Reflective Bible Study

As Jesus continues His famous Sermon on the Mount that we find in Matthew’s gospel, He comes to one of the most challenging parts of His message. In our passage for this episode, Jesus elevates what we might believe the standard of the law is to be significantly higher.

In essence, Jesus takes God’s law and Moses’ law and reframes these two laws to be a much higher standard than what we might believe, and if someone believes they have fulfilled the law as written, it would be a great stretch to believe they have fulfilled the law as Jesus describes it in this passage.

Let’s read what Jesus describes, and unpack the big truth it teaches. The portion of Jesus’ sermon we will focus on is found in Matthew, chapter 5, and we will read it from the New International Version. Starting in verse 21, Jesus continued preaching, saying:

²¹ “You have heard that it was said to the people long ago, ‘You shall not murder, and anyone who murders will be subject to judgment.’ ²² But I tell you that anyone who is angry with a brother or sister will be subject to judgment. Again, anyone who says to a brother or sister, ‘Raca,’ is answerable to the court. And anyone who says, ‘You fool!’ will be in danger of the fire of hell.

²³ “Therefore, if you are offering your gift at the altar and there remember that your brother or sister has something against you, ²⁴ leave your gift there in front of the altar. First go and be reconciled to them; then come and offer your gift.

²⁵ “Settle matters quickly with your adversary who is taking you to court. Do it while you are still together on the way, or your adversary may hand you over to the judge, and the judge may hand you over to the officer, and you may be thrown into prison. ²⁶ Truly I tell you, you will not get out until you have paid the last penny.

²⁷ “You have heard that it was said, ‘You shall not commit adultery.’ ²⁸ But I tell you that anyone who looks at a woman lustfully has already committed adultery with her in his heart. ²⁹ If your right eye causes you to stumble, gouge it out and throw it away. It is better for you to lose one part of your body than for your whole body to be thrown into hell. ³⁰ And if your right hand causes you to stumble, cut it off and throw it away. It is better for you to lose one part of your body than for your whole body to go into hell.

³¹ “It has been said, ‘Anyone who divorces his wife must give her a certificate of divorce.’ ³² But I tell you that anyone who divorces his wife, except for sexual immorality, makes her the victim of adultery, and anyone who marries a divorced woman commits adultery.

³³ “Again, you have heard that it was said to the people long ago, ‘Do not break your oath, but fulfill to the Lord the vows you have made.’ ³⁴ But I tell you, do not swear an oath at all: either by heaven, for it is God’s throne; ³⁵ or by the earth, for it is his footstool; or by Jerusalem, for it is the city of the Great King. ³⁶ And do not swear by your head, for you cannot make even one hair white or black. ³⁷ All you need to say is simply ‘Yes’ or ‘No’; anything beyond this comes from the evil one.

In this passage, Jesus takes what we might consider to be the standard of the law, and He elevates it. Where we might think of committing murder or cursing someone as being subject to being judged, Jesus tells us that being angry with someone, or calling someone a fool is actually much closer to the line of breaking the law.

Jesus challenges us that we should be right with others first before we will be right with God. He challenges us in this way when He tells those present to leave their gift at the altar and go reconcile a relationship before offering our gifts to God. In this way, our relationships with one another become a reflection of our relationship with God.

We are also challenged to get along with others and to live uprightly. If we have a disagreement with someone, we should work to make things right, and we should do this before the issue becomes an issue in the court system. When a matter comes before a court, we give up control to a third party, and this third party might find us guilty when we believe we are innocent.

Jesus tells us that the standard for adultery isn’t the act of adultery, but the thoughts and the lust that precedes the action. Jesus doesn’t minimize the sin in the act of adultery; He challenges us with the truth that lustful thoughts are equally bad.

In one of the more challenging parts of Jesus’ message, He challenges us with the idea that it is better to physically cut a part of our body away than to let that part of our body sin and cost us our salvation. While some people don’t think Jesus meant what He says here, I wonder if we truly took this teaching to heart whether we would be so lenient towards sin. Jesus challenges us to purge sin from our lives, because sin in our lives has the power to cause us to lose our salvation!

Also in this passage, Jesus elevates the status of marriage to being a life-long, through-thick-and-thin commitment. Jesus describes in this message that adultery is the only spiritually valid reason for divorce. While I don’t know if Jesus would exclude other abuses for being valid reasons for divorce, I know at least in my own mind, I would consider any form of abuse as grounds for divorce. I also know and recommend that avoiding marriage is better if there is any doubt about a potential spouse in a person’s mind. Another place in the gospels describes Jesus telling His followers that it is better that they don’t marry if they cannot accept Jesus’ teaching on marriage.

