Reflective Bible Study

If you have ever wondered what criteria is used for Jesus bringing people into His Kingdom, you don’t have to search the Bible for very long before coming to our passage for this episode. For many Christians living today, despite what the media likes to portray, our passage for this episode has been a banner challenging Christians to love and help others ever since it was written. After we read it together, if you are not already familiar with this passage, I’m sure you will be able to see why.

As we said in the intro, our passage is found in the gospel of Matthew, chapter 25, and we will be reading out of the Holman Christian Standard Bible translation. Starting in verse 31, Matthew writes Jesus’ challenge to His followers, saying:

³¹ “When the Son of Man comes in His glory, and all the angels with Him, then He will sit on the throne of His glory. ³² All the nations will be gathered before Him, and He will separate them one from another, just as a shepherd separates the sheep from the goats. ³³ He will put the sheep on His right and the goats on the left. ³⁴ Then the King will say to those on His right, ‘Come, you who are blessed by My Father, inherit the kingdom prepared for you from the foundation of the world.

³⁵ For I was hungry
and you gave Me something to eat;
I was thirsty
and you gave Me something to drink;
I was a stranger and you took Me in;
³⁶ I was naked and you clothed Me;
I was sick and you took care of Me;
I was in prison and you visited Me.’

³⁷ “Then the righteous will answer Him, ‘Lord, when did we see You hungry and feed You, or thirsty and give You something to drink? ³⁸ When did we see You a stranger and take You in, or without clothes and clothe You? ³⁹ When did we see You sick, or in prison, and visit You?’

⁴⁰ “And the King will answer them, ‘I assure you: Whatever you did for one of the least of these brothers of Mine, you did for Me.’ ⁴¹ Then He will also say to those on the left, ‘Depart from Me, you who are cursed, into the eternal fire prepared for the Devil and his angels!

⁴² For I was hungry
and you gave Me nothing to eat;
I was thirsty
and you gave Me nothing to drink;
⁴³ I was a stranger
and you didn’t take Me in;
I was naked
and you didn’t clothe Me,
sick and in prison
and you didn’t take care of Me.’

⁴⁴ “Then they too will answer, ‘Lord, when did we see You hungry, or thirsty, or a stranger, or without clothes, or sick, or in prison, and not help You?’

⁴⁵ “Then He will answer them, ‘I assure you: Whatever you did not do for one of the least of these, you did not do for Me either.’

⁴⁶ “And they will go away into eternal punishment, but the righteous into eternal life.”

This passage marks the last parable Jesus shares with His disciples before meeting with the disciples to eat the last supper, and as I commented leading up to reading this passage, it is easy to see how it calls followers of Jesus to help others.

However, it is worth paying attention to the detail that this passage doesn’t focus us on just helping others; this passage challenges us to help the “least of these”.

Too often, we think of help as being generous towards others, and this is one aspect of it. Being generous towards others is one aspect that we could understand within Jesus’ praise for those who are welcomed into His kingdom.

However, in this passage, Jesus is calling us to help the lowest of the low in society: The hungry, thirsty, naked, stranger who is sick and in prison. While I don’t think this list is describing a single person, what it is describing is someone who does not have the means to repay you. In many ways, this is a much more specific type of help than we might naturally think.

Someone who is hungry, thirsty, or naked and who has money simply has to stop by grocery or clothing store and their problem is solved. Also, sickness is often helped by doctors who appreciate being paid as well.

However, “the least of these” in Jesus’ words seem to describe a person who is clearly in need of help, but who cannot repay the help they need in any way. Jesus’ challenge in this passage is a call to help those who cannot help you back. It is surprising, at least in my mind, that both groups of people in Jesus’ illustration share a common characteristic:

Both groups of people did not recognize Jesus in those they chose to help or not help.

