Lessons from the Gospels – Heart of the Matter

Today, a part of a Don Henley/Eagles song came to mind:

I've been tryin' to get down

To the heart of the matter

But my will gets weak

And my thoughts seem to scatter

But I think it's about

Forgiveness, forgiveness

The heart of the matter in the Christian walk is forgiveness. Without the forgivenesss of God through the sacrifice of Jesus Christ, there is no hope for us. Forgiveness is the heart of God and we are saved from eternal death by it

Jesus had plenty to say about our hearts too. Let’s examine our hearts through His words.

Matthew 15:8 [NIV] " 'These people honor me with their lips, but their hearts are far from me.”

Why would the people of God simply pay lip service to Him? Jesus says that can happened when our treasure, our dreams, and our goals, are not laser focused on the hope of the future.

Matthew 6:21 [NIV] “For where your treasure is, there your heart will be also.”

We do not want to be “just going through the motions” of walking through life in tune (thought, word, and deed) with God’s will for us, while being distracted by the next shiny thing we could learn, earn, do or be in this life. And we definitely don’t want to be distracted by some political bruhaha or doomsday news prediction about what “they” are going to do if we don’t stop them.

One way we can tell if our hearts are not in the right place is by considering what comes out of our mouths. Gossip? Prejudice? Lies? Judgmental phrases?

Matthew 15:18-20 [NKJV] 18 "But those things which proceed out of the mouth come from the heart, and they defile a man. 19 "For out of the heart proceed evil thoughts, murders, adulteries, fornications, thefts, false witness, blasphemies. 20 "These are [the things] which defile a man, but to eat with unwashed hands does not defile a man."

What is in our hearts comes out in our words and actions – good or evil.

Luke 6:45 [NIV] “A good man brings good things out of the good stored up in his heart, and an evil man brings evil things out of the evil stored up in his heart. For the mouth speaks what the heart is full of.”

So, what does God really want from us? Everything.

Mark 12:30 [NIV] “Love the Lord your God with all your heart and with all your soul and with all your mind and with all your strength.”

Our WHOLE hearts. ALL of our love. EVERY corner of our minds. EVERY part of our souls. ALL of our strength.  He wants it all.

Our relationships must be passed through the filter of giving everything to God. Our jobs must be passed through the filter of giving everything to God. Our worship must be passed through the filter of giving everything to God. And so forth.

That kind of life is one that begins with a heart close to God – a heart entirely given to Him in whole-heart devotion and focus.

Mark 12:30 [NIV] “Love the Lord your God with all your heart and with all your soul and with all your mind and with all your strength.”

God wants our whole hearts and when we give them to Him, everything else falls into line.

And THAT is the heart of the matter.

I welcome your comments and questions. You can write me now in the comments section, or any time at Nancy@DynamicChristianMinistries.org

Lessons from the Gospels 8 – Burdened

I am tired, sweet sisters. My job is currently very busy with opportunities that I, as director of sales, am tasked with turning into clients. I have a lot going on at church with teaching opportunities and events, kids classes, blogging and SOS. I’ve been traveling for work and for pleasure. Family birthdays and anniversaries, getting together with friends, and babysitting grandkids. Add to those good things the starting of a new entrepreneurial business venture and am training for a 5k.

I am very much over 21 and I don’t last as long or spring back as fast as I used to. But these are sweet “burdens” that I enjoy bearing, even though they tire me out. These are physical “burdens” that actually feel light to me due to the joy I have in them.

You know what wears me out more than those activities? The emotional and mental stress of the suffering of the world – from friends and family facing health, financial or interpersonal issues to the various wars, depressing and unnecessarily adversarial political environment, famine, prejudice, abuse and more going on in the world around me. These are too much for a human to bear and I sometimes ask God how He can look down on the earth and see it ALL (He sees so much more than I can), and not just send Jesus back right now!

You know what is not a burden? My relationship with God.

Matthew 11:28-30 [NLT] 28 Then Jesus said, "Come to me, all of you who are weary and carry heavy burdens, and I will give you rest. 29 Take my yoke upon you. Let me teach you, because I am humble and gentle at heart, and you will find rest for your souls. 30 For my yoke is easy to bear, and the burden I give you is light."