The last challenge in this portion of Jesus’ sermon elevates the significance of our word vs. making oaths. In an interesting comparison, Jesus challenges us to keep our word, regardless of how it was said. When we live to the standard we speak, then there is no reason to swear oaths, or to make vows. We should live to the standard of our words and our agreements, and not distinguish between promises that can be broken vs. promises that must be kept.

This entire section of teaching is very challenging because it elevates the law to a much higher standard than simply the letter of the law, and this makes God’s law virtually impossible to keep 100%. However, if you remember in our last episode, where we focused on a statement Jesus makes right before this, you’ll remember that Jesus tells those present that He came to fulfill the law. We break the law Jesus describes in this passage, but He came so that we can have salvation when we turn away from our sin.

Breaking the law condemns us to death, and Jesus offers to take the death we deserve and give us the life He deserved. We shouldn’t continue to sin, but we should resolve to turn away from our sins as a way to say Thank You to Jesus for the gift He purchased for us on the cross!

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 and place Him first in your life. Accept Jesus and the gift He offers to us and resolve to thank Jesus for His gift by turning away from sin.

Also, continue praying and studying the Bible for yourself. While pastors, speakers, authors, or even podcasters can give you things to think about, take what you learn and filter it through what God teaches you through His Word. God is interested in a personal relationship with you and personal prayer and study is how to grow a personal 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 abandon where God wants to lead you to in your life with Him!

As Luke describes the early part of Jesus’ ministry, we read about a visit Jesus takes to His hometown of Nazareth, and specifically to the synagogue that He likely grew up attending.

However, this visit was different. All the times before this, Jesus’ time in this synagogue had been out of the spotlight and prior to His baptism while Jesus was simply learning and practicing carpentry with Joseph. Now, following Jesus’ baptism and trip into the desert to be tempted, we find Jesus returning to Nazareth for a visit after having left the family business and stepping into the role and mission God had sent Him into this world to accomplish.

But things were different. Word had been spreading about what Jesus was doing, and it made the people who saw Jesus grow up a little confused. Let’s read about what happened.

Our passage is found in the gospel of Luke, chapter 4, and we will read from the New International Reader’s Version of the Bible. Starting in verse 16, Luke tells us that:

¹⁶ Jesus went to Nazareth, where he had been brought up. On the Sabbath day he went into the synagogue as he usually did. He stood up to read. ¹⁷ And the scroll of Isaiah the prophet was handed to him. Jesus unrolled it and found the right place. There it is written,

¹⁸ “The Spirit of the Lord is on me.
    He has anointed me
    to announce the good news to poor people.
He has sent me to announce freedom for prisoners.
    He has sent me so that the blind will see again.
He wants me to set free those who are treated badly.
¹⁹     And he has sent me to announce the year when he will set his people free.”

²⁰ Then Jesus rolled up the scroll. He gave it back to the attendant and sat down. The eyes of everyone in the synagogue were staring at him. ²¹ He began by saying to them, “Today this passage of Scripture is coming true as you listen.”

²² Everyone said good things about him. They were amazed at the gracious words they heard from his lips. “Isn’t this Joseph’s son?” they asked.

²³ Jesus said, “Here is a saying you will certainly apply to me. ‘Doctor, heal yourself!’ And you will tell me this. ‘Do the things here in your hometown that we heard you did in Capernaum.’ ”

²⁴ “What I’m about to tell you is true,” he continued. “A prophet is not accepted in his hometown. ²⁵ I tell you for sure that there were many widows in Israel in the days of Elijah. And there had been no rain for three and a half years. There wasn’t enough food to eat anywhere in the land. ²⁶ But Elijah was not sent to any of those widows. Instead, he was sent to a widow in Zarephath near Sidon. ²⁷ And there were many in Israel who had skin diseases in the days of Elisha the prophet. But not one of them was healed except Naaman the Syrian.”

²⁸ All the people in the synagogue were very angry when they heard that. ²⁹ They got up and ran Jesus out of town. They took him to the edge of the hill on which the town was built. They planned to throw him off the cliff. ³⁰ But Jesus walked right through the crowd and went on his way.