Before continuing further, I want to point out that I don’t believe Jesus or angels are going to sneak down to earth to let us help them, especially when there are so many real people who need help at the lowest ends of society. Instead, Jesus draws the point that by helping those who cannot help us back, we are representing God well and it is like we are helping Him.

As I say this, it makes sense that when we help others in God’s name, we are helping God because at the very least, we give God a good name and a good reputation. Giving God a good reputation, when most people are inclined to think he is mean, vengeful, and looking for opportunities to punish them, is truly helping Him.

It is also worth mentioning that all throughout the gospels, Jesus modeled this type of love. Jesus loved helping people who could not help themselves, and most, if not all of the healing miracles Jesus did helped in a way that truly could never be repaid. Through Jesus’ example, we can understand that God helps those who cannot help themselves – and Jesus challenges us to follow His example in this passage.

However, what about the reward included within this parable?

In this parable, God promises a reward, but it is only after this final separating. It is worth paying attention to the detail that those who are righteous on the King’s right hand side do not receive their reward early. Instead, those who are separated on the King’s right hand side are promised it. In contrast, those who are wicked on the King’s left hand side do not receive their punishment early either, but they are promised it as well. While some might say this understanding is taking the details of this parable too far, I still find it interesting that this parable has all nations and humanity being rewarded and judged at the same time, as opposed to the time of their death, which is different for everyone.

The parable Jesus shares is a parable we can trust, because Jesus is trustworthy. We can trust what Jesus says. We can also fully know that He has given us the simple choice of which side we want to be on. If we intentionally work into our character and lives the opportunity to help those who are in need who cannot help us back, we are acting like those who Jesus calls blessed by His Father – and we can look forward to receiving the kingdom He has promised us.

Before closing out this podcast episode, I want to point out that I don’t believe helping others is a replacement for developing a relationship with God, or for putting our faith in Jesus. I also don’t believe that one can be saved who is against Jesus but who helps those who are helpless. Instead, I believe that faith in Jesus is how we live, work, and love God in the spiritual area of our lives, and helping the helpless is how we truly show our faith in God in the world around us.

Helping others with no strings attached is the best way we can truly be like Jesus. He came to take our place, and when Jesus died in our place, this was a gift given without any conditions.

As we come to the end of another podcast episode, here are the challenges I will leave you with:

As I always challenge you to do, intentionally seek God first in your life and focus on growing your relationship with Him. While growing your relationship with God, continue helping those who are in need who cannot help themselves. This is one great way we can model Jesus’ life and ministry, as well as following the challenge Jesus shared with us in our passage for this episode.

Also, as I always challenge you to do, continue praying and studying the Bible, for yourself, because regular prayer and Bible study help you grow your personal relationship with God. While pastors, podcasters, or other people can give you ideas to think about, never let your personal relationship with God depend on someone else. Choose to grow personally closer to God today while also being a blessing to others.

And as I end every set of challenges by saying in one way or another, never stop short of, back away from, chicken out of, or ignore where God wants to lead you to in your life with Him!

In one of the last parables Jesus shared before facing the cross, He describes a set of ten bridesmaids and how only half of these bridesmaids gain entrance into the wedding reception. While this is one of Jesus’ more well known parables, what I find fascinating about it is that most of the time I hear it discussed, it seems as though it is only looked at on a shallow, surface level. After drawing the conclusion that the oil in this parable represents the Holy Spirit, most people seem to discard the rest of the parable with the belief that it simply describes how we must always keep a reserve of Holy Spirit with us.

Or at least that is what the implication is when we too quickly jump to the oil in this parable being associated with the Holy Spirit. When we jump to this conclusion prematurely, we miss some profound truths I believe Jesus wanted us to learn from this sobering illustration.

Let’s read this parable, and as we do so, let me challenge you to ignore the thought that the oil represents the Holy Spirit, at least temporarily, and instead, let’s look for ways the two groups of bridesmaids are similar as well as different. When I challenged myself to read this parable looking for similarities and differences, an amazing set of truths appeared that I had never seen before.

