There are More Important Things than Tithing

Today's Reading:

• Luke 11:37 - 12:7

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Luke 11:37 - 12:7
Jesus had dinner with one of the Pharisees.  There he preached the Pharisees and to the scholars of religious law.  Verse 11:42 caught my attention:

"What sorrow awaits you Pharisees!  For you are careful to tithe even the tiniest income from your herb gardens, but you ignore justice and the love of God.  You should tithe, yes, but do not neglect the more important things."

I thought it was interesting that there are more important things that tithing.  Not that tithing isn't important -- Jesus says that it is.  But what is more important to the Lord is that we are right with him; that we recognize his justice and his ways of doing things -- not our own.  The Pharisees were giving money faithfully, but still Jesus was angry because their "insides" were not clean (11:40).  That just goes to show that it doesn't matter how much money you tithe if your heart is not in the right place.

Later Jesus preached to the crowd.  Verses 12:4 - 5 really caught my attention:

"Dear friends, don't be afraid of those who want to kill your body; they cannot do any more to you after that.  But I'll tell you whom to fear.  Fear God, who has the power to kill you and then throw you into hell.  Yes, he's the one to fear."

 That's a very powerful statement.  First of all, suppose the absolute worse happens to us, and we are murdered by someone.  We are told not to fear, because that is the worst that person can do.  That's completely contrary to human nature to not fear that someone might kill us, right? 

Jesus tells us not to worry about.  Instead, we should be afraid of the wrath of the Lord -- of being given an eternal punishment of hell.  That would be far worse than someone killing your body on earth.  As scary as that statement is -- and we do need to fear the Lord -- but as scary as that is, it comes with an unspoken promise.  Eternal life.  Someone might kill our body, and if that happens then at least we have an eternal life.  And this eternal life will be so great that we should not even concern ourselves with the loss of this life.  The thought of that is truly amazing!

Becoming Right with God Instead of the World

Today’s Reading:
• Matthew 23:13 - 39
• Psalm 28:1 - 9

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Matthew 23:13 - 39
Jesus has some strong words for the Pharisees as he calls them out for all kinds of behaviors.  The underlying message of it all was hypocrisy.  Practice what you preach and what is preached to you.  And remember -- appearances might fool some people, but appearances will not fool God.  Jesus says to clean the inside first and then the outside will be bright and shiny (23:26).

I'd say the majority of us put on our best face for church.  We might choose not to disclose our problems.  We might seem as if we are always cheery and a happy family.  I don't think there's anything wrong with that.  But don't be a hypocrite.  Practice what you preach. 

Also, don't be judgmental just because you don't struggle with the same affliction someone else does.  You might be right with the Lord in one aspect of your life, but surely there's something else that you could use help with. We all have our problems, we all have areas in our lives that need work and we are all sinners. 

We should have compassion and understanding with each other.  That's not the same thing as agreeing with something they are doing, but no one said we have to agree with someone to show compassion. 

Let's say someone succumbs to a drug overdose -- does that mean that their entire life was worthless?  That there should be no sympathetic thoughts when something like that happens?  That family and friends still aren't hurt by the situation and needing to be comforted?  In the end their soul is not ours to judge.  But we are told to LOVE one another.  We can control how choose to react to these situations.

Psalm 28:1 - 9
This Psalm simply and handsomely asserts God's protection for His people.  It is a psalm of complete faith that the Lord will judge those who are wicked differently than He judges his own people and that the Lord will strengthen and rescue His people.

Miraculous Signs, Seven Verses to Guide One's Life

Today's Reading:

• Matthew 15:29 - 16:12
• Psalm 20:1 - 9

Matthew 15:29 - 16:12

Today I read about two more miracles Jesus performed.  A large group of gentiles had followed Jesus into the wilderness.  They brought all their sick -- the crippled, the blind, the deaf, the mute.  Jesus healed every single one of them.  He then fed the crowds of 4,000 men (and an additional undisclosed amount of women and children) with only 7 loaves of bread and a few small fish.