When reading this event, I am always amazed at how those in the Nazareth synagogue are so excited about Jesus’ opening words as He is reading from Isaiah’s writing, but they immediately turn on Jesus for sharing some difficult truths. It is as though they were waiting for a reason to doubt Jesus, or perhaps Jesus was waiting for a moment to challenge who they believed Him to be.

The hinge moment in this entire event is one comment that the Jews in this synagogue ask themselves about Jesus. In verse 22, Luke tells us that those in the Nazareth synagogue asked themselves, “Isn’t this Joseph’s son?”

Perhaps this question is a valid question. Perhaps those in the Nazareth synagogue did not know about the extraordinary circumstances surrounding Jesus’ birth. It is possible that Mary and Joseph had kept the secret of Jesus’ birth quiet and those in this Nazareth synagogue believed Jesus to be like any other person in their midst.

However, it is also possible that Mary and Joseph had told those in this synagogue the extraordinary birth of Jesus, the escape to Egypt, and how God had called them back to Nazareth after it was safe to return. If this was the case, then it also wouldn’t surprise me to learn that those in Nazareth were skeptical of what Mary and Joseph told them. I wouldn’t hesitate thinking that many in the synagogue preferred to think Jesus was Mary and Joseph’s biological son.

However, Jesus uses this rhetorical question as an opportunity to challenge those present. While Jesus does make some negative predictions specifically about those in the Nazareth synagogue, the message Jesus refreshes their mind with from Israel’s past is fascinating to me. It is in the anger that we see when Jesus shares historical fact that reveals the character of those present, and what Jesus shared interestingly enough proves His point just as strongly as the rejection He faced.

The big point Jesus wants to emphasize for us is in verse 24 when He says, “A prophet is not accepted in his hometown.” Jesus uses this truth to emphasize and predict what those in this synagogue would do minutes later.

However, the examples Jesus shares don’t appear to support this key point. Jesus then shares two of the most famous prophets in Israel’s history helping people outside of Israel while people in Israel were suffering. In Elijah’s case, the famine was caused by the rebellion of the king, and the land was being punished. It is hard to say what a widow living in Israel would have done if Elijah has shown up. She would have faced the dilemma of helping Elijah or turning him over to the king. In Elisha’s case, we discover a miraculous healing of a Syrian official, when there were obviously people in need in Israel.

On the surface, the examples Jesus shared amplify God’s love for those outside of the Jewish nation. However, it doesn’t really speak negatively about the Jews themselves. In contrast, the message Jesus shared directly conflicted with the egotistical, self-inflated view the Jews had of themselves, which said God would bless them for who they were and not for what they were currently doing. Jesus challenged them with these examples.

However, under the surface, we see these examples showing how God’s people rejected His prophets. In the days of Elijah’s famine, the people of Israel had sided with the king of Israel who had rejected and rebelled against God. If a widow loyal to God earnestly hunted for Elijah to ask for help, I’m confident God would have helped the widow’s search to be successful. In the case of Elijah and the famine, the people of Israel rejected the clear prophet God had sent them.

In the days of Elisha, nowhere do we see someone with skin diseases coming to ask Elisha for help. It takes the captive slave of a foreign officer to suggest he goes to see Elisha to ask for help. And even after receiving instructions, it takes Naaman’s advisors to convince Naaman to actually follow through with the relatively simplistic instructions. While Naaman is the only one healed of the skin disease he had during this era of history, I don’t believe it was because God was punishing everyone else, but that no one else had been determined to ask for God and the prophet’s help.

Those living in Nazareth at the time had the opportunity of a lifetime in front of them. They had the opportunity to be the first group of Jews to accept a prophet who had grown up among them even when all the evidence and history pointed the other way. In the same way, when God sends people into our lives, it is possible He will use strangers, but it is also possible He will use those closest to us to help us turn our lives back to Him.

When God sends someone into our life, we would be wise to pay attention and accept the message leading us back to 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, continue purposefully seeking God first in your life. Choose to accept the people and messages He sends to us and choose to turn your heart, your mind, your life, and your will back to God. Intentionally place your faith, hope, trust, and belief in Jesus and what He accomplished for us on our behalf.

Also, continue praying and studying the Bible for yourself to learn, grow, and open your heart to God. While other people can have interesting and useful ideas, choose to filter everything you hear and read through the truth of God’s Word the Bible! God has blessed and protected the Bible for us and He has gifted the Bible to us so we can learn His truth for our lives!

