Reflective Bible Study

Following a long series of parables that Matthew includes in his gospel, we discover that Jesus makes a trip back to His hometown of Nazareth. However, the reaction He gets when He arrives is fascinating in my mind.

Let’s read about what happens and what Jesus experienced when He returns home. Our passage is found in Matthew’s gospel, chapter 13, and we will read from the Good News Translation. Starting in verse 53, we read:

⁵³ When Jesus finished telling these parables, he left that place ⁵⁴ and went back to his hometown. He taught in the synagogue, and those who heard him were amazed. “Where did he get such wisdom?” they asked. “And what about his miracles? ⁵⁵ Isn’t he the carpenter’s son? Isn’t Mary his mother, and aren’t James, Joseph, Simon, and Judas his brothers? ⁵⁶ Aren’t all his sisters living here? Where did he get all this?” ⁵⁷ And so they rejected him.

Jesus said to them, “A prophet is respected everywhere except in his hometown and by his own family.” ⁵⁸ Because they did not have faith, he did not perform many miracles there.

In this passage, Jesus returns home to Nazareth, and when the Sabbath came, He went and taught in the synagogue. Two things stand out significantly in my mind about how this group of Jews responded to Jesus.

The first of these things is found in the questions they ask themselves about Jesus. Matthew tells us that they were amazed when they heard Him. This is powerful. They ask, “Where did he get such wisdom?” and “what about his miracles?” The initial response of those present is amazement. They appear to be very impressed with what Jesus was saying and sharing.

However, where this leads is just as amazing in my mind. Instead of seeing Jesus as someone who has grown in His relationship with God, they immediately seek to question where Jesus received His insight. Instead of simply accepting the wisdom Jesus shared, they are skeptical that someone as ordinary as Jesus could actually be extraordinary. These people look at Jesus’ family and they conclude that there isn’t anything special or abnormal in Jesus’ earthly parents or siblings. Because of this, they ultimately conclude that Jesus is not special at all, and not worthy of faith. These are the people who Jesus grew up with and around.

Mathew concludes by saying in verse 58 that “Because they did not have faith, [Jesus] did not perform many miracles there.”

This means that Jesus did perform some miracles while in Nazareth, but the miracles He did perform didn’t increase the faith of those present. Jesus helped those who chose to have faith, but the little faith that was present seemed to breed more skepticism rather than more faith.

I wonder if Mary and Joseph kept Jesus’ supernatural conception a secret. While Mary was definitely Jesus’ mother, I wonder if they didn’t openly share how Joseph was not Jesus’ father. Or, I wonder if those present simply assumed that Jesus and Joseph were biologically connected and they simply did not ask the question.

The other thing that stands out significantly in my mind when I read this is how we often fall into the exact same trap that those in Nazareth face. In our own lives, when we learn, hear, or read something new, the temptation is to quickly look deeper for a source, a story, or a motivation for what was shared. If new research comes to light about anything, we as a group instinctively will try to discern all the reasons we shouldn’t trust the research findings before looking at the findings itself.

If the findings validate what we already believe, they we blindly accept the research probably too quickly, whereas if the findings contradict what we believe, we challenge anything and everything about the research, the researchers, the funding source, and the motivation for the research itself. This is a characteristic of human nature, and it is as beneficial at times as it is detrimental.

The worst place we can find ourselves is listening or reading something about Jesus and choosing to accept or reject the idea based on our current beliefs. The next worse place we can go is to discredit the source of the idea. The best place to go to validate ideas about Jesus is to the closest source to Jesus we have, and that is the four gospels of the Bible.

There are more copies of the New Testament gospels than any other ancient written document. Also, the copies we have date more closely to the originals than any other ancient written source that I know of. This makes the Bible, probably the most controversial book in our world today, the best book to use when testing information and ideas about Jesus.

When Jesus arrived back in Nazareth, He was met with greater skepticism than if a complete stranger had arrived. Jesus came sharing wisdom and truth that was amazing and very impressive to those present. However, instead of accepting Jesus as Someone God sent to them with a special message, those in Nazareth decided it was best to dig into how Jesus could have learned or known what He shared, and when their search turns up empty, they decide to reject Jesus entirely.