When Jesus calls us, He calls us to “light duty”. The Greek work translated “easy to bear” in the New Living Version above is translated and just “easy” in the King James, and it means “fit, fit for use, useful, good, virtuous or manageable”.

Something that is fit for use or useful hardly seems like it should be called a burden. God does ask us to carry a load, but it is a light load, and easy load.

We are not asked to carry the guilt or debt of our own sins. Those were pinned to the stake with Jesus.

We are not asked to carry the mental burdens of this world. Those Jesus promises to hold for us.

We are not asked to carry the burden of trying to save others. God does the calling in His own time.

We are not asked to carry the burden of “pay back” and revenge. Revenge-taking can be exhausting, and God offers to take that burden off of us. [Romans 12:17, 19] How much more peaceful would this world be without individuals or nations seeking revenge or to “get their own” back?

Matthew 11:28-30 [NLT] 28 Then Jesus said, "Come to me, all of you who are weary and carry heavy burdens, and I will give you rest. 29 Take my yoke upon you. Let me teach you, because I am humble and gentle at heart, and you will find rest for your souls. 30 For my yoke is easy to bear, and the burden I give you is light."

The burden He asks us to bear is light. And we can think of it in two ways. (1) It is light as the opposite of heavy. Not so much to ask of us.  (2) It is to BE the light in the world. [Matthew 5:14]

Our “light burden” sweet sisters is to be the light of this world - light that shines this suffering world toward God. Light that brings hope and happiness. Light that brings the warmth and comfort of peace rather than conflict.

Our churches should be a haven of peace and joy in this world so void of both. They should be places where the world-weary souls can come to find rest from struggle, doubt, gossip, ladder climbing, etc.

Our relationships should, to the best of our abilities, be sewn in peace. [Romans 12:18] We should be the people who do not “bring the drama” to our workplaces.

Why? Because we follow Jesus who healed people, taking away that burden. We follow Jesus who lifted the burden of adherence to all the extra things the leaders had added to the perfect law of liberty. [James 1:25] Our congregations and 501c3 organizations should not be places that add to the law what are really just the man-made burdens of “tradition” or opinion.

He asks us to help others who are burdened by sin – NOT to add to their burdens with opinions and rituals. [Galatians 6:1-2]

I know that Matthew 7:14 says the way that leads to life if difficult, but that is not because it is a heavy burden. That is because we, as humans in a world led by Satan, struggle against the good way, the peaceful way. That is because we, as humans in a world led by Satan, too willingly take on the burden of sin and its consequences.

God and Jesus offer us peace, hope, a future. We know God’s plans are for exactly that. [Jeremiah 29:11]

We bear the “burden” of being the beacons of peace, light, and hope in this world, and of spreading that message of a beautiful, bright future out into the world.

That is no great burden to bear.

I welcome your comments and questions. You can write me in the chat or at Nancy@DynamicChristianMinistries.org

Lessons from the Gospels 5– The Ultimate “Karma”

 People believe in karma – that the universe pays you back for good or bad deeds. It is not real. I think it might be an attempt by non-believers to explain why what you do seems to come back to you.

But it really is a law of God that what you do comes back to you, and it is not “karma” or coincidence. We see it here, in chapter 7 of Matthew.

Matthew 7:1-2 {NLT] 1 "Do not judge others, and you will not be judged. 2 For you will be treated as you treat others. The standard you use in judging is the standard by which you will be judged.”

Judge others and you get judged by the same standard of measure.

Matthew 7:12 [NLT] 12 "Do to others whatever you would like them to do to you. This is the essence of all that is taught in the law and the prophets.”

Here is the Bible version of “you make your own luck” or “karma”. Now, it is not saying that what you do to others will be done exactly you. It is saying that how you treat others should be how you want them to treat you. Too often we see that when someone treats others badly, they still expect to be treated nicely or with respect. You’ve seen the videos where a store employee treats a shopper badly or a shopper treats a store employee badly and then gets surprised when it turns back on them.

Matthew 5:7 [NLT] 7 God blesses those who are merciful, for they will be shown mercy.