Later, his disciples argued about how had forgotten to bring any bread with them on a trip.  Jesus then stopped them from arguing, reminding them of the thousands of people he fed with very little.  It is astonishing to me that these disciples who walked with Jesus and saw all of the miracles he performed would be concerned with something as small as food.  They had seen Jesus feed thousands, with more leftover than they started with!  How can you see something like with your own eyes yet still doubt?

In 16:1 the Pharisees and Sadducees came to Jesus, demanding that he show them a miraculous sign.  Jesus refused.  He said that the only sign he would give them was the "sign of the prophet Jonah" (16:4).  I am a bit clueless as to what that means.  Can anyone fill me in?  It seems I have not yet read far enough in the Old Testament to understand this at the moment.

Proverbs 4:20 - 27

Pay attention to what the Lord says, hold it deep in your heart.  These words will bring you to life and keep your body healed and whole.  Keep your feet from following evil, fix your eyes on what lies in front of you.  Guard your heart above all else, watch what comes out of your mouth.  Those are the lessons of these 7 short verses from Proverbs.  

I think those 7 verses are enough to guide your whole life by.  Read the bible, absorb the Word. Keep it in your heart, protect your heart, let your heart guide you.  Watch what comes out of your mouth, for the words that come out of the mouth are initiated by what is in your heart.  Make good decisions, let your feet keep you away from bad situations.  Always pay attention to what is in front of you to ensure you follow the right path.  Enough said!

Conclusion

Are you waiting for a miraculous sign before following the Lord?  Beware, because for most people that is never enough and is soon forgotten.  Are you studying the Word? What has the Lord shown or told you through the Word?  Are you following it with both with your heart and with your feet? 

Jacob Migrates to Egypt, Do Not Do as the Wicked Do

Today's Reading:
• Genesis 46:1 - 47:31
• Proverbs 4:14 - 19

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Genesis 46:1 - 47:31

Joseph's family moved from Canaan to the land of Goshen in Egypt.  The NLT version of the bible says that there were 70 total descendants of Jacob and that all made the journey to Egypt.  When they arrived they were given the very best land of Egypt to choose from.  I can hardly comprehend how well regarded Joseph was; to have Pharaoh tell Joseph to take the best of all his land had to offer for a full 70 people is extreme.  No doubt about it, Joseph was highly blessed for his faithful service.

Jacob was 130 years old when he moved to Egypt.  Then he lived 17 more years after that!  I noticed how Jacob said that he was old, but not as old as his ancestors (47:9).  I wonder what the average lifespan was?  Was it only Jacob who was especially blessed with long life?  We think about how much the lifespan has increased in the last century or two, and we feel accomplished to have an average lifespan of 78+ years.  Yet the bible tells of these incredibly long lives.  I have already seen it mentioned many times that if you follow the Lord wholeheartedly and listen to His wisdom and live right, you will be blessed with long life.  I wonder what the correlation is between current long life and being a Christian.  I'm not sure how we would even being to test that though, since we cannot see into a person's heart to see their true relationship with God.

The famine continued to worsen, and Joseph doled out food to all.  First the people spent all their money on the food.  Then they spent all their livestock.  Finally, they sold Joseph all their land and promised their work to Pharaoh.  By the time the famine was done, Joseph obtained all the money of Egypt, all the livestock, and all of the land except that of the priests for Pharaoh.  Joseph also gave the people seed to grow crops, and told them they could keep all but one-fifth of their produce -- that part would be given to Pharaoh.

Such overwhelming responsibility was given to Joseph when he was told to prepare for this famine, yet he succeeded with flying colors.  How could he not, when the Lord chose him?  Through all of Joseph's major trials in life, never did he give up and never did he lose his spirit.  Some might argue say that they're tired of hearing the old story of Joseph, but Joseph was such an amazing example of how we should always trust the Lord and never give up.   Even in the worst situations in life, the Lord is there with us.  And the Lord has something planned for us that is better than we could ever have imagined. 

Proverbs 4:14 - 19
The message of these few verses are direct and simple: do not do as the wicked do.  Turn away, walk away in righteousness.  Being wicked is like being in complete darkness.  Or, like so many of our parents like to say: "If all your friends jumped off a bridge, would you jump too?"  Don't let the wickedness of others, the sins of others, the wrong doing of others, influence you to do what you know that you should not.