Tag Archives: Lies

Stay or Walk Away

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“Do you not yet perceive or understand? Are your hearts hardened? Having eyes do you not see, and having ears do you not hear? And do you not remember?” Mark 8:17b-18 ESV1

Read Matthew 16:1-12 & Mark 8:11-26

Jesus spent most of His time during His earthly ministry near the Sea of Galilee. “The sea’s location makes it subject to sudden and violent storms as the wind comes over the eastern mountains and drops suddenly onto the sea. Storms are especially likely when an east wind blows cool air over the warm air that covers the sea. The cold air (being heavier) drops as the warm air rises. This sudden change can produce surprisingly furious storms in a short time.”2  In this next account, an “east wind” was blowing, and a storm was brewing, but not in the physical sense.

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The Thing About Judging

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“Judge not, that you be not judged.  For with the judgment you pronounce you will be judged, and with the measure, you use it will be measured to you.”  Matthew 7:1-2 ESV1

Read Matthew 7:1-14 & Luke 6:37-38

To the rational mind, racism, sexism, and all forms of prejudice are senseless. After all, who of us chose the color of his/her skin? Which of us decided before our birth which gender we would be? Who among us had any input on who his/her ancestors were? Did any of us get to vote for the color of his/her eyes, or height, or body structure? Who got to pick his/her personality, strengths, or weakness? Though it is not rational, most of us harbor some kind of prejudice. Why is that?

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The Healthy Eye

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The eye is the lamp of the body. So, if your eye is healthy, your whole body will be full of light. But if your eye is bad, your whole body will be full of darkness. If then the light in you is darkness, how great is the darkness. Matthew 6:22-23 ESV1

Read Matthew 6:19-24

Have you ever heard the idiom looking at life through rose-colored glasses? It means positively seeing things or having an optimistic outlook. Often, if one is wearing rose-colored glasses, he/she sees things better than they really are.

There doesn’t seem to be an idiom for the opposite of rose-colored glasses, yet that mindset definitely exists. Some people look through another kind of glasses, and those glasses are half empty. Those people have a negative outlook on life and circumstances. To them, things often appear worse than they really are.

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A Child of God

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Bear fruit in keeping with repentance. And do not presume to say to yourselves, ‘We have Abraham as our father,’ for I tell you, God is able from these stones to raise up children for Abraham.”                Matthew 3:8-9 ESV1

Read Matthew 3:1-12

In the time in which Jesus walked the Earth there were groups of very religious people who were absolutely sure that they, above others, were right with God. They studied the Scriptures, followed very high standards of holiness, and taught others to do the same. Two of these religious groups were the Pharisees and the Sadducees. Shortly before Jesus began His earthly ministry, his close relative, John the Baptist, was preparing the way for Jesus by preaching, “‘Repent, for the Kingdom of Heaven is at hand’” (Matthew 3:2). A great number of people from the region believed John’s message. “[They] were going out to him, and they were baptized by him in the river Jordan, confessing their sins” (Matthew 3:6). Presumably, because they were serious about matters of faith, “many Pharisees and Sadducees [were also] coming to [John’s] baptism, [and] he said to them, ‘You brood of vipers! Who warned you to flee from the wrath to come’” (Matthew 3:7)? Why was John so rude to those wanting to do the right thing?

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