This parable is found in Matthew’s gospel, chapter 25, and let’s read it using the New International Reader’s Version of the Bible. Starting in verse 1, Jesus tells those present:

¹ “Here is what the kingdom of heaven will be like at that time. Ten bridesmaids took their lamps and went out to meet the groom. ² Five of them were foolish. Five were wise. ³ The foolish ones took their lamps but didn’t take any olive oil with them. ⁴ The wise ones took oil in jars along with their lamps. ⁵ The groom did not come for a long time. So the bridesmaids all grew tired and fell asleep.

⁶ “At midnight someone cried out, ‘Here’s the groom! Come out to meet him!’

⁷ “Then all the bridesmaids woke up and got their lamps ready. ⁸ The foolish ones said to the wise ones, ‘Give us some of your oil. Our lamps are going out.’

⁹ “ ‘No,’ they replied. ‘There may not be enough for all of us. Instead, go to those who sell oil. Buy some for yourselves.’

¹⁰ “So they went to buy the oil. But while they were on their way, the groom arrived. The bridesmaids who were ready went in with him to the wedding dinner. Then the door was shut.

¹¹ “Later, the other bridesmaids also came. ‘Sir! Sir!’ they said. ‘Open the door for us!’

¹² “But he replied, ‘What I’m about to tell you is true. I don’t know you.’

¹³ “So keep watch. You do not know the day or the hour that the groom will come.

This is one of Jesus’ more challenging and harsh parables. Not only was half of the intended wedding party shut out, it seems as though the groom was entirely too quick to simply forget who they were. Well, actually it wasn’t the groom Himself who forgot, but the servant tasked with watching the door who did not know these other bridesmaids.

However, let’s take a moment and look in this parable for similarities and differences between the two groups of bridesmaids. One of these groups is identified as being wise, while the other group is identified as being foolish.

As I read through this parable, in the first section, it appears as though there is no visible difference between these two groups. All ten bridesmaids have lamps that are burning and shining brightly. The only difference we see described is that those in the wise group had a backup plan in place, just in case the groom did not arrive on time. This key difference tells me that in order to be wise according to this parable, we must hope for the best but plan for the worst – to use a tired cliché. The wise bridesmaids would be happy if the extra oil they packed with them was not needed, but they knew that having oil saved at home would not benefit them if they happened to need it while they were posted to light the entrance into the wedding reception.

In contrast, the foolish group did not anticipate a delay, and because of this, they only brought exactly the amount of oil they believed necessary for the evening.

During the second phase of the parable, all ten bridesmaids fall asleep, and all ten lamps go out. When I read this part of the parable, I am surprised because there are no differences between the wise bridesmaids and the foolish ones. They all became tired and fell asleep.

When hearing this parable talked about by others, most people miss this similarity. While everyone would love to say they were the one bridesmaid who stayed awake, this parable does not leave room for this case. When hearing this parable talked about, too often the theme that gets concluded is that we are to stay awake and not fall asleep – but this conclusion misses the truth that all five wise bridesmaids did fall asleep. Instead, there must be something more that we should pay attention to, and it comes after the bridesmaids are woken up.

The third portion of this parable happens after the bridesmaids are woken up. This is where we see the clearest differences between the wise and foolish groups. The wise bridesmaids quickly begin trimming and relighting their lamps in preparation for the groom’s arrival, but the foolish bridesmaids run into the realization that they don’t have any oil left to relight their lamps.

Probably the biggest difference between the wise and the foolish happens in this last portion of the parable. The wise bridesmaids tell the foolish that they don’t have enough oil to share, and the foolish bridesmaids leave their post in the middle of the night to go and try to find someone selling oil. This was not the era of the 24-hour supermarket, so purchasing oil in the middle of the night would likely involve knowing a merchant and waking them up.

Regardless of the amount of time that it took the foolish bridesmaids to acquire their oil, when they return they find that it is too late.

