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Today’s Reading Matthew 6:25-34 ; Psalms 82

Upon reading todays passage of the Sermon on the Mount, “Worry”, my mind started to sing different songs about “Worry”.  The first melody that I started to think of was “Don’t you Worry ‘bout A Thing”- Stevie Wonder, due to the countless times that the movie “Sing” has been played in our house for the last several months.  The next song was “Three Little Birds”-Bob Marley and then the iconic “Don’t Worry, Be Happy”.  My curiosity kept me searching and I found that hundreds of songs subject is Worry and anxiety. The conclusion is there is so much Worry and Anxiety everywhere in the world.

As I think about the worry and anxiety, I wonder if the where the origin of this visceral emotion started, The Garden of Eden?  Before Original Sin, Adam and Eve did not have to worry about anything: food, clothing, shelter, protection, or the future.  But once they took their focus off of God and began to think about self, then worry and anxiety started to creep in and manifest in their mind.

Jesus purpose for the Sermon of the Mount was to give us guidance and direction in some of the most profound issues that were separating us from God.  His main purpose was to bring the true word of God and create a new relationship between God and us.  In these verses Jesus tells us that we should not allow the anxieties and worries of this life to distract us from the ultimate goal of living for God.  In another example we are shown that even in the midst of Christ we can have worry.

Matthew 14: 28-33

And Peter answered him, “Lord, if it is you, command me to come to you on the water.” ²⁹ He said, “Come.” So Peter got out of the boat and walked on the water and came to Jesus. ³⁰ But when he saw the wind,^[d] he was afraid, and beginning to sink he cried out, “Lord, save me.” ³¹ Jesus immediately reached out his hand and took hold of him, saying to him, “O you of little faith, why did you doubt?”³² And when they got into the boat, the wind ceased. ³³ And those in the boat worshiped him, saying, “Truly you are the Son of God.”

While on the Sea of Galilee, Peter sees Jesus walking on water to the ship.  When Peter knew that it was Christ, he asked to come and he started to walk on the water to Christ.  When the Peter felt the shift in the wind and sea, he started to worry and took his eyes off of Christ and started to sink.

We have the tendency to worry about many things on a daily, sometime hourly basis.  We worry about finances, family and friends, the future.  We worry about jobs, schools, food, shelter, and keeping up with others.   We have to really ask ourselves “why are we worrying?”  Why do we worry when God has the ultimate control?  He has the control over all things, including Satan.  Satan has to ask for permission to expose, inflict, tempt, and create worry.    Worry is the illusion of having power and the fear of losing this power.   God has control and has planned good things for us, why worry?

Matthew 19:13-15: ¹³ Then children were brought to him that he might lay his hands on them and pray. The disciples rebuked the people, ¹⁴ but Jesus said, “Let the little children come to me and do not hinder them, for to such belongs the kingdom of heaven.”¹⁵ And he laid his hands on them and went away.   As I have stated on many occasions, God speaks through me from my experience as a father. The one verse that resonates with me about worry and God’s provision for me is the one mention previously.  We have to have the heart of a child and allow God to be our Father.   With my kids, I can take them to the doctor’s office, the movies, the museum, the dentist’s office, event up rocky hikes and steep cliffs and they will be at ease and calm.  They have experienced that I will protect them and give them good things and love them unconditionally.  If we adults can have this same amount of trust in Our Heavenly Father, we will not have to worry.

God,

Allow us to not lose sight of you when the world gives us obstacles that distract us from you. Please give us the ability to realign and focus on you and rest in your Calm and Comfort. Amen

Writing these bi-weekly posts is complicated! I am sure each writer of this Bible Journal agrees that each post takes time of prayer, thought, research, study and time spent writing. We all want each post to be personal and soul-touching. We want God to speak to you through these words so that You, the reader my draw closer to our Heavenly Father. That being said, sometimes I dig too deep in what other people have said about my selection of verses for the day. I let their thoughts influence me and begin to think that what I have to say is not good enough. Well, today’s post might be pretty simple, but I believe God has put these simple thoughts in my mind to share with you today. Hopefully, you can draw near to God today and these words will creep into your thinking as you go throughout your day and think about serving God.

Our verse today is Matthew 6:24, “No one can serve two masters. Either you will hate the one and love the other, or you will be devoted to the one and despise the other. You cannot serve both God and money.”

We all know that money is important to survive day to day in this life. We need a roof over our head, clothes on our bodies, and food in our tummies. These are our basic needs, then we have all of the other needs that flood into our lives…medical bills, school loans, activity bills, car loans, extra-curricular expenses, and the list goes on and on, it never ends. I think back 20 years and remember when my husband and I were moving from 2 incomes to 1 income so that I could stay home with our soon to arrive newborn. We lived for a long while out of envelopes! Have you ever done this?? There is a certain amount of cash in each envelope and that is all you have for the month! We had envelopes for food, clothing, miscellaneous, entertainment, and emergencies. Every month without fail we would run out of the food money. We would be eating mac&cheese the last few nights of every month! It was not easy, but we ultimately were able to meet our goal of living on one income before our son entered this world. It was worth every bowl of pasta we ate!

