This week’s passage completes the teaching on giving that began with the start of Matthew 6.
Jesus teaches here that our giving should be done solely from the motivation of being for God; not so that others will see and congratulate us.
This week’s passage is found in Matthew 6:3-4.
Giving is an affair that is between you and God alone. That helps us keep our motives pure.
Do you struggle with letting one hand know what the other is doing? Let me know in the comments.
Matthew 6 starts out with a few verses on the practical aspects of giving.
While the specific context here is giving, the hypocritical nature being warned agains here really applies to every area of life.
The text is from Matthew 6:1-2.
Jesus is encouraging us to keep the proper motivation in our giving.
I don’t know about you, but I find that this can be difficult to do, especially in our culture today.
How do you guard against displaying your ‘acts of righteousness’? Let me know in the comments.
Not too long ago, I received a couple of copies of the iShine Bible, a Bible totally designed for tweens. I received both versions: guys and girls.
I was especially interested in looking this Bible over; my oldest daughter has entered Junior High. She’s in that stage where she’s trying hard to figure out just exactly who she is.
Over the past few weeks, I’ve seen her utilize this resource often, and as a result, she’s grown from her exposure to God’s Word.
According to their website, the iShine Bible helps tweens grow to understand their Value, Identity, and Purpose. The iShine Bible will help tweens to see how they are valued by God, how their identity is found in Jesus, and the purpose that they have because of this.
Filled with extra resources, web links, and QR codes that they can scan, these Bibles are a great tool that can help tweens find their place.
Here are a few aspects of the iShine Bible that I really like:
My daughter loves her iShine Bible. I do too.
If you are interested in the iShine Bible, you can purchase either the girls version or the guys version at Amazon.com.
Disclosure of Material Connection:
I received this book free from Tyndale House Publishers as part of their Blogger Review Program. I was not required to write a positive review. The opinions I have expressed are my own. Also, some of the links in the post above are “affiliate links”. This means if you click on the link and purchase the item, I will receive an affiliate commission. Regardless, I only recommend products or services I use personally and believe will add value to my readers. I am disclosing this in accordance with the Federal Trade Commission’s 16 CFR, Part 255: “Guides Concerning the Use of Endorsements and Testimonials in Advertising.“
This week I am posting two passages from the Sermon on the Mount. I didn’t get last week’s passage on here, and am posting it with today’s passage.
Last week’s passage is from Matthew 5:43-45.
This is the classic “Love your enemies” passage that we’ve heard all of our lives.
It’s closely tied to this weeks passage: Matthew 5:46-48. Here, Jesus continues the thought, and tells us that if we only love those we like, or who love us, we are no better than the pagans or tax collectors.
Jesus encourages us to live life, striving for perfection, just as God is perfect.
Simple statements. Simple truths. Difficult to accomplish. Difficult to live. Profound, yet all to easy to overlook in our lives.
How do you love others when they don’t show love to you? Let me know in the comments.
The Sermon on the Mount is full of incredible advice. This week’s passage is no exception.
Take a look at Matthew 5:40-42.
Jesus is giving us the instructions to go the extra mile… literally.
This is another of those passages that I find hard to do. When people seem to be set against me, especially those who are antagonistic towards me, I don’t want to be very accommodating to them. I guess that’s human nature.
Jesus’ message throughout the Sermon on the Mount is full of things that seem opposite of human nature. Things that are hard to do. Hard even to want to do sometimes.
And then he tells us to give to the one who asks, and not to turn away fro the one who wants to borrow. How many times do we skim over this sentence when we read the Sermon on the Mount? This sounds extremely similar to Acts 2, where the church meets one another’s needs.
And it’s another tough command to follow. Especially in light of the context in which it’s written: people who are set against us.
But seeing our lives emulating his makes the effort worth it.
Do you have trouble giving and lending to others? Let me know in the comments.
Retaliation. Revenge. Getting even. Who hasn’t experienced these feelings?
We all have. We all do. And we all will again; maybe even today.
In this week’s passage, Jesus turns things on their head once again. He tells us to not retaliate. To not resist.
That’s hard to do. Turning the other cheek goes against human nature.
But that is exactly how we are called to respond.
Personally, I find this passage very hard to apply into my life. I want to be right. I want to respond when someone treats me or my family wrongly. But Jesus says that’s not the right response.
Here’s a link to the passage at Bible Gateway.
Do you have trouble turning the other cheek? Let me know in the comments.
This is part of the Classic Bible: Favorite Stories & Passages series. Read more from the series!
I’ve been reading a lot recently from the Old Testament, and most recently in the book of Numbers.
There are a lot of great stories from the book of Numbers. Much more than most people realize. Working with teens, I hear variations of “those books in the OT are boring…”, usually in reference to Leviticus, Numbers and Deuteronomy.
Nothing could be further from the truth.
True, Numbers contains all the details of not one, but two censuses of the nation of Israel, in all its tedious glory. Each tribe, clan and family seems to be listed, with the number of fighting men available, and so many details that it gets somewhat difficult to read.
But, mixed into all of this, and hidden in plain sight, are several great stories. Stories that drop my jaw in wonder, and answer a lot of questions.
Here are a few of my favorites.