Looking at this parable, I see the powerful truth that we should plan in advance for a time (or times) when we will fall asleep. Sleeping is inevitable, but it can be prepared for. Also in this parable is the truth that what we do after we have been woken up is just as important. While not having oil would have been a disgrace for a bridesmaid in that time period, leaving and being absent from one’s post would have been even worse.

If I analyze what happened in this parable, I think that the wisest thing for one of the foolish bridesmaids would have been to stay nearby and simply ask to enter the reception with the guests. At the very least, this bridesmaid would have been present before the door to the wedding celebration was shut.

But what if the oil that was missing does represent the Holy Spirit? If this is the case, and the groom represents Jesus, then the only true Source for receiving more Holy Spirit would be coming with the groom. In case you are wondering, God the Father is the only true Source for the Holy Spirit, and I would be very surprised if God the Father was not traveling with His Son the groom during the events in this parable. By leaving and going to a merchant to find oil, the foolish bridesmaids doubly miss out because they miss the true Source of oil in favor of leaving and looking for something inferior.

Running with the thought that the oil represents the Holy Spirit, if one of the foolish bridesmaids was wise enough to have stayed, it is likely that Jesus, the groom, would have been happy to give some Holy Spirit oil to a bridesmaid in need. Giving is a part of Jesus’ nature, and helping those who need help is a part of who He is.

So as I learned while studying this parable, it is wise for us to plan for a time when we will fall spiritually asleep. Falling asleep is inevitable. But what ultimately matters is our planning on the front end, and the choices we make after we have been woken up. Never leave your post, because only when you are living for Jesus will He give you the Holy Spirit and let your life shine for others to see.

As we come to the end of another podcast episode, here are the challenges I will leave you with:

Continue seeking God first in your life and choose to stay with Him regardless of the temptations you face that try to trick you into leaving your post. Whether you began your walk with Jesus as a wise person or as a fool, your decision to stay or go after being woken up matters more than your preparation beforehand. Choose to stay, even if you don’t have the oil you feel you need, because the best Source of oil is coming your way.

Also, continue praying and studying the Bible for yourself to learn more about God, about Jesus, and about the Holy Spirit. When we prayerfully read and study the Bible, we grow our relationship with God and He will help us become spiritually wiser and able to discern truth from error. It is a mistake to solely trust a pastor or a podcaster for truth. While we may be sharing as much truth as we know, eternity is too important to leave the details to someone else – that is, someone other than Jesus.

And as I end every set of challenges by saying in one way or another, never stop short of, back away from, chicken out of, or simply walk away from where God wants to lead you to in your life with Him!

During the week leading up to Jesus’ crucifixion, one evening, several of Jesus’ disciples approach Him wanting to know more detail surrounding His return. While Jesus shared several chapters worth of material about this event, including several parables, one piece of Jesus’ description has stood out to me as being more fascinating than most of the other details.

With that said, let’s look at how Jesus describes His return from the gospel of Mark, chapter 13, starting in verse 24, and we will be reading from the New International Version:

²⁴ “But in those days, following that distress,

“‘the sun will be darkened,
    and the moon will not give its light;
²⁵ the stars will fall from the sky,
    and the heavenly bodies will be shaken.’

²⁶ “At that time people will see the Son of Man coming in clouds with great power and glory. ²⁷ And he will send his angels and gather his elect from the four winds, from the ends of the earth to the ends of the heavens.

²⁸ “Now learn this lesson from the fig tree: As soon as its twigs get tender and its leaves come out, you know that summer is near. ²⁹ Even so, when you see these things happening, you know that it is near, right at the door. ³⁰ Truly I tell you, this generation will certainly not pass away until all these things have happened. ³¹ Heaven and earth will pass away, but my words will never pass away.

