Monthly Archives: August 2022

THE NARROW AND WIDE GATES

Christian Life, ,

THE NARROW AND WIDE GATES

“Enter through the narrow gate. For wide is the gate and broad is the road that leads to destruction, and many enter through it. But small is the gate and narrow the road that leads to life, and only a few find it.” Matthew 7:13, 14.

The Bible often uses the picture of a journey to describe our walk through life. The journey of the children of Israel from Egypt to the Promised Land helps us to understand our journey from birth to death. We even have an advert on our local television which says, “Life’s a journey. Enjoy the ride.”

None of us begins our journey with God. We are born in sin, as rebellious children who refuse to heed our heavenly Father’s instructions. We were all born with a purpose and designed by God to fulfil a destiny, but most people never discover their purpose or fulfil their destiny because they refuse to return to the Father and find out what He wants.

Every journey had a destination and a way to get there. You cannot get on a train going in one direction and hope to reach your destination which lies in the opposite direction. You must get on the train that takes you to where you want to go.

Jesus spoke about two destinations – destruction and life. What did He mean? Most of us think He was talking about heaven and hell. What He was really talking about was what you make of your life by your choices and decisions now. If you want to experience true life, what Jesus called “abundant life”, your choices are narrowed down to only one – to follow Jesus. He said, “I am the life.” That means that the way He lived was real life. When we follow Him, we will also experience real life.

How did Jesus live? He loved the Father and He lived for others. His whole life was focussed on making the lives of other people better to the point where He died to pay our debt of sin and bring us back to the Father.

The other way, the way of selfishness and greed leads to destruction. We only have to look at the way greedy people live to recognise that they are not happy. They are driven by their greed to do whatever it takes to get more, even if they kill or steal to get what they want. They use people to get money and when they have it, they spend it on themselves and their families or they hoard it so that someone else gets it when they die. Their families fight over their money and possessions when they are dead and cause more destruction and heartache between people.

The broad way leaves many choices open to us but, whatever choices we make, if they are purely selfish, or to get our own way, they will hurt other people, destroy friendships and family, and cause our lives to fall apart.

Life is made up of many choices. Every day we are faced with the narrow gate which leads to life or the broad gate which leads to destruction. We must keep making those choices based on the destination we want to reach. If we want real life, we must choose to follow Jesus. If we want ruin, it does not matter what else we do. If we refuse to follow Jesus, we will arrive at ruin. It’s all up to us choose our destination.

Scripture taken from THE HOLY BIBLE, NEW INTERNATIONAL VERSION®, NIV® Copyright © 1973, 1978, 1984, 2011 by Biblica, Inc.® Used by permission. All rights reserved worldwide.

ASK, SEEK, KNOCK

Christian Life, ,

ASK, SEEK, KNOCK

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

Many of us have been taught that Jesus was talking about being persistent in prayer here. Ask and keep on asking, as though God were deaf or needed persuading. We know that is not true because God is more ready to give than we are to receive. Sometimes the problem is that we ask for the wrong things, for the wrong reasons or with the wrong attitude.

But Jesus’ instruction here – His yoke – is not so much about persistence, although it is important that we do not give up, as it is about approaching God with the right attitude. First of all, asking, seeking and knocking are all part of prayer. Sometimes we need to ask, other times to seek or to knock depending on what we desire from God.

We often approach God with a request in the same way as we approach some people, depending who they are or what our relationship to them is. For example, we would ask our boss for a raise in salary differently from the way we would ask our father for a new bicycle. We would give reasons and explanations to our boss and even ask him in a roundabout way. We would not need to speak to our father like that. We would simply tell him what we want.

Jesus said that we are to treat God as our heavenly Father. He does not need long explanations, big words or round about ways of asking. If it for our good and for His glory, He will willingly give what we ask, even if He does not give it to us immediately. At the right time He will grant our request if we trust Him and patiently wait for His time.

God is a far better Father than any earthly father. Earthly fathers give their children what they ask for – even if they are evil compared with God our Father. Surely then, God, who is a perfect Father will give us what He knows is good for us!

Jesus taught us to be direct with God. We don’t need to butter Him up or beg Him for what He is more than willing to give. Just ask in simple words; just seek with an honest heart; just knock on the door you would like to go through. Then trust Him to do the best for you and give the best to you because He is your heavenly Father, full of love and compassion for His children.

