Your Eyes

 

“The eye is the lamp of the body. If your eyes are good, your whole body will be full of light. But if your eyes are bad, your whole body will be full of darkness. If then the light within you is darkness, how great is that darkness!”

— Matthew 6:22-23

 

Your actual eyes guide your body and tell you which way to go. In comparison, your mind’s eye, which is informed by reason, desire, and spirit, tells a person what to do, whether good or bad. 

 

If your desires and reason are Holy Spirit led—your spirit agrees with and aligns with the Holy Spirit—then the light of the Spirit will lead you and fill you with His light and you will do good according to God’s will.

 

In contrast, if you desire to live contrary to God (in rebellion to Him and His good will for you), then your eyes—your mind, desire, and spirit—are bad and you will be full of darkness, which is rebellion against God and the good He has for you. Your bad eyes will lead you into darkness. That darkness is sin. That darkness is worse than bodily blindness. 

 

Lord, let me see with Your eyes. Let me not look at a day as bad or blah and then allow myself to be in a bad mood for lack of light. Whether there is light from sun, moon, and stars or not, You, Lord, have created weather, nature, and me to go through season, to change, and grow, and sometimes to die/cast away like the burning of leaves fallen from trees. You, Lord, can use any season and weather for growth in nature and in a person. Lord, grow me closer to you and to be more like you. Let not the weather, people, or circumstances dictate my outlook or mood, but You, Lord, use them to teach and grow me. You can use the sun to grow Your creation, but you also use clouds, rain, and snow to cause growth. Grow me today, Lord, for Your will and good purpose. Make the eyes by which I guide my life be Your eyes, Your Spirit in me and guiding me. Thank you for what You’re going to do today.

Timeless

 

“In everything, then, do to others as you would have them do to you. For this is the essence of the Law and the Prophets.”

— Matthew 7:12

 

Let’s consider this whole passage.

 

“For this is (the essence or summation)” comes from the similar meaning as “now and forever,” i.e. eternally. The verb “is” is time inclusive, present indicative. It has timeless implications. Jesus used it in calling Himself, “I AM.” It speaks of His eternity and self-existent self.

 

So, the teaching of this verse, “do to others as you want them to do to you,” is a timeless command that Jesus used to sum up the previous eleven verses in His Sermon on the Mount and to sum up God’s command about caring for all creation, including human life. This command didn’t go away when the Old Testament period ended or when Jesus ascended to heaven or when the modern or post-modern times began. 

 

This verse, verse twelve, sums up the previous eleven verses. 

       *Don’t judge other people. (Vs 1-5)

       *Don’t continue to teach God’s truths 

         to people who continue to malign   

         and curse you and what you teach.     

         “Don’t throw pearls to swine.” (Vs 6) 

         They will only continue to twist 

         God’s truths, curse them, and/or       

         speak derisively about them. Obey 

         God then let Him work in the 

         person’s heart.

       *Don’t ignore someone when they 

         seek you, ask for your help, and or 

         plead for something from you. 

         Just as when you ask of something 

          from God, seek Him, and knock on 

          His door to visit with or beseech Him 

          and He responds by providing, 

          opening His door to you, and 

          listening, so you do to others. (Vs 7-

          8). But remember about pearls and 

          swine. 

        *Don’t give what won’t fill the need for 

          what they asked. For example, fry 

          beans to a homeless person, who 

          has no stove, will not give him food 

          to eat. It would be the equivalent of

          stones in his stomach. Giving fruit, 

          vegetables, or meat that is starting 

          to spoil or is spoiled is just as 

          dangerous as giving a snake 

          instead of a fish to eat.

 

In all these instances, do as you want to be done to you. It’s a timeless command, as timeless as Jesus and His love. It never goes away. It’s based on love and care for humanity, the pinnacle of God’s creation. Jesus came to earth because of His love for all people, a love that fed, healed, taught, forgave, and died for them. 

