Eradicating Wild Lilies

“If your Brother sins against you…” Matthew 18:15 ESV1

Read Matthew 18:15-22

When we first moved to our house, I purchased and planted hostas with pretty, bright-green leaves. To complement them, I planted live-forevers which I brought from our previous home and irises that a new neighbor gave me. It was the beginning of a beautiful flower bed, but there was still much open space. So, each Spring, I would add many annual plants like geraniums, marigolds, and impatiens. With consistent watering and weed pulling, I had a flower bed that earned me many compliments.

But the constant work was tiring. I thought if I added more perennials to my flower bed, I wouldn’t have to work so hard. So, one day, when I noticed wild lilies flourishing along the roadside near my home, I thought I had found exactly that for which I was looking. I was excited about the thought of planting fewer annuals. I imagined how the bright orange of the lilies would complement the purple hues of my other perennials.

Something in my spirit told me not to dig up those wild, roadside lilies and add them to my flower bed, but I justified my actions. It was not like the lilies belonged to anyone, and no one would notice or even care if I took them. So, I ignored that still, small voice warning me, and I added the wild lilies to my flower bed.

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Who’s Your Daddy?

“Truly, I say to you, unless you turn and become like children, you will never enter the Kingdom of Heaven. Whoever humbles himself like this child is the greatest in the Kingdom of Heaven.” Matthew 18:3-4 ESV1

Read Matthew 18:1-14, Mark 9:33-50 & Luke 9:46-50

In my life, I have worn a variety of hats. My different responsibilities have put me in positions where I have observed many arguments. Some of these arguments have been laughable, others hurtful. Many were passionate discussions which worked out themselves; others become quite heated and needed intervention.

When working with people, it doesn’t take long to discover competition is part of the human make up. We instinctively want to be on top. We tend to assume we are right, and when there are conflicts, we feel others must be wrong. We humans continually evaluate where we fit in any given group. From the time we are children, we compare ourselves and consciously (or unconsciously) compete in attempts to be the best, the fastest, the smartest, the prettiest, the most talented, etc.

An argument common among young boys takes the competition past their own abilities and focuses on the attributes of their fathers. It is not unusual, from time to time, to hear a boy exclaim, “My daddy is stronger than your daddy!” The argument need not necessarily focus on strength; maybe a boy claims his father is smarter, or richer (or any other appropriate adjective) than the fathers of those around him. But the statement is always made with the child’s confident expectation that his assertion will put him on top and finalize the argument.

Once, when Jesus’ twelve closest disciples were arguing among themselves, Jesus extinguished the heated debate by drawing their attention to the greatness of His Father.

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We Have the Key

“I will give you the Keys of the Kingdom of Heaven, and whatever you bind on Earth shall be bound in Heaven, and whatever you loose on Earth shall be loosed in Heaven.” Matthew 16:19 ESV1

Read Matthew 16:18-19

If you are a Christian, striving to know Jesus better and consistently reading The Holy Bible, you probably believe that “all Scripture is breathed out by God and profitable for teaching, for reproof, for correction, and for training in righteousness, that the man [or woman] of God may be complete, equipped for every good work” (2 Timothy 3:16-17). But that doesn’t mean you always understand what you read. If you are like me, there are times when you read something that is so above your head that it doesn’t even seem worth trying to contemplate. Consequently, you are tempted to close your Bible, get up, and move on with your day without giving what you read another thought. Today’s passage has been for me one of those seemingly incomprehensible texts.

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Who Told You That?

He said to them, “But who do you say that I am?” Simon Peter replied, “You are the Christ, the Son of the living God.” And Jesus answered him, “Blessed are you, Simon Bar-Jonah! For flesh and blood has not revealed this to you, but My Father, who is in Heaven.”  Matthew 16:15-17 ESV1

Read Matthew 16:13-23, Mark 8:27-33 & Luke 9:18-22

What do you believe about yourself? Who told you that? What do you feel about others? Why do you feel that? What do you think about right and wrong? How did you come to that conclusion? What do you believe about God? Why do you believe that? Who do you say Jesus is? Why do you say that?

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Finding Balance

Jesus said to them, “Watch and beware of the leaven of the Pharisees and Sadducees.” Matthew 16:6 ESV1

Read Matthew 16:5-12 & Mark 8:14-21

Have you noticed, as humans, we tend to live in the extremes? Like the pendulum of a clock, we swing from one thing to another. It is difficult for us to find balance in all the areas of our lives simultaneously. If we do ever achieve equilibrium, we soon realize it is impossible to sustain. This truth reminds me of something Jesus told His disciples.