We run the risk of this trap when we choose to reject Jesus based on anything but what the Bible teaches us in the gospels. The gospels are filled with information from eye witnesses and from those who were the closest to Jesus while He was on earth, and they are the best place to learn who the real Jesus was.

It’s also interesting in my mind that Jesus was rejected by people while He was alive on this earth. This means that we shouldn’t be surprised, hurt, or discouraged if we are rejected or if others reject Jesus in today’s world. Jesus didn’t come to please everyone or to get everyone to like Him. Jesus came to save all of God’s people, and to give humanity a better picture of God and His love for us!

Any message that paints Jesus as unloving towards those who were hurting, or unloving towards those who God loves, is a picture that does not match the Bible’s message about Jesus. With few exceptions, the only times Jesus speaks harshly are when He challenges those who believed they were better than others and who were self-righteously putting others down while trying to raise up their own status in God’s eyes. Jesus came to help those who were hurting and to give humanity hope for a future with God!

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, be sure to seek God first and place Him first in your life. Choose to accept Jesus and what He did for us when He came and died on the cross. Accept Jesus’ life as a picture of God’s heart and His love for you and for me.

Also, continue praying and studying the Bible for yourself to learn, grow, and become more like Jesus. Through praying and studying the Bible, we are better able to be the representatives that God has called us to be, and we will be better equipped to love others like Jesus loved them.

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 deviate away from where God wants to lead you to in your life with Him!

As we continue through Luke’s gospel and look at some of the amazing events Luke chose to include, we come to a place where Luke records a very powerful, very challenging message Jesus shares to a group of Pharisees and religious teachers. However, leading up to this challenge, we have a fascinating teaching Jesus shares about light. In this teaching, a phrase always stands out in my mind because of the seemingly impossible contrast Jesus makes.

Without any further introduction, let’s read what Luke tells us Jesus taught. Our passage is found in Luke’s gospel, chapter 11, and we will read from the New International Reader’s Version. Starting in verse 33, Luke tells us Jesus taught saying:

³³ “No one lights a lamp and hides it. No one puts it under a bowl. Instead, they put a lamp on its stand. Then those who come in can see the light. ³⁴ Your eye is like a lamp for your body. Suppose your eyes are healthy. Then your whole body also is full of light. But suppose your eyes can’t see well. Then your body also is full of darkness. ³⁵ So make sure that the light inside you is not darkness. ³⁶ Suppose your whole body is full of light. And suppose no part of it is dark. Then your body will be full of light. It will be just as when a lamp shines its light on you.”

Let’s pause here because Jesus has just finished speaking this big thought and Luke is about to shift focus onto the challenging statements Jesus makes to a group of Pharisees and religious leaders.

In Jesus’ teaching about light and our eyes being lamps for our bodies, He makes a fascinating statement in verse 35: “Make sure that the light inside you is not darkness”.

The immediate context for this statement is contrasting someone who has great eyesight with someone who has poor eyesight. The person with great eyesight would logically have lots of actual light inside of them, while the person with poor eyesight would not have as much light.

However, Jesus isn’t speaking only in a literal sense. While there is a literal application to Jesus’ statements, light inside us is not literally darkness because light and dark are opposites. Where there is light, there is not darkness, and where light is not present, there is darkness. This means Jesus’ statement about light and dark must have a spiritual application as well.

I suspect that Jesus is challenging people throughout history to be conscious of what they believe and internalize because many things that people are considering as light or new light is really darkness. While literal light and literal darkness are not true opposites, in a spiritual sense, light and dark are polar opposites. When we believe and internalize ideas we come in contact with, we should intentionally be filtering out darkness from light. We can best do this by holding up the truth in question to the filter of the Bible.

The Bible is a lens that doesn’t explain everything, but it does explain everything we need to understand in the spiritual dimension of life and it does explain a great number of other things that many people might be surprised to discover.

However, Luke may have finished sharing this portion of Jesus’ message, but he continues by sharing a powerful event that may have been one catalyst towards getting the hostility of the religious leaders turned in Jesus’ direction.

Continuing in verse 37, Luke tells us:

³⁷ Jesus finished speaking. Then a Pharisee invited him to eat with him. So Jesus went in and took his place at the table. ³⁸ But the Pharisee was surprised. He noticed that Jesus did not wash before the meal.

