Assuredly, I Say

Matthew 6:2,5,16 - Assuredly, I say to you, they have their reward.

Three times Jesus tells His disciples these words. He has been sharing with these men how to act with humility and how to remember that God sees not only our acts but our heart's motives. 

The first time He mentions these words is in regard to charitable deeds. It is better to quietly do or give rather than openly. He says, ...do not sound a trumpet...that you might receive glory from men...do not let your left hand know what your right is doing...

Then Jesus tells these men: ...your Father who sees in secret will reward you openly. 

Likewise when praying it is not necessary to do so with fervor, flowery words or repetition to draw attention to self. It is to be done humbly, often in a quiet place, alone. Again, your Father who sees in secret will reward you openly.

And then when fasting it is not good to have the appearance of one who is. It draws attention to the individual. He says, yet a third time ...your Father who sees in secret will reward you. All we do in the quietness of our inner selves is what He sees and rewards. 

Remember, Jesus came humbly into this world and He lived a humble life. He left this world in a tragic manner yet humbled Himself even then by not speaking up to defend Himself. He is to be our example of humility. I believe pride is the root of all our sin. It is not all about us but all about what our Father does in and through us and whether what we do is for self or for Him. We seem to have a problem with this pride, all of us.

Later in this chapter of Matthew Jesus is talking about where our treasures are, there's where our heart is. Is it all about Him or all about us? Are our hearts set on Him or our achievements and accomplishments? Do we give Him any glory for what He has done through us? Do we give Him any credit at all? Do we want recognition or do we want God to be seen in us? Do we shine His light or our own?

Jesus concludes by telling the disciples, as a teaching also for us, that we are not to worry about our lives because God's got a handle on it all. He's got the control if we allow Him. If we believe we must be in complete control, we've no faith in our Father in heaven. I look at the vitriol after this last presidential election. We need to understand that God is in control and He knows just what He is doing. If it means one side determined to go after the other, who knows what it might bring about in God's plan. Some will have faith in God, others will believe He has nothing to do with anything. 

This God is the only means to life. We cannot do any more ourselves to bring life. He has complete control of our lives, even the number of hairs on our head, the number of our days. It is suggested we turn to Him and trust Him for that life. If we follow Him all our needs are met. Even if we do not have much, He supplies the necessities...the first being salvation of our souls with the end result being life everlasting. It's that life that is most important.

Apart from God we do not have this. Apart from God we will have our own reward, which amounts to very little. With God, we are secretly rewarded...a better reward than that which we receive from our own means. 

Matthew 6:32-33 - For after all these things the Gentiles seek. For your heavenly Father knows that you need all these things. But seek first the kingdom of God and His righteousness, and all these things shall be added to you.

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God's World

Joshua 10:13 - So the sun stood still, and the moon stopped, till the people had revenge upon their enemies... So the sun stood still in the midst of heaven, and did not hasten to go down for about a whole day.

God is the Creator of the world. Plain and simple. He is the Source of all life. Plain and simple. He is the one who holds the stars in the sky and knows each of them by name. Plain and simple. There are more stars and planets out there, and galaxies, than we can count, than we have even discovered...and God knows the names of them all. So, wouldn't one want to trust that He is the Center of everything? He is the ultimate wisdom and knowledge.

How can we think we are the center of our own little worlds? That does not show God as Center of our lives. When God stops our life dead in it's tracks and we are faced with a dilemma, which way will we turn? Will we seek Him in that time of need or will we be faced with the frustration, maybe angst, that NOW things are going to be different?

What will happen when that illness strikes or that disability comes that causes the things that we hold so dear to us to be unattainable either for a long while or permanently? Where will we turn when disaster strikes our family, our state, our nation, our world? What direction will we take then? Will we turn to God?

 

Sometimes I think our little frustrations or big disasters occur when He really desires to make Himself known to us, to commune with us. He will cause something that we've taken for granted to be pulled out from under. He has got to get our attention somehow...He will humble the proud and arrogant, bring those who consider themselves above all others down to the lesser level to show they are no better, no greater, really, in this world. He WILL humble us. It is, after all, His world.

Everything  we see happening in this world is part of His great plan. Not all is good, but out of disaster comes good. I've been struggling with something. I know others are also struggling...and not able to pinpoint what it is. I feel like the other shoe is going to drop... I'm feeling distant from so much. I can only handle what's before me now and not able to think or comprehend tomorrow. But then, isn't that what God wants? Don't worry about tomorrow...today has enough of it's own troubles.

This struggle is not about me but about what God wants to do in me. It's about His power to bring change, transformation. What will it take? What will it produce? Only He knows. As much as I want to know what this is all about and want to know when it will be over, I must realize that the Lord knows and He's in control of the when and how.

We are told in the scripture above that He was able to stop the sun in it's tracks to bring about His will. Don't think He won't do that in our lives. He is able to bring the sun up and set it again each day. That's power. That's His power. Stop us dead in our tracks then raise us up.

There's something brewing. Perhaps it's just in my own life, perhaps it's in the world. If we are in the last days, there has got to be a great move of God and I want to be part of this. I must be stretched beyond my own little world. We learned last night in our Wednesday night study that we must take the focus off ourselves and focus on everyone else.  I certainly don't believe the world revolves around me but I do believe I need to step out of my comfort zone. 

I mentioned one time about seeing God in everything. That's the way it should be for everyone. Of course, that's a perfect world. Lord, help us. Everything is about Him and our being centered in God. We might even see Him in the midst of the struggle Israel is facing or the gulf oil spill, our government, struggles within our churches.  Something is brewing; I'm certain of it.

Genesis 1:1 tells us "In the beginning, God..." and in the last book of Revelation, Revelation 22:13 God Himself tells us "I am the Alpha and the Omega, the Beginning and the End, the First and the Last." I read somewhere that if God is the beginning and the end of this world, this life, our lives, shouldn't He be everything in between too? Not about us, about Him.

What does it take for us to understand this? What does it take for to get us out of the picture? I don't see the letters "me" in God's name. They don't show in Yahveh, Jehovah, Lord or Jesus either. So when will we understand without a doubt that it's not about "me" and it's not about what is so important to "me?" Many are the plans in a man’s heart, but it is the LORD’s purpose that prevails. Delight yourself in the LORD and he will give you the desires of your heart. (Proverbs 19:21, Psalm 37:4) Doesn't this just fit right in with giving to receive (Greatness, June 15, 2010)? 

This so ties in with my question: "What Do I Do?" Seek God first, trust in Him and the rest will fall into place. Praise Him!

Matthew 6:33 - But seek first the kingdom of God and His righteousness, and all these things shall be added to you.