This topic of envelopes just came up the other night in our house. We have some changes coming up for our family and we are discussing options as to where God may have our family headed in the next few years. Believe it our not, money plays a huge part in where we see ourselves in the future. We can base our future on what we could have and what the world would see as successful or we can focus on what God has in store for us and bring glory to Him by how we choose to spend our money.   It is fun to dream of “bigger and better”, but ultimately, we know that this will not make us happy. My husband and I came to the delightful conclusion that we are no happier today (not living out of envelopes) then we were 20 years ago! In looking at our future, we cannot put our focus on material possessions or how happy we think something will make us.

In preparation for changes coming to our family, we have been cleaning out our house! Closets, rooms, drawers, desks, storage rooms, and the garage! Why do we collect so many things?!?! In the past month we have donated, given away, and thrown away so much! Things that at one time we must have thought we needed, but only sat around and gathered dust. We are a culture of accumulators! The world around us tries to convince us that we need certain things. That our life will be easier if we have this gadget, or that we will be happier if we only add this ____to our life! Our family has a saying that pops up when we see something that is really enticing. My dad actually started this saying when we were growing up and because he was in the home building business it usually centered around seeing beautiful houses. He would take us to see these houses and we would really wish we could live there. He would say,  “Then We Will Be Happy!!!” We knew that just living in a beautiful house would not make us happy. That saying has transferred even to small things in our lives, like a new outfit, or even just a small un-needed purchase from the grocery store. We ask ourselves, “will that really make you happy?” Maybe for the moment or a couple hours, but ultimately the “happy” feeling will fade and need to be replaced by another purchase. Only God can fix our happy all the time. Our focus has to be totally fixed on God and what He has for us. It is so easy to get caught up in what everybody around us has and it is easy to get discouraged.

Jesus wants us to be content with Him and Him alone. We cannot store up treasures here on earth (Matthew 6:19) because God wants us to serve Him and not the things of this world. We should love God more than things. We should spend more time with God and less time on thinking of what might make us happy. We should sacrifice self for God and desire in our hearts to serve Him more and more each day. Loving God more than things should be our daily goal.

Psalm 80 today is pertinent to this text in Matthew!
Verses 8-10: “Listen to me, O my People, while I give you stern warnings, O Israel, if you would only listen! You must never have a foreign god; you must not bow down before a false god. For it was I , the Lord your God, who rescued you from the land of Egypt. Open your mouth wide, and I will fill it with good things.”

Matthew 6:22-23, Psalms 80

I remember a sailing trip with my father.  I was standing in the cockpit with him and his friend looking at the islands a few miles away.  We were picking out landmarks that would help us identify our position.  But, there was a problem.  My dad could not see them.  We kept pointing to them and trying to direct him toward them, but it was no use.  He could not see.  Finally, our friend suggested that he try on his glasses.  The result was shocking.  Not only did my dad see the landmarks we were referring to, he could see everything.  He couldn’t believe it.  Even the leaves on trees were visible.  From that moment on, my dad saw the world differently.  He is not the only one.  According to Google (the ultimate truth for everything under the sun), 61% of the population uses corrective lenses of some type.  Why do they need them?  Simply put, our eyes are not healthy.

Today in Matthew 6:22-23, Jesus talks about the health of our spiritual eyes.  Have you ever considered how well you see spiritually?  When we take a cue from our physical eyes, the answer is not very encouraging.  In fact, our picture of God is really fuzzy and unclear.  When that is true, Godly choices are hard to make.  In fact, as the scripture points out, they may be flat out wrong.  Even worse, just like my dad, we don’t know that we don’t have the whole picture.  We are being led astray and don’t even know it!

Thankfully, just like our physical sight, we are able to improve our spiritual vision.  Consider these two distinct ways to test our spiritual sight.  First, is the Bible.  Psalm 119:105 says that God’s word is “a lamp unto our feet.” Additionally,  2 Peter 1:19 says that the light of scripture will light our path until our hearts can see clearly on their own.  The second significant source of clear spiritual vision is other believers.  Acts 2:42 tells us that through the teaching, fellowship, breaking of bread and prayers with other believers many are able to see clearly.

I am grateful for this opportunity with BibleJournal.  Every day, it presents a unique opportunity to see God rightly with a Biblical foundation in the presence of other believers.

Today’s reading is Matthew 6:14-15 and Psalm 77.

What does Jesus mean when he says that if we do not forgive others we will not be forgiven? I don’t think he is holding forgiveness back from us – I think he is trying to get us to understand that the grace that makes forgiveness available to us has to be accepted. How can we accept forgiveness for our own sins (against God and others) if we don’t believe we’ve done something wrong? And, if we know we’ve sinned, and have asked for and accepted the grace of forgiveness, how can we hold it back from others – but still expect our own slate to be wiped clean?

Forgiveness is guaranteed as a response to repentance (1 John 1:9-10). I think with true repentance comes a recognition of our own unworthiness – but thankfully Jesus only asks for repentance, not for perfection. If we cannot forgive others who are not unlike ourselves, then we must not truly be recognizing the condition of sin in our own hearts. When we do recognize our sin, and go to God in humility asking for forgiveness, we receive His mercy. Part of being a Christ-follower is striving to be Christlike in thought, word and actions – even to forgiving those “unworthy” of forgiveness. If we withhold that forgiveness, we are also keeping ourselves from experience the full comfort of God’s grace and mercy. We become trapped in a prison of our own making.

Is there anyone you’ve been unable to forgive? Spend some time in prayer and confession. Ask God for forgiveness, thank Him for his grace and mercy, and ask the Holy Spirit to fill your heart with the desire to forgive.