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Greater Than

“Truly, I say to you, among those born of women there has arisen no one greater than John the Baptist. Yet the one who is least in the Kingdom of Heaven is greater than he.” Matthew 11:11 ESV1

Read Matthew 11:11-19 & Luke 7:28-35, 16:15-17

Why did Jesus declare, “’Truly, I say to you, … there has arisen no one greater than John the Baptist. Yet the one who is least in the Kingdom of Heaven is greater than he’” (Matthew 11:11)? Similarly, what did Jesus mean when He said, “’Very truly I tell you, whoever believes in Me will do the works I have been doing, and they will do even greater things than these because I am going to the Father’” (John 14:12)? And why did Jesus comfort His disciples by saying, “’I tell you the truth: it is to your advantage that I go away, for if I do not go away, the Helper will not come to you. But if I go, I will send Him to you’” (John 16:7)? It is because something magnificent happened when Jesus completed His mission on Earth and went back to His Father in Heaven. It is something even better than hanging out with Jesus on Earth. In fact, it is something that is grander than humans could have imagined.

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He Provides

“For it is not you who speak, but the Spirit of your Father speaking through you.” Matthew 10:20 ESV1

Read Matthew 10:5-33, 40-42; Mark 6:7-12; & Luke 9:1-6, 10:1-12

If you are a Believer, you already know that God has plans for you, “plans for wholeness and not for evil, to give you a future and a hope” (Jeremiah 29:11b). You believe you “are His workmanship, created in Christ Jesus for good works, which God prepared beforehand, that [you] would walk in them” (Ephesians 2:10). And you are confident that “if you don’t grow weary of doing good, … in due season [you] will reap, if [you] do not give up” (Galatians 6:9).

At times, I am confident you are pretty excited about the call God has on your life. Other times, you are probably entirely overwhelmed. You are not alone in feeling overcome by the weight of the divine appointment on your life. You are not the only one who has ever considered quitting. When Jonah felt God was asking too much, he tried to run from the responsibility (see Jonah 1:1-3). When David got weary, he allowed himself to get temporarily distracted from his call (see 2 Samuel 11:1-9, 16-17 & 26-27). When Moses was insecure about his abilities, he pleaded with God to send someone else to do his job (see Genesis 3:10 & 4:1, 10-13). At times, even Jesus got overwhelmed with His God-given assignment. When that happened, what did Jesus do?

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Evangelism and Discipleship

“Already the one who reaps is receiving wages and gathering fruit for eternal life, so that sower and reaper may rejoice together.” John 4:36 ESV[1]

Read John 4:35-38 & Matthew 9:35-38

Several years ago, in a class I took, I heard an illustration equating evangelism and discipleship to the two wings of an airplane. The premise was, just as an aircraft must have two equal wings to fly, ministries must include both outreach activities and Biblical training sessions for those ministries to be balanced and effective. I related to that illustration and often referred to it as my team and we planned activities or evaluated the effectiveness of our ministry. But as time has passed, I have begun to see problems with this illustration.

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Crazy Times

And He went throughout all Galilee, teaching in their synagogues and proclaiming the Gospel of the Kingdom and healing every disease and every affliction among the people. So, His fame spread. Matthew 4:23-24a ESV1

Read Matthew 4:23-25, Mark 3:7-21 & Luke 6:12-19

Do you feel overwhelmed with the craziness of your life? Are you inundated with responsibilities, deadlines, phone calls, emails, rough commutes, long lines, things that don’t work, needy people, messes, arguments, lost possessions, financial troubles, betrayal, unreconcilable situations, sickness, pain, or sleepless nights? Do you want to scream, “Slow down World, and let me off!” Jesus knows how you feel. He experienced similar feelings when His ministry here on Earth suddenly exploded.

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Evil in Disguise

“What is this word? For with authority and power, He commands the unclean spirits, and they come out!” Luke 4:36 ESV1

Read Mark 1:21-28 & Luke 4:31-37

Something really good can come out of a not so good place. Jesus was brought up in the town of Nazareth. Though Nazareth was the home of the One Who Embodied all the Goodness of God, Nazareth lacked faith (see Matthew 13:58 & Mark 6:5-6) and was filled with wrath and hatred (see Luke 4:28-29). They rejected the Good that was in their midst. Capernaum, on the other, hand was full of faith. They openly accepted Jesus and received many blessings from Him. Yet, there was something evil lurking in the what should have been the most-godly place in Capernaum, their synagogue.

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