Day 25 Bible Reading

Genesis 49 & 50, Matthew 18: 1-9, Psalm 15

Matthew 18:8-9 (ESV)

“And if your hand or your foot causes you to sin, cut it off and throw it away. It is better for you to enter life crippled or lame than with two hands or two feet to be thrown into the eternal fire. And if your eye causes you to sin, tear it out and throw it away. It is better for you to enter life with one eye than with two eyes to be thrown into the hell of fire.”

Verses 8 and 9 from Matthew 18 stood out to me today. I don’t believe Christ meant to literally cut your foot off or gouge your own eye out because of sin. One commentator suggested that Christ is saying we must be willing to sacrifice in fighting against sin. In earlier verses, Christ said that if you sin in your heart and mind it is the same as committing the actual sin. For me this means that if you indulge in even thinking of the sin and do it constantly, then one day an opportunity will present itself to actually commit the sin and you will do it because you’ve already been thinking about committing the sin. What has sometimes shocked me when I watch an Agatha Christie movie is how easily people murder other people in her stories. But if you study the murder scene more closely, the opportunity to commit the presented itself and it was easy to do, that the person couldn’t overcome the temptation. And if we could see inside their heart and mind, I’m sure we would have seen constant thoughts of murder. So Christ is saying the best thing to do is not even think of the sin, so when the opportunity does present itself to commit the sin we wouldn’t even think about doing it because it would never occur to us. We must cut if off at the start, or it will as some people have said, spread like an infection in our heart and mind.

Day 24 Bible Readings

Genesis 47 & 48, Matthew 17, Proverbs 3: 1-10

Proverbs 3: 5-6 (ESV)

“Trust in the Lord with all your heart, and do not lean on your own understanding. In all your ways acknowledge him, and he will make straight your paths.”

Verses 5 and 6 from Proverbs 3 stood out for me today. I think because I consider myself a very independent and smart person, I rely on my own understanding much of the time even though I think I trust in God with all my heart. But I am beginning to understand and to acknowledge that I have an ally in Christ and especially the Holy Spirit. It seems so silly to me sometimes to check with God for every little decision I make in my life. But there are so many stories which show us that it is the small decisions we make in life, and not necessarily the large ones, that truly affect our life. So I’m trying to check in with God more each day for all the decisions in my life. I’m trying not to make it such a big deal, just a quick prayer to ask Christ if I’m making the right choice and then a minute of quiet time to listen for a response. Most of the time I don’t hear much of a response, and I’m thinking probably because I think I use common sense to make decisions. But every once in a while, I think I hear a soft “no” or the word “really?” to a question about something I want or want to do. And when I follow God’s response to my question, it does seem that things really do turn out better. Not in a dramatic way, but in small ways that make me glad I have the Christ to ask for a second opinion, a gut check to tell me if I’m doing the right thing, if I’m going the right way, and most of all, if I’m following God’s plan for my life.

Day 23 Bible Reading

Genesis 45 & 48, Matthew 16, Psalm 14

Matthew 16: 24-25 (ESV)

“Then Jesus told his disciples, “If anyone would come after me, let him deny himself and take up his cross and follow me. For whoever would save his life will lose it, but whoever loses his life for my sake will find it.”

I love these verses from Matthew 16. For me it means if you give your life over to Jesus and become his follower, you will find your true life. But to become a Jesus follower it does sometimes feels like you are carrying a very heavy cross. I have had to confess to Jesus my sins, all the things I feel guilty about having done or thought, and my worries. This is a new thing for me to ask God in prayer to take my worries. I had no idea I had so many worries I was carrying in my heart and soul. When I wrote them down, I was so shocked. I was worried about so many things. Sometimes the worries were trivial, sometimes they were legitimate to what was currently going on in my life, and still others seemed so silly to me when I wrote them down. I was crying the whole time as I made a list of my worries. But afterwards I felt free, like a giant weight had been lifted from my shoulders. My worries were my cross and they were so heavy like a physical wooden cross. I don’t know why I didn’t want Jesus to know my worries and to ask his help to share them. I think part of me was ashamed to have so many worries. I have this belief that I am a child of God, and it feels so shameful on some level to still have so many fears and worries about everything in my life. I was hiding it from myself and from Christ, like it was my problem and not God’s problem because I’m an adult and I can take care of myself and I don’t need God meddling in my personal business. It seems so silly now, but that’s what I felt and still feel. I’m going to keep writing down my worries and asking God to help me with them, because I don’t know if I exhausted the list of things I’m worried about in life. I’m going to keep losing the worry part of my life, in hopes of finding a newer life in Christ.  

Day 22 Bible Reading

Genesis 43 & 44, Matthew 15: 10-39, Psalm 13

Matthew 15: 32 (ESV)

“Then Jesus called his disciples to him and said, “I have compassion on the crowd because they have been with me now three days and have nothing to eat. And I am unwilling to send them away hungry, lest they faint on the way.””

I love verse 32 from Matthew 15. Again, we see the compassion Christ has for the people who follow him. He truly is the shepherd who cares for his sheep. If Jesus was unwilling to let his followers go away hungry when he was alive, would he not do the same for us now. Christ paid the ultimate price of his life to give us eternal life. It’s not that much of a stretch for hm to make sure we are always fed and will never go hungry if we follow him. Christ will meet our basic needs at the very least, but he can do so much more if we believe in him and give our lives to him. I think for us in today’s modern world, perhaps so much more than in the time when Jesus was live, we need more than our basic needs met for food and shelter. Our modern lives seem to be so much more complicated, and our needs are so much more complex. But I trust that Christ understands this and will meet our needs whatever they are if we follow and believe in him. But that’s the question isn’t it? How much do we truly believe in and follow Christ and all his laws and requests of us?