³⁹ Then the Lord spoke to him. “You Pharisees clean the outside of the cup and dish,” he said. “But inside you are full of greed and evil. ⁴⁰ You foolish people! Didn’t the one who made the outside make the inside also? ⁴¹ Give freely to poor people to show what is inside you. Then everything will be clean for you.

⁴² “How terrible it will be for you Pharisees! You give God a tenth of your garden plants, such as mint and rue. But you have forgotten to be fair and to love God. You should have practiced the last things without failing to do the first.

⁴³ “How terrible for you Pharisees! You love the most important seats in the synagogues. You love having people greet you with respect in the market.

⁴⁴ “How terrible for you! You are like graves that are not marked. People walk over them without knowing it.”

⁴⁵ An authority on the law spoke to Jesus. He said, “Teacher, when you say things like that, you say bad things about us too.”

⁴⁶ Jesus replied, “How terrible for you authorities on the law! You put such heavy loads on people that they can hardly carry them. But you yourselves will not lift one finger to help them.

⁴⁷ “How terrible for you! You build tombs for the prophets. It was your people of long ago who killed them. ⁴⁸ So you show that you agree with what your people did long ago. They killed the prophets, and now you build the prophets’ tombs. ⁴⁹ So God in his wisdom said, ‘I will send prophets and apostles to them. They will kill some. And they will try to hurt others.’ ⁵⁰ So the people of today will be punished. They will pay for all the prophets’ blood spilled since the world began. ⁵¹ I mean from the blood of Abel to the blood of Zechariah. He was killed between the altar and the temple. Yes, I tell you, the people of today will be punished for all these things.

⁵² “How terrible for you authorities on the law! You have taken away the key to the door of knowledge. You yourselves have not entered. And you have stood in the way of those who were entering.”

⁵³ When Jesus went outside, the Pharisees and the teachers of the law strongly opposed him. They threw a lot of questions at him. ⁵⁴ They set traps for him. They wanted to catch him in something he might say.

In this last set of verses to conclude this event, I am wholly not surprised that when Jesus left, the Pharisees and religious leaders strongly opposed Him.

While there are many things we could pull out and focus on for the remainder of this podcast episode, one phrase stood out to me that I want to emphasize. In verse 41, Jesus tells the Pharisee, “Give freely to poor people to show what is inside you.”

In this statement, Jesus hints at generosity being a function of the heart. Generosity, or a lack of generosity, shows others what is in our hearts. When we look at almost all of Jesus’ challenges to these religious leaders, two big themes Jesus challenged them on were a self-centered attitude that pushed people away and an arrogant attitude that looked down on others. The religious leaders judged first and only when proven wrong would consider changing their judgment.

Jesus’ challenge regarding generosity stands in strong contrast to the attitude these religious leaders had. When we are generous, we have other people in focus, and we step into a serving role to help the other people. While I’m sure it is possible to serve others and be generous with a self-centered attitude, these two actions are not easily blended.

The religious leaders are accused of standing in the way of people coming to know God and Jesus. This is a challenge with people at every point in history. God wants a personal relationship with us. Any leader, teacher, guide, or mentor who wants to get in the way of you growing closer to God has more in common with these religious leaders Jesus speaks against than people God sends into our lives.

If you face opposition from someone when you are trying to grow your relationship with Jesus, chances are that God did not bring this person into your life, or if He did, they are not acting within God’s will. The religious leaders God wants to have present in all His churches and spiritual communities are leaders who help others, leaders who open the door to knowledge, and leaders who help sinners understand that they are truly forgiven because of what Jesus accomplished for humanity on the cross!

God is looking for leaders to help people grow close to Him, and these leaders will always point people back to the Bible and help them focus on applying the truths found in the Bible into their daily lives!

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 don’t let anyone get in the way of you and your relationship with God. Filter the “truth” that is presented to you through the lens of the Bible in order to determine what is really true and worth applying into your life.

Also, as I always challenge you to do, pray and study the Bible for yourself to grow your personal relationship with God. I hope and pray that what I share each week helps your personal relationship with God grow stronger, but I also hope and pray that with everything I share, you will take and study it out for yourself so it becomes truth that you know from the Bible and not simply truth that I shared. While pastors, authors, speakers, or podcasters can give great ideas, always study what you hear and read to determine if it is truth worth applying in your life.