 

Jesus taught His disciples to follow His example. And, the base of it is love for all people. Do as Jesus did and does and will do for you. Do to others what you want them to do to you—love them in action and word and in truth. Teach. Feed. Pray over. Forgive. Help. With the means God has given to you, do to others as He has done for you.

Absolute Trust

“Still I am certain to see the goodness of the Lord in the land of the living.”

— Psalms 27:13

 

Do you firmly trust you will see God’s goodness in heaven? That’s what David alluded to in verse thirteen. Yes, he had faith God would protect and keep him alive. David also firmly believed he’d experience God’s goodness by His keeping him from hell. David alluded to his belief in God’s promises that he would see God in heaven.

 

Do you have faith like David? Do you know for certain—with absolute trust—that you will be there? 

 

Sins (wrongdoings) keep people from being good enough to enter heaven and God’s presence. Jesus, God’s holy Son, who has never sinned, died a sinner’s death and was separated three days from His Father until His resurrection. He did this so whoever believes in Him will have their sins wiped away from their name and that they will be righteous (John 3:16). Only when a person believes in Jesus and is made righteous by Him can that person enter heaven to live with God forever. 

 

Do you have faith like David? Will you see God’s goodness in the land of the living—eternal life with God?

Engrafted Living

 

“Pure and undefiled religion in the sight of our God and Father is this: to visit orphans and widows in their distress, and to keep oneself unstained by the world.”

— ‭‭James‬ ‭1‬:‭27‬‬

“Pure” means it’s free from the contaminating influences of sin. Undefiled means not stained by sins. A person can only be free from the influence of sins and cleaned of sin if he or she has believed in Jesus and been made clean by Him, by the salvation He gives to those who believe in Him.

Only this person—the cleansed one whose life shows the influence of the Spirit through being grafted into the Vine—can worship God without defilement. Only the person cleansed by Jesus’ blood and not under the influence of sin can genuinely worship (offer pure and undefiled religion/worship) God. 

This type of worship extends from the walls of the church into the believer’s everyday life. It includes visiting and looking after (taking care of) orphans and widows in distress (emotionally, physically, mentally, and spiritually). 

Pure, undefiled worship also includes keeping oneself unstained by the sinful world. Every action, thought, word, and attitude should come from a heart of worship, guided by the Spirit, and flowing as fruit from the Vine. 

Worship does not end when we step outside the church walls. It includes living the life into which you’ve been engrafted. Live affecting other people’s lives with Jesus’ love and care. Live letting the Spirit grow you by worshiping God daily by the changing of your mind, attitude, heart, words, and actions so all these things become pure and undefiled religious worship of God. From this, others will be affected by Jesus by being saved, being grafted into the Vine, and being continual worshipers of God, too.

“Therefore, putting aside all filthiness and all that remains of wickedness, in humility receive the word implanted, which is able to save your souls. But prove yourselves doers of the word, and not merely hearers who delude themselves. But one who looks intently at the perfect law, the law of liberty, and abides by it, not having become a forgetful hearer but an effectual doer, this man will be blessed in what he does. If anyone thinks himself to be religious, and yet does not bridle his tongue but deceives his own heart, this man’s religion is worthless. Pure and undefiled religion in the sight of our God and Father is this: to visit orphans and widows in their distress, and to keep oneself unstained by the world.”

‭‭James‬ ‭1‬:‭21‬-‭22‬, ‭25‬-‭27‬ ‭

Abundant and Pure

 

“And this is my prayer: that your love may abound more and more in knowledge and depth of insight, so that you may be able to discern what is best and may be pure and blameless for the day of Christ,”

— Philippians 1:9-10

 

Abound means to exceed beyond what is normal. It is to have an overabundance that pours out of the storehouse. In this case, Paul means a Christian. He prayed that the pure love God gave to them would be so great it could not be contained in themselves, but would pour out on people who were around them so they would be blessed, too.

 

Paul also prayed the Christian’s’ pure agape love from God would abound so that they would have godly knowledge from their continual and growing relationship with God. God’s love won’t be evident and overflowing in a person’s life without a growing relationship with Him. 