Scripture taken from THE HOLY BIBLE, NEW INTERNATIONAL VERSION®, NIV® Copyright © 1973, 1978, 1984, 2011 by Biblica, Inc.® Used by permission. All rights reserved worldwide.

DO NOT JUDGE

Christian Life, ,

DO NOT JUDGE

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

As we go along, Jesus’ yoke seems to get tougher, doesn’t it? This one is not easy for us to follow because we often compare others with ourselves or some person we admire.

God is absolutely just. Jesus said that He would use the same measure that we use for others to measure us. Now that’s fair, isn’t it? We cannot use one measure for ourselves and another measure for someone else. That’s the first problem and the second one is that the measure we use is usually some imperfect person, and mostly ourselves.

Jesus told a story about two men who went to the temple to pray. One was a Pharisee and the other a tax collector. The Pharisee was a very religious man whose prayer was nothing but a comparison between himself and the tax collector. He was satisfied with himself because he was for more religious than the tax collector. The tax collector, on the other hand, asked God for mercy because, when he compared himself with God, he realised that he needed mercy.

Jesus asked his hearers, “Which prayer do you think God answered?” Of course, the tax collector’s! The Pharisee’s prayer was not even a prayer. He was doing nothing but congratulating himself on how good he thought he was, and God had nothing to say to him.

Jesus said that the person who judges others by his own standard is a hypocrite. He can see the faults of others very clearly, but he looks right past his own. The problem is that, by his very attitude of contempt for others, he is far guiltier of sin than the person he is judging.

Have you noticed how much Jesus hated the attitude of people who thought they were better than others? He did not come down as hard on adulterers and tax collectors as He did on the Pharisees and religious leaders.

Those who were regarded as “sinners” by the religious people did not hide their sinfulness behind a “holy” cloak. They did not pretend to be what they were not. The Pharisees, on the other hand, were greedy for money and power and they controlled people by putting on a religious “front”. Underneath, however, they were as full of wickedness as the rest, as much as they tried to hide it by showing everyone how good they were by keeping the law.

God is far more concerned about how honest we are than about how good we are. He knows that we are imperfect and that we fail. It is far better to be humble and admit when we do wrong than to cover it up by pretending to be righteous and behaving badly where no one can see us or judging other people in our hearts when we are just like they are and even worse.

If we keep looking at Jesus, we will not be tempted to think we are better than others. How blessed we are to know that, when God looks at us, He sees Jesus because, if we believe in Him and follow Him faithfully, we are forgiven, washed clean, accepted “in Christ” and covered by His righteousness!

SCRIPTURE TAKEN FROM THE HOLY BIBLE, NEW INTERNATIONAL VERSION®, NIV® Copyright © 1973, 1978, 1984, 2011 by Biblica, Inc.® Used by permission. All rights reserved worldwide.

FIRST THINGS FIRST

Christian Life, ,

FIRST THINGS FIRST

“So do not worry saying, ‘What shall we eat?’ or ‘What shall we drink?’ or ‘What shall we wear?’ For the pagans run after all these things, and your heavenly Father knows that you need them. But seek first His kingdom and His righteousness and all these things will be given to you as well.” Matthew 6:31-33.

We have already looked at what Jesus said about worry. There is one more thing we need to consider apart from the fact that worry cancels out our trust in God as our Father and makes Him out to be a liar.

When we worry about the everyday things of life, we make things, like food and clothing and all the stuff that the pagans worry about and work hard for, more important than God and His kingdom. That makes us just like the heathen – the people who do not love and trust the living God. God want us to be different because we live in a different kingdom. We are not ruled by “things” but by God’s love and His care for everyone in the world, not only those who love Him.

What did Jesus mean when He said, “Seek first His kingdom and His righteousness”? We may often say this verse but do we know what it means? In the Bible, “righteousness” means “doing the right thing.” God is righteous. That means that He always does the right thing. He loves every person in the world no matter who or where they are. Is that doing the right thing? Yes, it is.