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 reject where God wants to lead you to in your life with Him!

As we continue looking at Jesus’ famous Sermon on the Mount, we come to a set of three messages that progressively get more challenging. While we are more familiar with the first two messages in this set, the third one is very powerful and very challenging, especially in the New Testament Christian era as it has tried to separate itself from its Jewish roots.

Let’s continue reading Jesus’ message and be reminded of these three messages. Our passage is from Matthew, chapter 13, and we will read from the New International Version. Starting in verse 13, Jesus continues His sermon saying:

¹³ “You are the salt of the earth. But if the salt loses its saltiness, how can it be made salty again? It is no longer good for anything, except to be thrown out and trampled underfoot.

¹⁴ “You are the light of the world. A town built on a hill cannot be hidden. ¹⁵ Neither do people light a lamp and put it under a bowl. Instead they put it on its stand, and it gives light to everyone in the house. ¹⁶ In the same way, let your light shine before others, that they may see your good deeds and glorify your Father in heaven.

Let’s pause reading here briefly, because we have just finished the first two messages. Most people stop reading here and they separate the next message from these first two. However, I believe these ideas are connected if for no other reason that that Jesus shared them in this sequence.

In building up the sequence of messages, Jesus first tells us that we are to be salt in the earth. Salt in moderation seasons a dish nicely, and salt in abundance preserves what it is with. There is a middle area where there is too much salt for seasoning, but not enough for preservation, but I don’t think Jesus is emphasizing salt in this great of a detail. Instead, Jesus is first challenging us to affect the world around us, even if this effect is subtle and not clearly seen. If we stop affecting the world around us, then we will cease to be useful for what God has called us into the world for.

Next, Jesus describes His people as a light of the world. This is more challenging because while salt can be hidden and effective, light ceases to be useful if it is hidden. This means that the more we share and represent God, the greater our light will be and the more visible God may choose to make us. Jesus describes our light as our good deeds, but not us doing good seeking glory for ourselves. Jesus challenges us to “let your light shine before others, that they may see your good deeds and glorify your Father in heaven.” (v. 16)

Immediately following this, Jesus moves into the third message, which is perhaps the most challenging. Continuing in verse 17, Jesus tells the crowd:

¹⁷ “Do not think that I have come to abolish the Law or the Prophets; I have not come to abolish them but to fulfill them. ¹⁸ For truly I tell you, until heaven and earth disappear, not the smallest letter, not the least stroke of a pen, will by any means disappear from the Law until everything is accomplished. ¹⁹ Therefore anyone who sets aside one of the least of these commands and teaches others accordingly will be called least in the kingdom of heaven, but whoever practices and teaches these commands will be called great in the kingdom of heaven. ²⁰ For I tell you that unless your righteousness surpasses that of the Pharisees and the teachers of the law, you will certainly not enter the kingdom of heaven.

Some people might say that when Jesus died on the cross and when He was resurrected, this marked the completion referenced in this third message. They view the phrase that everything is accomplished means that everything needed for salvation through Jesus is accomplished, and because of this, now the Law is no longer relevant.

However, Jesus challenges this idea in at least three ways. First Jesus directly says that He did not “to abolish the Law or the Prophets”. Abolishing in this context means doing away with. Jesus didn’t come to do away with the Law. Instead, Jesus tells us He came to fulfill the law. Fulfilling is different. In a strange twist, Jesus came to live 100% obedient to the law because He knew we couldn’t. Just because Jesus lived 100% obedient to the law doesn’t mean that the law isn’t valid. This would be like saying that because my neighbor obeyed the speed limit on the road near our homes means that I can now break it.

Obeying a law does not abolish it.

The second way Jesus challenges this idea is by giving a time for when the law will be modified. Jesus tells those present “until heaven and earth disappear, not the smallest letter, not the least stroke of a pen, will by any means disappear from the Law”. When Jesus continues by saying until everything is accomplished, the context is that everything will be accomplished when heaven and earth disappear. This makes the Law and the Prophets just as relevant today as they were prior to the cross.

The third challenge to this idea is when Jesus emphasizes that the highest positions in the kingdom of heaven will go to those who practice and teach the commands of the Law and the Prophets. There will be those who are welcomed into the kingdom who have not done this, but that is because entrance into God’s kingdom isn’t about what we have done or what we can do. It’s about what has been done for us.