While it would be very tempting to focus in on how Jesus finished this portion of His teaching, the portion of Jesus’ message that is most fascinating is the description Jesus shares in the second portion of verse 24 and in verse 25:

^24b “the sun will be darkened,
    and the moon will not give its light;
²⁵ the stars will fall from the sky,
    and the heavenly bodies will be shaken.”

This is how Jesus describes His return. In Luke’s gospel, Jesus says in chapter 21, verse 26 that, “People will faint from terror, apprehensive of what is coming on the world, for the heavenly bodies will be shaken.” (Luke 21:26)

Ever since Jesus spoke these words, Bible scholars have wondered and speculated over the event Jesus describes. Those familiar with the Old Testament would have recognized similarities between Jesus’ description to these disciples and God’s words to/through the prophet Isaiah when He describes the sun darkening, the moon not shining, stars falling, and the heavenly bodies being shaken. Isaiah’s description is of the great day when God brings punishment onto the sinners of the world. I wouldn’t be surprised if Jesus took Isaiah’s imagery about the day of judgment and applied it to His return.

It is also interesting that scholars have speculated over whether Jesus’ words in His description describe separate events that will happen close to when He returns, or whether the four things Jesus describes will happen together at the exact time of His return.

I’ll be the first to say that I haven’t studied this passage out as well as other people have. Since I don’t know Greek and cannot pick up on the nuances of the language, I am left with the various English translations present today. Most of these translations, if not all, seem to describe a quick sequence of events that happen following the end of the distress of God’s people. If I were to choose the most likely timing for understanding this description, I would presume that it happens at the exact time of Jesus’ return – like the rolling out the carpet before the limo’s door opens to reveal who is inside. While there might be a slight delay following these events before Jesus appears, I would suspect that they are part of one continuous process and not broken into separate distinct events.

With all that we know about the universe, I wonder if the descriptions Jesus shares regarding the sun, the moon, the stars, and the heavenly bodies are to be understood from our perspective. The universe is huge, and while God could sweep it aside with His little finger, I wonder if the description in our passage is really describing what will happen from earth’s perspective as Jesus returns.

Describing Jesus’ return, Revelation, chapter 1 verse 7 tells us that “every eye will see Him”. While it seems obvious to say, everything I have witnessed tells me that our earth is round, specifically a large sphere orbiting our sun in space. Under normal circumstances, at most half of the earth is visible at any point in time. This is evident that half of the earth is visible to the sun and experiencing day, while the opposite half of the earth is invisible to the sun’s light and experiencing night.

However, Jesus’ return is described in Revelation, chapter 1 verse 7, saying that “every eye will see Him”. Just like the sun cannot see all parts of the earth at the same time, with the earth the way it is right now, Jesus would have to fly through the sky to all parts of the earth for every eye to see Him. Or Jesus would have to be present in multiple places at once for every eye to see Him. Or God would have to do something drastic and miraculous to allow for every eye to see Him.

Some people today might say that every eye seeing Jesus’ return would be easy with how the world is connected with technology and cameras being present everywhere. I won’t deny this possibility, but my thought regarding this angle of understanding Jesus’ return places this interpretation as being more likely something an impostor would use to imitate Jesus appearing rather than something Jesus would actually need to use. Our understanding of Revelation’s description of Jesus’ return should not depend on technology because none of Jesus’ other miracles depended on anything our world today would consider as technology.

Instead, I wonder if the description Jesus shares in this verse about the sun, moon, stars, and heavenly bodies going dark, moving, and being shaken, is really a description of God unwrapping the earth’s crust from its core. God, being all powerful, could keep our atmosphere intact and gravity in place throughout this process, and once the world has been unwrapped, it will face away from our sun, block the moon from receiving light and be faced towards Jesus’ return, so that every eye will be able to see His return.