We live in a world that is full of sin. People make wrong choices and do bad things. Other people suffer because of what bad people do. God gave us the freedom to make choices and when we choose to do wrong, He does not step in and stop us because He respects our freedom and does not treat us like puppets. But God always does the right thing when we trust Him. He is able to work for our good even when we make wrong choices or when other people harm us. God does the right thing by bringing good out of evil in spite of our suffering.

God promised to help us and to provide for us if we trust Him and obey what He commands. God had provided enough of everything for everyone in the world. When greedy people hoard what God has provided, other people suffer and become poor. God wants us to have the same loving heart for everyone as He has by sharing what we have so that we can keep His provisions going around. That’s how God rules the world, by taking care of people and giving them what they need, but He does it through us.

When we share what we have, we are also doing the right thing. In that way, God is able to meet everyone’s needs as long as we keep what He has given us circulating. The pagans don’t understand that. They think that they will only have enough if they stash it away like a squirrel stashes nuts for winter. In God’s kingdom, the way to meet our own needs is to help others in need.

The people in the world don’t understand this because it is part of God’s supernatural kingdom. We need to show them how it works by being obedient to God and trusting Him to take care of us as we take care of others. When we do that, people will see what a great and loving God we serve.

Scripture taken from THE HOLY BIBLE, NEW INTERNATIONAL VERSION®, NIV® Copyright © 1973, 1978, 1984, 2011 by Biblica, Inc.® Used by permission. All rights reserved worldwide.

DO NOT WORRY

Christian Life, ,

DO NOT WORRY

“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 the life more important than food, and the body more important than clothes? 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 more valuable than they?” Matthew 6:25-27.

What person, in their lifetime, has not worried? Of course we all worry. Things go wrong; our children get sick, we run out of money, we lose our job, we have family problems – the list is endless. How could Jesus say, “Do not worry?” Didn’t He understand what it was like to have responsibilities?

Yes, Jesus knew about all these things. He may not have been married and have had children but He was the eldest son in the family. After His earthly father’s death, He was responsible to care for His mother and younger brothers and sisters. He worked hard in the carpenter’s shop to provide for them. Perhaps there were days, even weeks when He had no work. People who run their own business know what it’s like not to receive a salary at the end of the month.

On top of that, He lived in an occupied land where there were Roman soldiers everywhere. People were arrested and punished for all sorts of reasons. They had to pay heavy taxes to Rome for everything. There were tax collectors who not only collected taxes for Rome; they also demanded extra for themselves. Life was hard for the ordinary people.

And yet, in spite of all these difficulties, He still said, “Do not worry.” If He taught His disciples not to worry, it means that it applied to Him first of all. How was it possible for Jesus not to worry in His situation?

The difference between Jesus and the rest of His people was that He knew God as His heavenly Father. He knew that a father knows his children’s needs and cares for them. They don’t have to beg for every slice of bread they eat and every bit of clothing they wear. They don’t fret about where they will get their next meal or where they will live. They know that their father will take care of everything for them. Jesus knew His heavenly Father like that, and He wanted His disciples to know God like that as well.

Worry does not change our circumstances but it does change our attitudes. We cannot trust God and worry at the same time. When we worry, we are telling God that He is untrustworthy. How would you like to tell God that to His face? Would He be happy with you? When we worry we are in effect telling God that His promises are not true – that He is a liar! That’s even worse, isn’t it?

We may not be able to see God but He is real. Just look at the world around you. How did that happen? Everything we see is shouting out to us that God is real and that He loves us because He made the beautiful world with its bounty for us.

So, Jesus urges us, “Do not worry. You have a heavenly Father who loves you so much that He will take care of every need without your having to worry for one second.” Someone said that worry is like sitting in a rocking chair. No matter how much your rock the chair it will take you nowhere! Instead of worrying, praise Him because His promises will never fail.

When we choose to trust God even in difficult times, we will experience God’s faithfulness and we will be able to say, like King David,

“I was young and now I am old, yet I have never seen the righteous forsaken or their children begging bread. They are always generous and lend freely; their children will be blessed.” Psalm 37:25, 26.

Scripture taken from THE HOLY BIBLE, NEW INTERNATIONAL VERSION®, NIV® Copyright © 1973, 1978, 1984, 2011 by Biblica, Inc.® Used by permission. All rights reserved worldwide.