A bonus fourth challenge comes in Jesus’ final statement on this point. Jesus tells those present “unless your righteousness surpasses that of the Pharisees and the teachers of the law, you will certainly not enter the kingdom of heaven.” The Pharisees and the teachers of the law appeared to be the most righteous people in society at that time. While there was hypocrisy rampant in that spiritual culture, the bar was set even higher than a Pharisee who lived what he preached. Jesus sets the bar for entrance into God’s kingdom in an impossible to get position. This is the power of the Law. The Law stops us from gaining entrance into God’s kingdom, and it is what protects God’s future kingdom from the presence of sin.

Everything in this third challenge regarding Jesus fulfilling God’s law amplifies the relevance of the Law for Christians, and nothing Jesus says here suggests that the Law is any less relevant than it was prior to His arrival on earth. Instead, Jesus’ arrival marked the entrance of God making a way for us to experience God’s kingdom when we failed to live up to God’s standard.

Does Jesus’ death and resurrection make God’s standard no longer relevant? Some might think so, but others believe that this act validates God’s justice while also revealing His love.

All three of these messages challenge us as believers and Christians to be witnesses for Jesus. We are to be salt, we are to be light, and we are to be obedient champions of God’s law, holding up the law while also sharing that the law is the reason Jesus came to this planet!

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 and place Him first in your life. Understand that Jesus came to earth not because God sent Him here to die, but because Jesus came to show us how much God loves us when we deserved death. Jesus did not deserve death, and nothing in Jesus’ life warranted facing the cross. Jesus chose this path to show us how much God loves us and just how valuable we are in His eyes!

Also, as I regularly challenge you to do, intentionally pray and study the Bible for yourself to learn and grow each and every day. Choose to spend time praying and studying to grow personally closer to God and to fall in love with Him like He has fallen in love with you. Discover in the pages of the Bible, a God who gives up everything for you and me!

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!

As we continue moving through Luke’s gospel, we discover that after Luke describes Jesus’ childhood, Luke then transitions back to talking about Jesus’ forerunner in ministry, John the Baptist. However, to set the stage for the rest of his gospel, Luke gives us a historical overview of the state of the empire and the state of Judea by letting us know exactly when the events in the rest of his gospel occurred.

Let’s read this passage, and discover how Luke sets the stage for Jesus beginning His ministry. Our passage for this episode is found in Luke’s gospel, chapter 3, and we will read from the New Living Translation. Starting in verse 1, Luke tells us that:

¹ It was now the fifteenth year of the reign of Tiberius, the Roman emperor. Pontius Pilate was governor over Judea; Herod Antipas was ruler over Galilee; his brother Philip was ruler over Iturea and Traconitis; Lysanias was ruler over Abilene. ² Annas and Caiaphas were the high priests. At this time a message from God came to John son of Zechariah, who was living in the wilderness. ³ Then John went from place to place on both sides of the Jordan River, preaching that people should be baptized to show that they had repented of their sins and turned to God to be forgiven. ⁴ Isaiah had spoken of John when he said,

“He is a voice shouting in the wilderness,
‘Prepare the way for the Lord’s coming!
    Clear the road for him!
⁵ The valleys will be filled,
    and the mountains and hills made level.
The curves will be straightened,
    and the rough places made smooth.
⁶ And then all people will see
    the salvation sent from God.’”

⁷ When the crowds came to John for baptism, he said, “You brood of snakes! Who warned you to flee the coming wrath? ⁸ Prove by the way you live that you have repented of your sins and turned to God. Don’t just say to each other, ‘We’re safe, for we are descendants of Abraham.’ That means nothing, for I tell you, God can create children of Abraham from these very stones. ⁹ Even now the ax of God’s judgment is poised, ready to sever the roots of the trees. Yes, every tree that does not produce good fruit will be chopped down and thrown into the fire.”

¹⁰ The crowds asked, “What should we do?”

¹¹ John replied, “If you have two shirts, give one to the poor. If you have food, share it with those who are hungry.”

¹² Even corrupt tax collectors came to be baptized and asked, “Teacher, what should we do?”

¹³ He replied, “Collect no more taxes than the government requires.”

¹⁴ “What should we do?” asked some soldiers.

John replied, “Don’t extort money or make false accusations. And be content with your pay.”