Now, if you treat a Christian badly, they are going to still treat you with love and respect because THEY live the Golden Rule, even if you do not. I’m just saying that we would not find the same to be true of people without any kind of faith walk to guide them.

Bible readers will know that even the Old Testament shows that this is how God intended for life to work – that what you put out there will come back to you.

Ecclesiastes 11:1-2 [NKJV] 1 Cast your bread upon the waters, For you will find it after many days. 2 Give a serving to seven, and also to eight, For you do not know what evil will be on the earth.

Peek back at Matthew 5:7 [NLT] 7 God blesses those who are merciful, for they will be shown mercy.

God is the ultimate assurer that “what goes around, comes around”. Even if others don’t pay you back in kind, God will see that you get back what you give out – for good or bad.

It is HE who pays back good for good or evil for evil, not some mystic karma. We believers are to pay back good for good and good for evil. We are not the arbiters of what others deserve.

The ultimate and just Judge sees what others do AND what we do (the good, the bad or the ugly) and He gives us the opportunity to experience it right back – from Him.

We might weather a payback of ugliness in this life, be we certainly don’t want that on judgment day. No. Instead we count on God’s mercy over our sins, faults and mistakes.

So, again, we need to remember the scripture we started with. Matthew 7:1-2 {NLT] 1 "Do not judge others, and you will not be judged. 2 For you will be treated as you treat others. The standard you use in judging is the standard by which you will be judged.”

Come judgment day, “ain’t nobody got time for ‘karma’”. Mercy, patience, forgiveness, grace… If we want these on judgment day, sweet sisters, we must by using that measuring stick on others.

I welcome your questions and comments. You can write me in the chat or any time at Nancy@DynamicChristianMinistries.org.

Lessons from the Gospels 4 – Be

If you read nothing else in the Bible other than Matthew 5, I believe you would know all you need to know about being a Christian, from day-to-day interactions to our eternal hope. You’d still need baptism and indwelling of the Holdy Spirit, of course. More details about God’s plan and Jesus’ sacrifice would certainly be better. But you could live as God intended His children to live if the only part of the Bible you had was Matthew 5. In fact, we are just going to look at the “Beatitudes” to see how we should “be” as Christians in this world.

I believe if you grew up with only this chapter the Bible to read, and you followed it, you would hear “Well done, my good and faithful servant” at the time of the judgement.

One blog cannot cover all the important learnings from Matthew 5, but I’ll try to hit a few. I’ll again be using the New Living Translation for its more modern wording. Rather than “blessed are”, it says, “God blesses those”, making it clearer that this isn’t a coincidence (or “karma”, which I’ll get into more in chapter 8) but a planned response by God to His much-loved children.

So, here are the basics of Christianity:

Matthew 5:3 [NLT] 3 "God blesses those who are poor and realize their need for him, for the Kingdom of Heaven is theirs. Matthew 5:5 “God blesses those who are humble, for they will inherit the whole earth.”

My paraphrase: Know your place in the universe and let it make you humble, because then God will bless you. You only need to go to the Psalms to read more about this. Here are a few examples: Psalm 18:27; 69:32; 138:6; 149:4]

Matthew 5:4, 6 [NLT] 4 God blesses those who mourn, for they will be comforted. ... 6 God blesses those who hunger and thirst for justice, for they will be satisfied.

You will suffer in this life – for your faith, because people can be cruel, and just because we are fragile beings. So will the rest of the world – the non-believers -- suffer. But your mourning for loss or for the condition of the world, and your desire for justice will result in God’s blessing.

Matthew 5:7 [NLT] 7 God blesses those who are merciful, for they will be shown mercy.

Show mercy to others or no mercy is coming your way. For further info on showing mercy see Luke 6:36. Also, see the parable in Matthew 18:22-35. It is just to great of a risk to withhold mercy from others. None of us can afford to be without the mercy God can show to us.

Matthew 5:8 [NLT] 8 God blesses those whose hearts are pure, for they will see God.

When we do good things for the right reasons, when we serve God and His people from the heart, we see the Father in them. They are His children too. If those we serve see God nowhere else, they should see Him in OUR words and deeds. I’ say that others see Him too. Our good deeds do not garner this blessing if they are not done from a pure heart. See 1 Corinthians 13:1-3 for more on that.

