How is Your Life Going?

Today’s Reading: Matthew 23

The greatest among you will be your servant.  For whoever exalts himself will be humbled, and whoever humbles himself will be exalted.  Matthew 23:11-12

The way in which we live our life is a serious matter and Jesus makes that point strong as he addresses the way the teachers and Pharisees are living. He actually tells the surrounding crowd of people to listen to what they say, but not to do what they are doing. Bottom line… they knew the laws of Moses, but they were missing the spirit of God. As I read through this chapter in Matthew all I could think of was ‘servant leadership’----isn’t that what Jesus has been showing us all along? The best leader is the one who serves. Anyone can lead by demanding others to do everything, just as these men were doing, but only true men and women of God can humble themselves to lead others through service. Why? Well I believe that you have to have the spirit of God in you to truly be humble, to truly serve with no other intentions and those that don’t have the Spirit seem to think it is beneath them to serve others. I believe when you are truly following Jesus that you have a desire in you to serve others. Service to others is the true way to follow Christ, while the world may see it as being weak, I see it as true strength to know that there is something greater within you leading you to serve.

When I say the way we live our life is serious, it is! In this chapter Jesus says seven times ‘woe to you’ before addressing a faulty area in their lives. I don’t know about you, but I never want to hear Jesus say ‘woe to you’ when he is speaking to or about me. He even tells them that they were making their converts ‘twice as much a son of hell as you are’ He also calls them hypocrites a few times and states that their leadership is as a ‘blind guide’. He adds that they are snakes, ‘a brood of vipers’ and asks them ‘how will you escape being condemned to hell?’. Wow, strong words from our Savior---but once again every point Jesus makes is strong, but this is for our own good, he wants us to know how important it is to do what he says, to follow the path that he has set before us.

With all this, Jesus once again shows that no matter how bad we are, how much we have hurt others, how much we have hurt him, that he loves us infinitely and unconditionally. Look in verse 37 when Jesus says to them ‘how often I have longed to gather your children together, as a hen gathers her chicks under her wings, but you were not willing’. He’s waiting and ready for you to come to him----no matter where you are or what you have done, he is right there with open arms asking you to come and find rest in his presence.

I am fascinated by people who can quote scriptures, who know where to find almost anything in the Bible because that is definitely not me, but I am more fascinated by the people who hold to the Bible for answers, but also allow the Spirit to guide them through. Just as the Trinity is more than one and we can only accept it as such, the Bible is not meant to be the sole guide for our lives---that is precisely why we are to not only read God’s Word, but to also pray and seek His will, His guidance as we read.  I am reminded once again that Jesus is contantly reminding us to humble ourselves, even when it comes to knowing his Word.