For those alive on earth, a process this extreme would feel like an earthquake of epic proportions, and as the earth moved, stars would streak across the sky, and the heavenly bodies would appear to move as well. The sun would end up somewhere behind the earth’s surface, and the moon, if visible in the sky, would be blocked from getting any sunlight similar to what happens during an eclipse. During this process, every star and planet will be streaking across the sky, and as the earth reshapes, our atmosphere will collide with satellites and other orbiting debris causing plenty of shooting stars, or as some people call them “falling stars”.

I will be the first to say that this is pure speculation, and one way of interpreting the details that Jesus describes. While Jesus’ return may be completely different than this, the way I described this as far as I can tell fits all the facts that Jesus described surrounding His return.

The most important detail for us to take away from this discussion is not that anything I described is to be understood as exactly how Jesus’ return will happen. Instead, the most important detail for us to take away from this is that Jesus will return, that He will keep us safe for eternity, and that He will never forget about us.

More than we can imagine, God wants to take us home with Him, and regardless of how the details Jesus described actually happen, what comes after Jesus appears is more important. After Jesus returns in the clouds, He sends out His angels to gather His people, and we return home to be with Him!

As we come to the end of our podcast episode, here are the challenges I will leave you with:

As I always challenge you to do, intentionally seek God first in your life. Don’t wait for disaster to happen before deciding to turn to God. While it might sound morbid or cliché, it is true that we have no guarantee that we will live to see the time of His return instead of being resurrected on the day Jesus returns. Because of this, today is the most important day for making your decision for God.

Also, as I always challenge you to do, continue to pray and study the Bible for yourself in order to learn and grow closer to God. While authors, bloggers, speakers, pastors, or even podcasters have ideas that they share, never let your relationship with God depend on another person. Instead, study the Bible for yourself and grow personally closer to God each and every day!

And as I end every set of challenges by saying in one way or another, never stop short of, back away from, chicken out of, or abandon where God wants to lead you to in your life with Him!

During the week Jesus was crucified, Jesus traveled into Jerusalem during the day and every evening, He would leave the city and spend the night outside of Jerusalem. On one afternoon, as they were leaving the temple, we are told about a remark one of the disciples makes, and how Jesus refocuses the conversation onto something much more significant.

Let’s look a little closer at what was said from the gospel of Mark, chapter 13, and let’s use the New American Standard Bible translation. Starting in verse 1, Mark tells us:

¹ As He [Jesus] was going out of the temple, one of His disciples said to Him, “Teacher, behold what wonderful stones and what wonderful buildings!” ² And Jesus said to him, “Do you see these great buildings? Not one stone will be left upon another which will not be torn down.”

While I had planned on reading more for this episode, let’s stop reading here and focus on what was just said, because it is incredibly relevant for us living today – maybe even more relevant than to the disciples looking at the magnificent temple. It would be very easy to keep reading and completely miss the relevance of these first two verses. While I don’t know the back-story for why this disciple made this comment, or really what the intent of his thought was, on the surface, this remark speaks to the remarkable achievements of the human race.

While the temple in Jerusalem was one of the most spectacular buildings to see in the ancient world, in today’s culture, we could substitute virtually any of the hundreds or even thousands of distinctive man-made structures that have begun to identify the location where they were constructed. In many ways, just seeing a specific building or specific skyline can immediately identify what city is being displayed.

In this short statement about buildings, the unnamed disciple unintentionally tries to draw the focus onto what we as humankind can build and accomplish. Now 2000 years later, we are able to build bigger buildings, taller buildings, and more magnificent buildings than anything constructed during the first century or at any point during ancient times. This is in part because we have better materials and bigger tools at our disposal.

But regardless of whether Jesus was talking about God’s house on earth, also known as the temple, or if we were to substitute the focus from the temple and onto some of the most spectacular towers and buildings in the world today, I believe Jesus’ response would remain the same.

Jesus responded with the sobering reality in verse 2 that begins with a question: “Do you see these great buildings?” Jesus asks this disciple. “Not one stone will be left upon another which will not be torn down.”