¹⁵ Everyone was expecting the Messiah to come soon, and they were eager to know whether John might be the Messiah. ¹⁶ John answered their questions by saying, “I baptize you with water; but someone is coming soon who is greater than I am—so much greater that I’m not even worthy to be his slave and untie the straps of his sandals. He will baptize you with the Holy Spirit and with fire. ¹⁷ He is ready to separate the chaff from the wheat with his winnowing fork. Then he will clean up the threshing area, gathering the wheat into his barn but burning the chaff with never-ending fire.” ¹⁸ John used many such warnings as he announced the Good News to the people.

In this passage, we discover that John was not a pushover preacher, but he also was not a judgmental preacher either. John’s preaching cut straight to the heart of God’s message and intent for His people.

While reading Luke’s description of John’s message to the people, three verses stood out in my mind and these three verses together paint a powerful picture of what God’s ideal is for those who want to turn away from sin and return to Him.

A surface reading of John’s preaching might make John sound like the first angry street preacher. However, John’s message is different. John subtly assumed something about those who came to listen to him that might be easy to miss if we aren’t paying attention. In verse 7, when the crowds of people came to John to be baptized, John challenges them by calling them snakes before saying, “Who warned you to flee the coming wrath?” John assumed that those coming to listen to him and those who wanted to be baptized were coming because God was drawing them to him. I doubt John responded well to passive listeners to his preaching.

At the heart of John’s message was a message of returning to God before it was too late. While John might sound extreme in what he challenges the people by saying, nothing John tells the people is impossible or outside of God’s will. John’s message is summarized with two phrases found in verses 8 and 9, “Prove by the way you live that you have repented of your sins and turned to God…Every tree that does not produce good fruit will be chopped down and thrown into the fire.”

When asked by specific people what God would want them to do, John has a clear, practical response. In John’s response to those present, we discover that God desires to see compassion for others above saving for the future, about working honestly and uprightly even if we are in a work environment that is full of corruption, and to be content with what God has blessed us with.

This summary is found in John’s response to the crowds, the tax collectors, and to the soldiers who asked what God wanted from them. If we choose to live lives that are defined by showing compassion for others above saving for our own future and lives that are lived honestly while also being content, then we will be living lives in alignment with John’s message to the people. Living like John describes proves to the world that we are living for God and not for ourselves and that we have repented.

The last phrase I want to focus briefly on in John’s message is found in verse 17. After describing that the Messiah God is sending will baptize the people with fire while he only baptizes with water, John brings a visual illustration into this warning, saying the coming Messiah “is ready to separate the chaff from the wheat with his winnowing fork. Then he will clean up the threshing area, gathering the wheat into his barn but burning the chaff with never-ending fire.”

While some people understand the fire in this verse to literally never end, as this translation frames this idea, a better way to describe it would probably be an unstoppable fire. This fire is reserved for the chaff which was separated from the wheat. While some might consider this illustration describing different groups of people, with one group representing the wheat and another group representing the chaff, there is a different way we can understand this illustration.

On a stalk of wheat, there is grain and there is chaff. The grain is useful while the chaff is not. In our own lives, there are things that are valuable and things that are valueless. When we return to God, I believe He wants to separate the valuable parts of our lives from the valueless parts of our lives. God wants to redeem the parts of our lives that are significant, important, and special, while He wants to completely remove and eliminate the parts of our lives that are worthless.

The challenge for us then is to align ourselves with God and let Him work in our lives discarding the things that He knows are worthless. If we want to hold on to something that God is planning on throwing into the unstoppable fire, we run the risk of choosing to be consumed by the fire with something that is worthless. While God won’t stop us from making this choice, God is much more interested in helping us give up the things in our lives that are worthless from eternity’s perspective.

John the Baptist warned the crows about the coming judgment, but far from being judgmental, John challenged people to return to God before it was too late! While we don’t have to be as forward or direct as John was, let’s live our lives in a way that proves we have returned to God and in a way that doesn’t let any worthless things in life steal our focus away from that which is priceless. The most valuable thing God has blessed us with is our hearts, and while our hearts are stained with sin, God wants to clean, fix, and recreate new hearts within us that reflect His heart for us!

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 purposefully give your heart to Him. Let God clean your life and discard what He knows is worthless while letting Him redeem the things in your life He knows are valuable. God knows your life better than you do, and God has a plan for your life that is bigger than you could ever imagine! Discover what God has in mind for you by letting Him lead and direct your life moving forward into the future.

Also, continue praying and studying the Bible for yourself to grow and discover what God wants to teach you. Through the pages of the Bible, discover how we can open our hearts to God and invite Him into our lives!

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