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 give up on where God wants to lead you to in your life with Him!

Jumping ahead in Matthew’s gospel, we come to a series of parables Jesus shares while He was alone with His disciples that together show us a powerful picture of God’s character and love for us. While often we might think of the first two parables in this set as referring to us doing the majority of the work, when we look at this set as a whole, we get a completely different picture.

Let’s read what Jesus shared and what we can learn from this set of parables. Our passage is found in Matthew’s gospel, chapter 13, and we will read it from the Good News Translation. Starting in verse 44, Jesus continued sharing with the disciples, saying:

⁴⁴ “The Kingdom of heaven is like this. A man happens to find a treasure hidden in a field. He covers it up again, and is so happy that he goes and sells everything he has, and then goes back and buys that field.

⁴⁵ “Also, the Kingdom of heaven is like this. A man is looking for fine pearls, ⁴⁶ and when he finds one that is unusually fine, he goes and sells everything he has, and buys that pearl.

⁴⁷ “Also, the Kingdom of heaven is like this. Some fishermen throw their net out in the lake and catch all kinds of fish. ⁴⁸ When the net is full, they pull it to shore and sit down to divide the fish: the good ones go into the buckets, the worthless ones are thrown away. ⁴⁹ It will be like this at the end of the age: the angels will go out and gather up the evil people from among the good ⁵⁰ and will throw them into the fiery furnace, where they will cry and gnash their teeth.

⁵¹ “Do you understand these things?” Jesus asked them.

“Yes,” they answered.

⁵² So he replied, “This means, then, that every teacher of the Law who becomes a disciple in the Kingdom of heaven is like a homeowner who takes new and old things out of his storage room.”

In our passage, we find a set of three parables, with a bonus, one-verse, fourth parable right at the end. In the bonus parable, we find Jesus making room for those who are teachers of the Law to become disciples in the Kingdom of heaven. From this bonus parable, it seems that the teachers of the law who become disciples have an advantage over the teachers who don’t become disciples, and over the disciples who were not teachers, because only the teachers of the law who become disciples can bring out and blend both old and new truths.

However, the real focus of our passage is the first three parables that together make a neat set. What is unfortunate is that too often the parables are split apart and shared separately, or the first two parables are shared without the third.

I can understand why the first two parables get more attention and while the third parable is a little more concerning. The third parable focuses on the judgment and it includes people being thrown away. The third parable calls those who were thrown away as worthless fish.

However, Jesus shares these three parables in a set, and all three of these parables build on each other to give us a picture of what God’s Kingdom of heaven is like. In the first parable, the Kingdom of heaven is described as a treasure hidden in a field. This treasure is so valuable that when a man finds this treasure, He sells everything so that He can buy the field that contains this treasure.

While the first parable is often shared with the focus placed on you and me finding the Kingdom of heaven and valuing it like a treasure, since this is a parable about the Kingdom of heaven, God is present in it. In this parable, God could be the treasure, or He could be the man who sold everything.

The context of this parable allows for either interpretation. God gave up everything to purchase the field called the earth, and this is because this field had treasure in it. Also, we are called to give up everything for God, because God’s treasure is more valuable than anything we currently own or have.

The second parable is similar, however, this time, the Kingdom of heaven is compared with a merchant, who finds a pearl of great value, and he sells everything he owns to buy this pearl. Again, since this is a Kingdom of heaven parable, we should look for God represented in this parable, and again, this parable only gives us two options. God is either the merchant, or the pearl of great value.

Similar to the first parable, both interpretations work. God as the merchant sold everything He had to purchase the pearl of great value, which He did through Jesus. God valued us so much that He gave everything He had to redeem us from sin. God is also a pearl of great value and we are called to give up everything we think is valuable in order to gain God and His unusually fine pearl-treasure.

Before jumping into the third parable, it is interesting that these two parables are similar but also opposites. The first parable of the treasure in the field has the Kingdom of heaven being represented as the treasure while the second parable of the pearl has the Kingdom of heaven being represented as the merchant. I think both the interpretations for both parables work because each parable has a slightly different focus. The first parable is likely focused on us seeking God as our treasure, while the second parable is likely focused on God seeking us as His pearl of great value.