 

Along with knowledge, Paul prayed the Christians would have a “depth of insight.” He wanted them to have a profound understanding/insight/discernment of their situation through their intellect and by their senses. By this, they could size things up correctly and understand it rightly because of their growing relationship with God. That growing relationship with God brings growth in having His wisdom and knowledge so they can have His understanding/insight and act, speak, and think correctly. 

 

By having a continual and growing relationship with God, a Christian can have overabundant pure, godly love, knowledge, and insight. With these three things, he/she can know what is best, may be pure, and not stumble into sin. All of these can only occur when we have a close relationship with God. They only come from God because only He is pure and sinless.

Being Not Babbling

“And when you pray, do not keep on babbling like pagans, for they think they will be heard because of their many words.”

— Matthew 6:7

 

This can describe prayer that is mechanical; you just say the words, but they have no depth from your being. They are like saying the doxology or Hail Mary prayers.

 

It can also describe praying repetitiously an idea or thought so as to be considered by others as deep and profound instead of actually drawing closer to God.

 

The “babbling” prayer can speak about the  so called prayer of a person who just wants to appear holy. 

 

It can be from a person who prays a sermon or must pray every time he/she is in a group because he/she wants people to notice. 

 

Notice, three of these possibilities arise from vanity and pride. The prayers of these people are manufactured for performance—to be seen and noticed. The first, though different, is also to be noticed, but by God, not people. Rote, memorized, going-through-the-motions praying just to get the “chore” done is the person’s attempt at gaining God’s favor by deception, though God sees through deception. He knows the person’s heart is not in it.

 

Each of these four prayers is to gain undue attention and favor, to be seen as a child of God in good standing. Notice, what happens begins in the heart—a desire to be seen as more godly than other people—then moves to the mind—reason—to deceive people and God. It then becomes action with the actual praying. Jesus taught what contaminates the person is not what he/she puts in the mouth, but what comes from it resulting in thought, words, and action unacceptable by God. Since this is so, why even pray if God already knows your heart’s deceptive intention? People often recognize the deception, too.

 

Instead, let your mind, heart, and spirit seek God and desire to truly speak to Him. Pray because you desire to be with God and have a deeper relationship with Him. For God already knows your needs. He knows your heart. Be with God. Seek Him above anything you can say, you want to be, you what to have, and you want to be considered. Seek first God AND His righteousness. Don’t seek to manufacture your own righteousness.

 

Father, it is so very hard to decide to be still and quiet and to seek only You. We have a list of requests for ourselves and other people. We want to get through that list and get to the next part of our day. We’ve made prayer a chore—a task on our to-do list. Help us to understand what prayer is. Help us to desire to be with You, to desire time with You, to be closer to you, and, thereby, to be made more into the image of Christ by you because of this. 

 

We are taught to make lists, to make prayer lists, and how to pray. Somehow, it’s rarely taught how to be with You. Oh, reading the Bible is easy, but that can become another of those to-dos to be done, then checked off. 

 

Lord, it’s the “to be” part of praying that’s hardest. Teach us how to just BE with you. Teach our hearts how to teach our minds that it’s okay just to sit and be with you in silence, in listening, in thinking on Your words, and in seeking Your heart. Create a stillness in us that teaches our minds to allow our hearts and spirits to take time to BE with You. Just BE with You. Calm our breathing. Calm our minds. Calm our heartbeat and lead us to relax and BE with You. Lord, so many people need prayer; they need You to intervene. How can I still my mind when they need to be prayed for? Ah, Your Spirit knows what needs to be prayed for and will speak with groaning to deep for words. 

 

May the words, which my mind requires me to pray, come through Your Spirit’s groaning so that I don’t focus on words, but on You. Compel me for what and how to speak to You as I am still and quiet before You. Be my next breath. Be my next heartbeat. Be my every thought. All so I focus solely on You, Lord. I am Yours, O Lord. I want to hear Your voice. Draw me to You to just BE with You.