Matthew 5:9 [NLT] 9 God blesses those who work for peace, for they will be called the children of God.

Jesus is called the Prince of Peace. See Isaiah 9:6. If call Him our Lord and King, we should be peacemakers as well. The more contentious this world or any particular situation gets, the more we should stand out as those who stand for, crave and create peace. For further instruction on seeking peace see Psalm 34:14; Romans 12:18 and Hebrews 12:14.

God does not lie to us, nor hide from us the things that we will face during our lives on earth.

Matthew 5:11-12 [NLT] 11 "God blesses you when people mock you and persecute you and lie about you and say all sorts of evil things against you because you are my followers. 12 Be happy about it! Be very glad! For a great reward awaits you in heaven. And remember, the ancient prophets were persecuted in the same way.

We are in good company when we face persecution. Not only the ancient prophets faced the same – Jesus did too!

But the Father tells us that we should “be” happy about these troubles that come as a result of our obedience to Him. Why? Because He promises us a great reward for enduring through it.

We should “be” different in this world. God blesses us when we are aligned with Him, as peacemakers, as those who hunger and thirst for righteousness, as those who mourn for the suffering in the world and as those who suffer persecution with joy.

What do you think? Is the whole – or at least the greater part – of our Christian duty outlined in just these first 12 verses of Matthew? Well, we have more of this important chapter to go. I’ll continue exploring Matthew 5 in the next blog.

Sweet sisters, I hope you will “be” as Jesus was in this world.

I welcome your comments and questions. You can write me in the chat or any time at Nancy@DynamicChristianMinistries.org

Joy to the World

Today, I’m taking a break from our series with John, the beloved, to focus on joy.

Are you someone who selects a word of the year each year? I’ve never done it before. However, this year I felt inspired to choose the word “joy” for 2024.

The scripture that came immediately to mind is Matthew 25 – the parable of the talents – where we find the two profitable servants being told “Well done, good and faithful servant; you were faithful over a few things, I will make you ruler over many things. Enter into the joy of your lord.”. [See verses 21 and 23]

It is the Lord’s great joy to bring us into His Kingdom. Shouldn’t we also experience great joy in knowing that this is our future?

John 16:24 [NKJV] "Until now you have asked nothing in My name. Ask, and you will receive, that your joy may be full.”

In fact, all of heaven’s inhabitants rejoice when we repent – at the start of our walk with Christ, not just at the end. Luke 15:7 [NKJV] "I say to you that likewise there will be more joy in heaven over one sinner who repents than over ninety-nine just persons who need no repentance.” When we accept the call, long before we find final rest in the Kingdom, there is joy.

There are many more places where we find joy being outlined as a big part of our Christian walk. We are not just to experience joy at our initial calling or when thinking about what the future holds. We have a whole life between those two events in which we should be experiencing joy.

God and Jesus are not waiting for the fulfillment of their plan in order to experience joy either.

Jesus’ earthly ministry began with great joy.

Luke 2:10 [NKJV] Then the angel said to them {the shepherds}, "Do not be afraid, for behold, I bring you good tidings of great joy which will be to all people.”

We can rejoice every day because Jesus came to this earth – was born into human flesh – so that He could die for us – for our sins – and we could become, through His precious blood and the Holy Spirit, begotten children of God as well.

Where else should we, as Christian, find reasons for joy?

In being persecuted for righteousness’ sake. Luke 6:23

In receiving the Word of God. Luke 8:13

In receiving answered prayer. John 16: 24

In knowing that some of the last words of Jesus before He suffered and died for us included a request that we have joy.

John 16:24 [NKJV] "Until now you have asked nothing in My name. Ask, and you will receive, that your joy may be full.”

Sweet sisters, I pray that 2024 will be a year in which you are “filled with joy and the Holy Spirit”. [Acts 13:52 NKJV]

I’d love to hear if you have a habit of selecting a word for the year and, if so, what you have selected for 2024. I welcome all your comments and questions. You can write me in the chat or at Nancy@DynamicChristianMinistries.org