The third parable seems different, but it shares the same theme of looking for things of value. However, Jesus shares the interpretation of the third parable and He attributes this third parable to the end of the age. When Jesus returns at the end of the age, the angels will separate the evil people from the good and they will throw the evil people away – specifically into the fiery furnace.

As a side note: reading this reminds me of Daniel’s three friends facing the fiery furnace because they chose to only bow and worship God, not the king’s statue. In an interesting twist, those who are evil, who have chosen anything and everything but God will ultimately face God’s “fiery furnace”.

However, the big focus of this third parable is God collecting His people at the end of the age and saving them from this sinful world. This third parable leaves no vagueness because Jesus clearly shares what the parable means.

All three of these parables together form a big truth that we are to seek and give up everything for God’s treasure, God gave up everything for us because we are His treasure, and at the end of the age, God is going to return and rescue His treasure from this world of sin.

This is one of the only places in the gospels where the disciples respond saying they understand Jesus, and I really believe they did. After Jesus returned to heaven, every one of the remaining disciples gave up everything, including their lives, for the gospel message. The disciples’ lives are an example for us what it means to see God’s kingdom as our treasure!

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 value God like the man valued the treasure in the field. Understand that what God offers us is more valuable than anything we could ever hope to earn or acquire on our own, but we must give up ourselves in order to gain what God has promised us.

Also, continue praying and studying the Bible for yourself to learn how much God values you and me. God gave up more than we possibly could imagine purchasing us out of sin because He values us like the merchant valued the pearl of great value. Praying and studying the Bible helps us discover just how much God really loves us and how much He gave to redeem us!

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 be discouraged away from walking with God to where He wants to lead you to in your life with Him!

As we continue our year podcasting through Luke’s gospel, we come to a place where Luke describes Jesus teaching His disciples to pray. While Matthew’s gospel gets the majority of attention when looking at this event, the prayer Luke describes is surprisingly simple, while also being incredibly profound.

Let’s read what Luke wrote down, and discover what Jesus wanted the disciples to know about prayer. Our passage is found in Luke’s gospel, chapter 11, and we will read from the Good News Translation. Starting in verse 1, Luke tells us that:

¹ One day Jesus was praying in a certain place. When he had finished, one of his disciples said to him, “Lord, teach us to pray, just as John taught his disciples.”

² Jesus said to them, “When you pray, say this:
‘Father:
    May your holy name be honored;
    may your Kingdom come.
³ Give us day by day the food we need.
⁴ Forgive us our sins,
    for we forgive everyone who does us wrong.
    And do not bring us to hard testing.’”

While our passage continues, let’s pause here briefly. With this last request about not bringing us to hard testing, it appears as though the prayer ends. There is no “amen” or any other concluding phrase. This makes me wonder if the last portion of the prayer was lost, or if Jesus is sharing a simple example we can use as a framework for prayer.

Spread throughout the gospels are times when Jesus spent extended periods of time in prayer. Sometimes these prayers lasted for minutes, others hours, and a few even all night long. The example Jesus gives us likely wouldn’t even take us a minute to pray. This tells me that God probably values short, to the point, prayers over long prayers with lots of repetition.

When we look at this prayer Jesus told the disciples, we see four key parts. While some people can easily make acronyms and fancy models for prayer, I won’t attempt to do this. Instead, I will simply share the four big pieces I see in this prayer and how these pieces fit together in a powerful way.

The first portion of the prayer acknowledges God as our Father, and then we give Him glory, honor, and praise. Verse 2 states: “Father: May your holy name be honored; may your Kingdom come.” To summarize this first verse: Our prayer opens with acknowledging God for who He is and looking forward to the arrival of His Kingdom.

The next part of this prayer acknowledges God’s blessings and our requests for our present circumstances. We request our immediate needs focusing on God’s providing for the present moment of time we are living in. This is stated in verse 3 when Jesus says, “Give us day by day the food we need.” Not only do we ask God to be with us each day as we move forward through life, we ask Him to be actively giving us what we need every “present” moment of our lives.