The response Jesus gives is fascinating in my mind because it appears as though Jesus leads the disciples into thinking that He is agreeing with him. It is like Jesus says, “Yep, these are pretty amazing buildings. Too bad they will soon be completely destroyed.”

If I was tempted to put words into Jesus’ mouth, I likely would have responded with the statement, “Do you see these great buildings? They are nothing compared to what God has in store for all His followers in heaven.” I may also have framed it along the lines of feeling in awe of God because when we are in a large building of that sort, such as a cathedral, we are reminded of how small we are in comparison to how big God is. Sure, God is much bigger than any and every cathedral ever constructed, but it’s good to be reminded visually of our “smallness” when pride likes to trick us into thinking we are bigger than we really are.

But Jesus doesn’t make a comparison with the best humanity can do placed next to what God can do, and He doesn’t even frame the magnificent buildings as structures that can help us draw near to God.

Instead, Jesus focuses our attention on the temporary nature of anything humanity can build or achieve, and this is incredibly relevant for us.

First, every achievement we accomplish will fade in significance with the more time that passes. Our minds minimize our past successes in light of our current challenges and our future fears. This is just a part of human nature. The best we can hope to do is slow this fading in our minds by structuring time into our lives to focus on what we have achieved in the past, and this is best done when framing our accomplishments in the context of what God was able to do through us.

Next, every achievement we accomplish will be out-done by someone else at some point in the future. While we might die on top of the hill of a certain accomplishment, eventually, someone somewhere will beat the record we set, or build something bigger, better, or more efficient than we did. Records and achievements are fluid and as greater lengths of time pass, humanity as a species get better and better, faster and faster, and more efficient with what we do.

The best we can hope for with achievements like this is to be happy for those who out do us. There is a good chance the person who out did us looks up to us in some way, and rarely are they the bad guy in a competition. While we shouldn’t ever stop pushing forward and trying to do better following a big achievement, we shouldn’t let our achievements define who we are. Defining ourselves based on our achievements opens us up for failure and disappointment when someone out-achieves us.

Someone who identifies with being the best at a particular skill will lose a part of who they are if another person becomes better than them. When a person’s identity is wrapped up in a past accomplishment or a certain set of skills, then they have an unhealthy emotional and spiritual foundation for their lives.

In our passage, the unnamed disciple appears to identify with the magnificent buildings as amazing accomplishments from a human perspective. But Jesus reminded him, and all of us, that the really important things in life are not physical in nature. The best accomplishments and achievements we can do as a species could in seconds be turned to rubble if hit with the right natural disaster.

Instead, Jesus warns us to not focus on the achievements of humanity and instead, He subtly suggests that we focus solely on doing God’s will, focusing on what He would want us to focus on, and to resist getting caught up with what society and culture want us to pay attention to.

With this said, as we come to the close of another podcast episode, here are the challenges I will leave you with:

Be sure to continually seek God first in your life and intentionally focus on the things He wants us to focus on. While there is nothing wrong with pursuing greatness, we must always keep our motives in check for why we are pushing towards a particular goal. If the motives revolve around self, self-esteem, or even self-worth, then these are negative motives in God’s eyes. Instead, if the motives relate to helping others, giving glory to God, or spreading the news about Jesus to a certain group of people, then these are positive motives in God’s eyes.

As we are focusing on the things God wants us to focus on, be sure to pray and study the Bible for yourself to keep your relationship and connection with Him strong. Unless you are neglecting helping others in the world, you will never hear God tell you He wants you to spend less time in your Bible and in prayer. For most people, prayer and Bible study are among the first things that get crowded out of a busy schedule. This regular challenge is to resist giving up on personal Bible study when life gets busy, because Bible study, at least for me, helps me stay in the right frame of mind and it helps us have the best perspective on this life that we can have – and it helps us have a strong relationship with God too.

And as I end every set of challenges by saying in one way or another, never stop short of, back away from, chicken out of, or let life squeeze you out of where God wants to lead you to in your life with Him!