Jan. 26, 2004

[Kidan]

Quote[/b] ]If God so clothes the grass of the field . . . , will He not much more clothe you . . . ?
—Matthew 6:30

Quote[/b] ]A simple statement of Jesus is always a puzzle to us because we will not be simple. How can we maintain the simplicity of Jesus so that we may understand Him? By receiving His Spirit, recognizing and relying on Him, and obeying Him as He brings us the truth of His Word, life will become amazingly simple. Jesus asks us to consider that "if God so clothes the grass of the field . . ." how "much more" will He clothe you, if you keep your relationship right with Him? Every time we lose ground in our fellowship with God, it is because we have disrespectfully thought that we knew better than Jesus Christ. We have allowed "the cares of this world" to enter in ( Matthew 13:22 ), while forgetting the "much more" of our heavenly Father.

"Look at the birds of the air . . ." ( Matthew 6:26 ). Their function is to obey the instincts God placed within them, and God watches over them. Jesus said that if you have the right relationship with Him and will obey His Spirit within you, then God will care for your "feathers" too.

"Consider the lilies of the field . . ." ( Matthew 6:28 ). They grow where they are planted. Many of us refuse to grow where God plants us. Therefore, we don’t take root anywhere. Jesus said if we would obey the life of God within us, He would look after all other things. Did Jesus Christ lie to us? Are we experiencing the "much more" He promised? If we are not, it is because we are not obeying the life God has given us and have cluttered our minds with confusing thoughts and worries. How much time have we wasted asking God senseless questions while we should be absolutely free to concentrate on our service to Him? Consecration is the act of continually separating myself from everything except that which God has appointed me to do. It is not a one-time experience but an ongoing process. Am I continually separating myself and looking to God every day of my life?

 

[Kidan]

Quote[/b] ]30 "But if God so clothes the grass of the field, which is alive today and tomorrow is thrown into the furnace, will He not much more clothe you? You of little faith! 31 "Do not worry then, saying, `What will we eat?' or `What will we drink?' or `What will we wear for clothing?' 32 "For the Gentiles eagerly seek all these things; for your heavenly Father knows that you need all these things. 33 "But seek first His kingdom and His righteousness, and all these things will be added to you. 34 "So do not worry about tomorrow; for tomorrow will care for itself. Each day has enough trouble of its own.

Y'know I hate these partial verses that so many devotional books give you. They so often butcher the meaning of the verse. I mean look at Matt. 6:30, the way UTMOST displays it, it seems like any and all will receive blessings from the Lord. Yet reading further you find out that God takes care of those who SEEK HIS KINGDOM FIRST

Another prime example is the saying 'Good things come to those who wait'

How often have you heard this? Especially in churches. Yet it's a lie. The remainder of the verse (if memory serves it's in Proverbs) is 'upon the Lord'. so the entire verse reads 'Good things come to those who wait upon the Lord.' An entirelly different meaning than the way it's presented.

Anyways. i think I'll get off my soap box now and talk about the scripture....

Basically the Bible is telling us here that we shouldn't worry over the future. We shouldn't worry about the things we need to survive. God will provide for us, provided that we are serving Him.

Do you feel that God is calling you to do something for Him, yet you worry over how you'll pay for it, or how you'll eat? That's the wrong attitude. Take a step of faith, and trust in Him. There may be hardships, there may be struggles, yet God provides.

God will never lead you to something that He can't lead you through.

 

[amorphus88]

A tip for you, good sir - your message is supposed to be encouraging, not to make us doubt in the validity of the devotional book, especially when there's no reason to (yet, anyways). In all honesty, your initial rant sort of took away from the actual message.

 

[Kidan]

no. my message is to make you THINK and to try to help you grow closer to the Lord. We should always doubt secondary writings such as these and compare them with the Bible. To blindly accept random partial quotes is a dangerous thing.

 

[amorphus88]

As entirely valid as that is, the digression was still distracting, especially since the scripture quote's context was not lost in the trim.

I still appreciate you doing this, though.

 

[Kidan]

yes the digression is distracting, but I consider it actually the more important aspect of that particular commentary. The remainder of the post is regurgitating scripture, the digression, holds something that you need to be wary and aware of during reading of any devotional or commentary or even Sunday School material.

And while it looks like the scriptures message was not lost in the trim, it could potentially be taken out of context due to the trim. I personally think how UTMOST displays it alters the meaning of the verse. But that's probably just me.