 

Love Your Enemy

 “But love your enemies, do good to them, and lend to them without expecting to get anything back. Then your reward will be great, and you will be children of the Most High, because he is kind to the ungrateful and wicked.”

— Luke 6:35

 

Love your enemies. Actively do what God prefers, in His strength and power, out of obedience to Him. We Christians can do that because we experience God’s love firsthand even when we don’t deserve it. We have His Spirit in us filling us with His love to overflow to other people, even those we consider enemies.

 

Do good to your enemies. In our own strength, powerless and fallen, we are unable. It’s one reason why Luke reminded us we have God’s agape love in us. Agape is holy, powerful, and selfless. It does not withhold goodness from a person because of the hurt a person did. It forgives. This goodness inherently comes from God because of His power. Can’t do good things for someone? Then go to God asking for His power and love and ability to forgive. 

 

Show the depth of love and goodness in you. Give your enemy something dear to you because they need it. God gave it to you out of love, and He is giving you His power and to love and do good even for people who’ve hurt you or other people. That’s not the greatest level of love. Loan to the person and don’t require it back or even interest on the loan, if it was cash. 

 

Why should we love, do good for, and lend to our enemies? Because God first loved us when we were sinners. We made ourselves to be enemies of God. He didn’t hold that against us, but He gave and showed us His great love. God did and does good for us. He gives without expecting us to repay Him. Of course, we could never be able to pay Him for all He’s done for us and given us. 

 

Why should we love our enemies? Because God loved us first, before we loved Him. Out of obedience to God, we tell, show, and live in ways that allow even our enemies to know God and receive His love. 

 

If you’re thinking, “What’s in it for me? I keep doing and doing, but I keep being stepped on,” consider what Luke wrote at the end of this verse. “Your reward (from God) will be great and you will be children of God.” You will receive in commensurate and overflowing measure what you gave, did, or said in love for your enemies. You will be known as a child of God because of your actions, words, and gifts to those who’ve sinned against you. Should we expect anything better than what Jesus received? And yet, He loved even His persecutors so much that He asked His Father to forgive them while He Himself was on the cross. And He agonizingly died willingly for them. For us. 

 

What’s in it for us? We get to see the “lights turn on” in the minds of our enemies as they recognize then accept God’s love. We get the privilege to experience God’s power moving us in obedience to Him. We get to be known as and called children of the Most High God by people and, most importantly, by God. 

 

Love your enemies. Do good to them. Lend to them without expecting a return.

Take Comfort

 “Even though I walk through the valley of the shadow of death, I will fear no evil, for You are with me; Your rod and Your staff, they comfort me.” — Psalms 23:4

Why do we always think this verse is meant for a person at the moment they are dying? Why do we think Psalm 23 is only relevant for an imminently dying person? Consider this, we are all dying each day. Each day we breathe brings us closer to the day we stop breathing. This psalm is not only for the imminently dying. It’s for everyone. 

 

Recognizing that, let’s look at Psalm 23:4. Many of us memorized this verse using the King James Version. We began reciting it like this, “Yea, though I walk through the valley of the shadow of death…” In other translations, this verse begins with “though” or “even though.” The beginning of verse four rests upon what David wrote before it. He said, because the Lord is my Shepherd, I will have everything I need because He is almighty, all-loving, kind, and merciful. I have food and drink, rest when needed, rescue from physical danger and eternal separation from Him, release from fear of harm, and guidance each day and with each footfall from Him who is all-wise and all-knowing (Psalm 23:1-3).

 

From this wise, knowing, almighty, kind, merciful, loving, powerful, and rescuing Shepherd, I know I need not ever fear what is happening or what may happen. In verse four, David basically said, “Because of who I personally know my great Shepherd is and because of what I have seen Him do, I fear nothing that is or may come against me—not death or any kind of dastardly development.” The hardest places in life that we live through or could ever think is the worst we could go through, those places of deepest, darkest, extremely dangerous times are when I can know and do know my Shepherd is there and mightier than what is happening.

