Category: Gospel of Matthew
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Jesus on Judgment: What “Do Not Judge” Does and Does Not Mean
Photo by Christopher Sardegna on Unsplash Do not judge, so that you won’t be judged. For with the judgment you use, you will be judged, and with the measure you use, it will be measured to you. (Matthew 7:1) Of everything Jesus taught, I wrestle with this passage maybe the most. It’s just so darn…
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Seeing, Seeking, & Asking Questions: How to Find the Kingdom of God
So don’t worry, saying, “What will we eat?” or “What will we drink?” or “What will we wear?” For the idolaters eagerly seek all these things, and your heavenly Father knows that you need them. But seek first the kingdom of God and His righteousness, and all these things will be provided for you.” (Matthew…
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Trust at the Core: Why Jesus Lived in a Different World than We Do
So don’t worry, saying, “What will we eat?” or “What will we drink?” or “What will we wear?” For the idolaters eagerly seek all these things, and your heavenly Father knows that you need them. But seek first the kingdom of God and His righteousness, and all these things will be provided for you.”…
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“Won’t God Do More for You?” How Jesus Confronts Our Low Expectations of God
And why do you worry about clothes? Learn how the wildflowers of the field grow: they don’t labor or spin thread. Yet I tell you that not even Solomon in all his splendor was adorned like one of these! If that’s how God clothes the grass of the field, which is here today and…
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Provision, Responsibility, and The Waste of Worry
Can any of you add a single cubit to his height by worrying? Jesus begins teaching about money by telling us not to collect stuff: lay up treasure in heaven instead. It lasts and it’s better, and you never have to worry that someone’s going to break in and carry it off. That’s the…
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Right Places, Right Times: What Looking at the Birds Teaches Us about Provision
My friend Sheila watched a nature documentary about penguins. This is a bad idea for anyone who wants to retain magical, fuzzy feelings about the natural world. I saw one recently too: there were all these penguins living on an island near Antarctica or somewhere, and every day they would go plunging off these sheer,…
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Money [Can Be] a Good Thing—But It’s a Always Terrible Master
No one can be a slave of two masters, since either he will hate one and love the other, or be devoted to one and despise the other. You cannot be slaves of God and of money. (Matthew 6:24) We know the story: a rich young man came to Jesus and asked what he should…
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Free and Full of Light: What Jesus Taught about Scarcity, Generosity, & Abundance
“The eye is the lamp of the body. If your eye is good, your whole body will be full of light. But if your eye is bad, your whole body will be full of darkness. So if the light within you is darkness—how deep is that darkness!” (Matthew 6:22-23) Not many Scriptures are preached out…
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Laying Up Treasure in Invisible Places: How to Live Life Jesus’s Way
“Don’t collect for yourselves treasures on earth, where moth and rust destroy and where thieves break in and steal. But collect for yourselves treasures in heaven, where neither moth nor rust destroys, and where thieves don’t break in and steal. For where your treasure is, there your heart will be also.” (Matthew 6:19-21) In September…
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Secret Sorrow and Private Fasting: How Jesus Meets Us in Our Brokenness
“Whenever you fast, don’t be sad-faced like the hypocrites. For they make their faces unattractive so their fasting is obvious to people. I assure you: They’ve got their reward! But when you fast, put oil on your head, and wash your face, so that you don’t show your fasting to people but to your Father…