The third part of this prayer focuses on forgiveness in the present, because of forgiveness in the past. We ask God to continue forgiving us because we are forgiving those who have done us wrong. Jesus states this by saying in the first part of verse 4, “Forgive us our sins, for we forgive everyone who does us wrong.” We want God to forgive us and we acknowledge Jesus’ promise that we are forgiven when we choose to forgive others.

The last part of this prayer focuses on protection for our future. While it sounds obvious that we wouldn’t want God to bring hard test or trials into our lives, this statement is a reminder for us that God protects our future. Jesus finishes this prayer at the end of verse 4 by saying “And do not bring us to hard testing”. We want God to protect us from things we cannot bear, and in a subtle way, we are reminding ourselves that God protects us and that anything that comes our way has been allowed into our lives because God knows He can turn it into a positive when we’ve learned from it.

This is Jesus’ model prayer.

In this prayer, we have two parallel progressive themes. The first big progressive theme is that this prayer begins by honoring God, before then asking God to provide for our present, forgive our past, and protect our future!

The second progressive summary still begins by honoring God, but then it asks God to provide for our physical, spiritual, and emotional needs. Our physical needs are represented by our food each day, our spiritual needs are represented by forgiveness, and our emotional needs are represented by our request for protection from the big tests of life.

If we keep all this in mind for our prayer time with God, I believe He will honor our prayers and answer them with our best interests in mind.

However, Jesus still has something else to teach us about prayer. Continuing in verse 5, Luke tells us:

⁵ [And] Jesus said to his disciples, “Suppose one of you should go to a friend’s house at midnight and say, ‘Friend, let me borrow three loaves of bread. ⁶ A friend of mine who is on a trip has just come to my house, and I don’t have any food for him!’ ⁷ And suppose your friend should answer from inside, ‘Don’t bother me! The door is already locked, and my children and I are in bed. I can’t get up and give you anything.’ ⁸ Well, what then? I tell you that even if he will not get up and give you the bread because you are his friend, yet he will get up and give you everything you need because you are not ashamed to keep on asking. ⁹ And so I say to you: Ask, and you will receive; seek, and you will find; knock, and the door will be opened to you. ¹⁰ For those who ask will receive, and those who seek will find, and the door will be opened to anyone who knocks. ¹¹ Would any of you who are fathers give your son a snake when he asks for fish? ¹² Or would you give him a scorpion when he asks for an egg? ¹³ As bad as you are, you know how to give good things to your children. How much more, then, will the Father in heaven give the Holy Spirit to those who ask him!”

In this additional teaching on prayer, Jesus challenges the disciples to pray purposefully and continually until we see God fully grant our request. However, we shouldn’t stop praying when God has started answering our prayers. Instead, we are challenged to shift our prayers from asking for our request to thanking God for answering our prayer.

The last big detail we have time for in this episode is where we should focus our prayer requests. When we ask God for His help, and for things that we need in our walk with Him, He knows exactly what we are asking for and He knows what the best thing we need is. God is more than willing to give us the best gift we need in any and every circumstance. However, it is worth pointing out that God has a much bigger perspective than we do, and this is why His best gifts might not always feel like the best gifts.

God knows exactly what we need, and God knows exactly the way to answer our prayers that leads us, and the most possible people, into a saving relationship with Jesus that ultimately leads into eternal life.

The best gift that God can give us is a gift that He is more than willing to give to us when we ask for it. This gift is His Holy Spirit. The Holy Spirit is the best gift God can give us, because the Holy Spirit is the ultimate guide for our lives, and the Holy Spirit is more than willing to bless us with everything we need to lead us into eternity with God when we let Him into our hearts and lives!

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 choose to ask Him for His gift of the Holy Spirit. God is more than willing to answer this request and this request is one we should persist in when praying. Also, when praying, always acknowledge God for who He is, and ask Him to provide for your present, forgive your past, and protect your future!

As I also always challenge you to do, continue praying and studying the Bible for yourself to learn and grow closer to God each day. Prayer and study are among the best ways to grow a personal relationship with God and a personal relationship with God is what leads to eternal life. Above everything else, don’t let anyone get between you and your relationship with God!

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 give up on where God wants to lead you to in your life with Him!