 

My Shepherd is greater than any storm or suffering. He is mightier than them and is Lord over time and space. Before I even faced this valley of the shadow of death, my Shepherd spanned across time and created the plan of rescue for me. I need not worry because He has already rescued me in the future, so I can trust in Him and His rescue in my now. The Shepherd is with us, behind us, before us, and around us in time and presence, so we need not fear any storm or darkness. How does David say the Shepherd helped him in his extremely dark and dangerous circumstance? His presence kept David from harm. 

 

David spoke more of how the Shepherd protected and guided him. He said the Shepherd’s rod and staff were with Him. The rod that beats off attacks and attackers defends him and defeats the dangerous presence or pandemonium. With the Shepherd’s might, power, wisdom, care, and His unbreakable rod, David knew he was safe. He can beat back whatever may cause physical, emotional, mental, and spiritual harm. Once you are part of the Shepherd’s flock, He will not let you be taken from Him. You are His. Keep you eyes, heart, and mind on the Shepherd, your Savior. Take heart and remain spiritually strong; have faith in your unyielding, ever-protecting Shepherd. 

 

David wrote that this Shepherd carried another tool. He wrote that He carried a staff as He cared for His flock. Why would a Shepherd and Savior need a rod and staff? The rod defends the sheep from an attack. It rescues the sheep in advance. The staff rescues the sheep from precipices and crevices, from blindly walking astray forgetting where safety is and only seeking the next blades of grass or spring of water that appears nearest to it. 

 

Sheep, like people, have tunnel vision. What they see tempts them to walk away from their Shepherd. It may or may not be intentional. Being lured by our eyes to keep walking toward what you think you want often leads you beyond what the Shepherd knows is best. Being lured and decidedly willingly go also often leads a person away from the shepherd. The appetites of our flesh, heart, and mind often are not what’s best for us. These can be due to error, lies, or intentional sin. 

 

This is where the Shepherd’s staff comes in. A staff has a crook at the end to hook around the leg or neck of a sheep to bring it back to Him from a precipice or crevice. The crook was often not a round stick rounded at the end looking like a candy cane. Instead, the rounded hook was flat so the Shepherd could scoop up the sheep to let it lie upon the flat crook end securely. This Shepherd’s staff can remind us of the hands of God. He can round His hands to go around us and pull us back to safety or He can place us in His palms to carry us close to Himself.

 

Psalm 23 isn’t just an end of life or funeral psalm. It speaks about life as we journey with our Savior Shepherd. It reminds us that God never leaves or forsakes us (Deuteronomy 31:6 & 8, 1 Chronicles 28:20, 1 Kings 8:57, and Hebrews 13:5). He is the God of time and all that is. God has already planned the rescue from your storm or temptation (1 Corinthians 10:13). He is your Savior Shepherd. The Shepherd has defeated the enemy. He lovingly scoops you onto His crook and into His palms to carry you back to His pasture of plenty and safety. He lovingly stretches out His staff to catch you from falling off the precipice or through the crevice as you focused solely on the next blade of grass or drop of dew that would satisfy your desire. 

 

Though we walk through dark and dangerous times due to temptation, blindness, and/or evil, we need not fear. The almighty, loving, merciful, all-knowing Savior Shepherd is with you if you are one of His sheep. He will rescue you and take you back to His pasture of plenty and safety. 

 

How can you know if you are a sheep in the Savior Shepherd’s flock? Admit Jesus is God’s Son who died for your sins. Believe in Him to save you from your sins and the judgment of eternal separation from Him. Confess your sins and repent of them. Once you believe, profess, and confess making Jesus Lord of your life and accepting Him as your Savior, He will never leave or forsake you. That is a continual promise from God throughout the Old and New Testaments. It is His covenant of love to all His sheep, His children.

 

Today, if you are saved by Jesus, you can say with David, “Even though I walk through the valley of the shadow of death, I will fear no evil, for You are with me; Your rod and Your staff comfort me.” Nothing can ever separate you from the love of God (Romans 8:38-39). Nothing! You are rescued. You are safe. You are loved eternally. Take comfort; you are God’s.