Today’s Scrip-Bit   15 June 2023 Matthew 6:24b.

15 Jun 2023 Leave a comment

by randyobrien50 in Christian Thoughts and Inspiration., Daily Devotion, Daily Inspiration, Inspirational Living, Spiritual Living Tags: , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , ,

Matthew 6:24b.      Ye cannot serve God and mammon (riches, money).

Well, we’ve moved on to Thursday, the second to last day of the work week, and in my area it’s slated to be mostly cloudy, somewhat cool and windy. And I must say the last few days have been more spring-like, with cooler temps and some cloudy periods with rain, than it was earlier in the month with all that sunshine and warmth. But that’s how it is with life; what you don’t get now, you’ll get later, and vice versa. (smile) And no, I haven’t forgotten that we are supposed to continue talking about the value and importance of learning how to handle money, as prescribed in the Good Library. 

Now I don’t know if this is true, but someone once said that Jesus talked about money more than anything else in His earthly ministry. But He did talk some about money, so let’s see what He had to say on the subject. And the first and possibly the most important of Jesus’ sayings about money is this: ‘No man can serve two masters: for either he will hate the one, and LOVE the other; or else he will hold to (be loyal) to the one, and despise the other. Ye cannot serve God and mammon (riches, money).’ (Matt. 6:24) 

And that’s the gospel truth friends! We cannot serve God and run down material wealth too, although many of us are trying to do just that. God wants to be involved in EVERYTHING we do, so we can’t leave Him out to pursue money, then come back to Him when we feel like. 

And here are possibly the two most important quotes in the whole Bible about money and material wealth. The first are the opening words of Psalm 24, as Bruh David says it loud and clear. ‘The earth is the Lord’s, and the fullness thereof, the world, and they that dwell therein. For he hath founded it upon the seas, and established it upon the floods (rivers).’ (Ps. 24:1-2) Yes friends, that tells us in no uncertain terms that the earth and all therein belongs to God Almighty, who created it and still controls it. So whatever we have doesn’t really belong to us, we are just stewards, managers of it on this earth. 

And maybe this verse from right at the beginning of creation might help us to remember who’s the real BOSS! ‘And God said, Let us make man in our image, after our likeness: and let them have dominion over the fish of the sea, and over the fowl of the air, and over the cattle, and over all the earth, and over every thing that creepeth upon the earth.’ (Gen 1:26) Please note that God made it all and gave us dominion, or charge over it, He did not say it was ours. 

And the next verses we should hallow or think on, when we consider getting earthly riches, are these two spoken by Moses to the children of Israel. He warns them about getting swell headed when they get prosperous. ‘And thou say in thine heart, My power and the might of mine hand hath gotten me this wealth. But thou shalt remember the Lord thy God: for it is he that giveth thee power to get wealth, that he may establish (confirm) his covenant which he sware unto thy father, as it is this day.’ (Deut. 8:18) So there we have it, we don’t get wealth by our power, but through the Lord’s, because it all belongs to Him anyway. 

Now let’s get back to some of Jesus’ teaching on money. And just before He spoke about not being able to serve God and mammon or money, He warned. ‘Lay not up for yourselves treasures upon the earth, where moth and rust doth corrupt (ruin), and where thieves break through and steal: But lay up for yourselves treasures in heaven, where neither moth nor rust doth corrupt (ruin), and where thieves do not break through and steal.’ (Matt. 6:19-20) 

Now there’s wisdom for the ages! When you accumulate earthly wealth a lot of it deteriorates with age, or the possibilities are great for thieves to steal it, but in heaven there’s neither moth nor rust nor thieves, so if you desire to accumulate treasure, the best place to do so is in heaven! And in His teachings on worry right after that, Jesus also declares (yesss!!!): ‘Therefore I say unto you, Take no thought for (do not worry about) your life, what ye shall eat, or what ye shall drink; nor yet for your body, what ye shall put on. Is not life more than meat (food), and the body more than raiment (clothing)?’ (Matt. 6:25) 

Now that’s a good question. If we don’t worry about food and clothes how will we survive, and we need money to provide those things for ourselves and our families. And to further make His point, Jesus points out how the birds fly around without sowing or reaping, but they eat and live well because God looks after them. Likewise, the lilies of the field, they don’t toil or spin, but they’re even more beautiful than Cousin Sol in all his glory. and Cousin Sol was sure a sight to behold! (smile) 

Then Jesus reasons that if the Lord looks after those things of His universe that are not as important as us, why wouldn’t He also take good care of us, since He knows all that we need. Then He comes to the proviso, the thing necessary for that to happen. ‘But seek ye first the kingdom of God, and his righteousness; and all these things shall be added unto you.’  (Matt, 6:33) Now that’s the big one friends. If we want all that God has to offer, then we need to seek Him and his righteousness first, and keep it first place always. And it isn’t that we ought not to work, we should, as 2 Thess. 3:10, and 1 Tim. 5:8 tell us, but that we should stop worrying and learn to trust God. 

