jehovah God. (Regular Pioneer, Special Pioneer, Bethelite) After a traumatic event in our lives concerning our daughter, (Read our testimony: "They Wanted Our Baby to Die") we took a second look at what we believed and the organization to which we belonged. We began to do what we challenged every person we met from door to door, "examine your religion." What we found was a man-made organization with grandiose claims which did not match the biblical record of Christ's "body" in practice or doctrine. We discovered from reading the Bible alone that eternal life is not found any religion or organization but only in the person of Jesus Christ. These pages expose to the world the claims and cover-ups of the Watchtower organization which has ruined the lives of multitudes, sent children to early graves and has destroyed families. Also on these pages is some satire and humor which allows ex-members, who have escaped from the Watchtower prison, to laugh at the organization they once feared. This is healing. |
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