Now, we only have space and time left for one more of Jesus’ pronouncements on money. And this is indeed a hard one, where He says to the rich young ruler who had everything and kept the law as best he could, but was seeking eternal life. ‘Jesus said unto him, If thou wilt be perfect, go and sell that thou hast, and give to the poor, and thou shalt have treasure in heaven: and come and follow me.’ (Matt. 19:21) It’s obvious that the young man went away sad because he had a lot of wealth. Then Jesus went on to tell the disciples how it was hard for a rich man to enter heaven and it was easier for a camel to pass through the eyes of a needle, and with God all things are possible. etc. (Matt. 19:23-30) 

But what we’re concerned with here is why Jesus said those tough words to the young man. And this commentary explains it well. ‘These words of Jesus were not given as a general command to all His followers. Rather, they were spoken to a certain rich young ruler who wanted to inherit eternal life. But that doesn’t mean they don’t apply to us today. Jesus’ concern had to do with the grip the man’s wealth had on His heart. If He couldn’t let it go, then He could never really surrender everything to God. What about you? If Jesus asked you to give up everything, would you be able to do so?’ 

And isn’t that a marvellous question, which all of us are hoping that Jesus never asks us to do, since we all have a fair amount of earthly stuff, to which we’ve become fairly attached. (smile) But that’s a thought for another day, right now, let’s go home declaring (awright!!!) our Thursday Blessings which have been given to us to do Christ’s earthly work. 

Altogether now: ‘I declare that I am blessed with God’s supernatural wisdom and receive clear direction for my life! I declare today that I am blessed with creativity, courage, talent and abundance! I am blessed with a strong will, self-control and self-discipline! I am blessed with a great family, good friends, good health, faith, favour and fulfillment! 

I am blessed with success, supernatural strength, promotion and divine protection! I am blessed with a compassionate heart and a positive outlook on life! I declare that any curse or negative word that’s ever been spoken over me is broken right now in the name of Jesus! I declare that everything I put my hands to, will prosper and succeed! I declare it today and every day! Amen!’ 

And it’s now our bounden duty to get out into the evil and ungodly world and share those blessings just as generously with others as Christ shared them with us! Much LOVE!

…money can buy earthly things…but it cannot buy the things of heaven…let’s remember that… 

 Hear our podcast at https://open.spotify.com/show/3aVfqIC1CqwGybISs9dZ     

Today’s Scrip-Bit   17 September 2022 Matthew 19:26.

17 Sep 2022 Leave a comment

by randyobrien50 in Christian Thoughts and Inspiration., Daily Devotion, Daily Inspiration, Inspirational Living, Spiritual Living Tags: , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , ,

Matthew 19:26.       With men this is impossible, but with God all things are possible.

Well it’s lazy Saturday again friends! But the ole fella wasn’t lazy this morning, he was up bright and early and moving around. (smile) I guess that was possibly because he went to bed fairly early last night, or this morning. That’s one of the disadvantages of going to bed too early, you can’t have a good excuse to lie around in bed all day. In any case the Lord’s work is always waiting to be done, so lying around is not an option, we have to get up and shake a leg, have a look at the quotes our friend Anselm sent us this past week as he aspires to inspire us for a better tomorrow. 

Unfortunately though, this past week our friend must have been a bit confused because he sent us three quotes that he had just sent us the previous week. And out of the new two ones, I struggled to understand one of them, as they say, couldn’t make head nor tail of it, so I’m leaving it alone, rather than make a mess of it. That leaves us with only one quote for this week, but it’s a good one, and we ought to be able to do it justice. (smile) And here it is: ‘There is nothing impossible to those who will try.’ 

Now, we all know the mantra of success is try, try, try and try again, until you succeed. And that’s true to a certain extent, but some things are just impossible to man regardless of how often he tries. And that’s because he wasn’t made by the Creator to accomplish all that he desired in his own strength. The truth is that one needs to be a believer in and follower of Jesus Christ to be able to do certain things. 

And we all know, or ought to know (smile) the story of the rich young man who came to Jesus asking what he could do to gain eternal life. And though he had kept the basics of the Ten Commandments, Jesus told him: ‘If thou wilt be perfect, go and sell that thou hast, and give to the poor, and thou shalt have treasure in heaven: and come and follow me.’ (Matt. 19:21) 

Oh, that was obviously difficult for the young man to do since he had many possessions, so he went away sad and disappointed. But we should not look down on him, because most of us would have done, and right now would probably do the same thing if Jesus told us to sell what little we had and come and follow Him. That led to this very controversial statement of Jesus to the disciples. ‘Verily I say unto you that a rich man shall hardly enter (it is hard for a rich man to enter) into the kingdom of heaven. And again I say unto you, It is easier for a camel to go through the eye of a needle, than for a rich man to enter into the kingdom of God.’ (Matt. 19:23-24) 

Now there are a few things we must clear up before moving on. Jesus’ response to the rich young man was simply to show how hard it is to be a true disciple. As the scholars explain: ‘This passage teaches the seriousness of true discipleship, but in no way teaches the average man that he must sell his possessions in order to be a Christian.’ At that time, it was thought that the rich were blessed and would automatically be saved, no wonder the disciple’s shock at Jesus’ statement. But He was showing them the human difficulty for the rich to be converted, because wealth just brings out a selfish and greedy aspect of our human nature. 

It was indeed difficult, but not hopeless. Otherwise, people like Abraham and His children, Job, Bruh David, Cousin Sol and other filthy rich people wouldn’t have had a snowball’s chance in hell of entering heaven. (smile) The things that seemingly disqualify the rich from heaven are firstly what they do with their wealth, and secondly if they believe in Christ Jesus as Lord and Saviour. If you sincerely believe, and use your wealth to help build the kingdom, then there should be no problem. 

Remember too that it is God who allows us to get wealth, and there’s no call for Christians to be poor and needy, since Jesus came that we might have life and enjoy it to the full, until it overflows. You can’t do that if you’re destitute. So, finally moving on, we come to Jesus’ reply to the shock the disciples felt at hearing that it was easier for a camel to pass through the eye of a needle, than for a rich man to enter heaven. He said to them: ‘With men this is impossible, but with God all things are possible.’ (Matt. 19:26) 

Yes friends, that’s the clincher! It’s what we need to sincerely believe if we are to journey through this earthly life successfully. Remember, none but Jesus is perfect and thus we cannot live a blameless life, and some things just need the impossible power of God to make them happen in our lives. A perfect example of that is God’s gift of grace that gives us eternal life. Without it, eternal life would be impossible for us to achieve. In fact, without a personal relationship with Almighty God, health, wealth and whatever else are of no real benefit to us. 

And I like what Candice Lucey states in her article on the subject on the website Christianity.com. She says: ‘Throughout the Bible, God’s people accomplish unfathomable tasks. God is most glorified by bringing an event to pass which seems impossible.’ And then she points out ‘3 Things to Remember about “With God All Things Are Possible” 1. Power to accomplish the impossible comes from God. 2. The impossible is accomplished for God’s glory. 3. The impossible is accomplished for our good.’ 

Now those are extremely good points for us to contemplate. The impossible can be done only through God’s power, like how Moses brought water forth water from a rock. He didn’t’ do it through His own power, but that of God. Likewise barren women, Elizabeth and Sarah and Hannah didn’t eventually have children through their own power, but through God’s. And what about Abraham impregnating Sarah when he was a hundred and she ninety years old eh? That certainly had nothing to do with their power, but all with God’s. And then the virgin birth, the incarnation of Christ! Mary gave birth to a child without knowing a man! That could only happen through God’s majestic power! 

And then we need to realize that God usually does the impossible to display His glory. Oh, does he ever like to display His glory and power so that men could wise up and see that there’s none like Him! He is the ONE and ONLY ONE to whom all honour and glory belongs! And we only learn that by getting a task that seems impossible in our own strength, but completing it successfully through God’s omnipotent help. And God’s ‘showing off’ is never just to show off, but always for some useful purpose, like the examples we quote above. 

And finally my people, until we realize that ALL God does is for our good, we’ll miss out on a lot of wonderful things, our lives will never be as rich and full as they could be. That’s simply because God LOVES us so completely, we are the apple of His eye, and He wants nothing bad to happen to us. And though we can never be perfect, and this sinful world is filled with problems, we need to put our entire and ultimate trust in His hands so that He can lead and guide us safely along the narrow path that leads through His Son Jesus Christ and ends up at Him! 

My fellow saints, the Lord created us because He wanted fellowship and communion with us, and only when we believe that and do our best to put it into practice, can we ever enjoy life to the fullest, with the joy of the Lord flowing through us! So please, let’s make that our number one purpose and goal nuh! It’s wisdom and common sense to the max! Much LOVE!

…to truly know God…is to truly LOVE Him… 

Hear our podcast at https://open.spotify.com/show/3aVfqIC1CqwGybISs9dZJ8​