Author: David Short

Matthew 13:44

Again, the kingdom of heaven is like treasure hidden in a field, which a man found and hid; and for joy over it he goes and sells all that he has and buys that field.

Personal Challenge

Jesus went to great lengths to articulate just how wonderful and glorious heaven is. He did this because He desires that all follow Him and become citizens of the heavenly realm. The rest is up to us. Are we willing to sell everything that we have, to give up all that we hold dear to us, so that we could receive this gift of eternal residence in the kingdom of God. We cannot be citizens of both the kingdom of heaven and the kingdom of earth. Lord, have mercy! Lord, have mercy! Lord, have, mercy!

Deuteronomy 5:29

Would they had such a heart in them so as to fear Me and guard My commandments all the time, that it might be well with them and their sons forever.

Personal Challenge

Throughout the history of mankind’s relationship with God we have been fickle and inconsistent. However, God has always been consistent and true. So often, we have an experience that draws us near to God. Sometimes it is a crisis that He shows himself in. Sometimes it is His beauty that we see as He reveals Himself to us. Sometimes it is the blessing of His presence in our lives. Then as life moves on we forget about him and do our own thing again. God yearns for us to have a heart for Him…all the time. Lord Jesus Christ, Son of God, have mercy on me, the sinner.

Matthew 11:28-30

Come to Me, all you who labor and are heavy laden, and I will give you rest. Take My yoke upon you and learn from Me, for I am gentle and lowly in heart, and you will find rest for your souls. For My yoke is easy and My burden is light.

Encouraging Words

Life continues to get more hectic and convoluted every day. In all this hustle and bustle, all this scrambling to carry the burdens of our labor, we are getting more and more tired and irritable. Then we have Jesus asking us to take up His yoke with the promise that He will give us rest. The problem for most of us is that we try to add His yoke to whatever we are already carrying. This is not what He is asking us to do. He wants us to take off the yoke that we have, which is loaded down with the burdens and cares of the world, set it down permanently, and then put on His yoke. He will pick up our old yoke and carry that for us. That is how we begin to learn from Him. That is how we find rest for our souls. Lord Jesus Christ, Son of God, have mercy on me, the sinner!

Deuteronomy 4:31

for the Lord your God is a merciful God. He will not forsake you nor annihilate you, nor forget the covenant of your fathers, which He swore to them.

Encouraging Words

Throughout the history of mankind, all the way back to Adam and Eve, we have example after example where God has bestowed His love upon us and we eventually turn our backs on Him and go our own ways. Every time, He shows His great mercy by continuing to show us His love. He created us in love. He embraces us in love. He cares for us in love. He forgives us of our sins in love. He yearns for us to love Him in love. Glory be to God!

Matthew 11:25

At that time Jesus answered and said, “I thank You, Father, Lord of heaven and earth, that You have hidden these things from the wise and prudent and have revealed them to babes.”

Encouraging Words

One of the things that has been troubling with respect to the modern church, both Eastern and Western, is the drive to intellectualism that is overtaking the gospel. Jesus makes it very clear in this verse, as well as many others, that He has presented His teachings and secrets in such a way that His babes will get it but the wise will not. When we intellectualize Christ and His His teachings we cloud them. Why do we focus on how many books we read about God, how many podcasts we listen to, or worse yet publish, or any other means of gaining knowledge. We do all that for our own edification and glory, not God’s. Lord, have mercy! Lord, have mercy. Lord, have mercy!

Numbers 18:1-3

Now the Lord spoke to Aaron, saying, “You and your sons and your father’s house with you shall bear the sins of the holy things, and you and your sons with you shall bear the sins of your priesthood. You shall also bring your brethren, the tribe of Levi, the tribe of your father, to yourself, and they shall be joined and added to you, and minister liturgically with you and your sons with you before the tabernacle of testimony. They shall perform your guard duties and the duties of the tabernacle, but they shall not come near the holy vessels and the altar, lest they die—they and you also.

Personal Challenge

In the Old Testament, under the old covenant, the duties of the priesthood are clearly called out. Aaron and the Levites were set apart to perform the priestly duties as defined for God’s people. In the New Testament, under the new covenant, all true followers of Christ are called out to be part of the holy priesthood with Jesus being the High Priest. We are called upon to serve, just as the Levites of old, as the ones to take care of the church. It has become a disappointment to see clericalism take over our churches, both Eastern and Western, as they raise up and glorify monasticism, clericalism, and professional priests and pastors, all the while minimizing the role of the rest of the followers of Christ in the administration of the church. Lord, have mercy! Lord, have mercy! Lord, have mercy!

Matthew 10:38-39

And he who does not take his cross and follow after Me is not worthy of Me. He who finds his life will lose it, and he who loses his life for My sake will find it.

Personal Challenge

It has become so easy to proclaim that we are a Christian and yet live our lives as if Jesus Christ never existed. We wear crosses around our necks, we strap WWID bracelets on our wrists, we wear T-shirts with catchy Christian phrases we listen to Christian music and podcasts and we attend “vibrant” churches regularly. And yet, we never take up the cross that Jesus has given us to bear and follow Him. We leave our church services and cut people off getting in line for our lunch during fellowship hour. We ignore the people around us throughout the week because we are focused on what we want. We embrace conspiracy theories and lies because they tickle our imagination. By doing all this we gain our physical, temporal lives hear on earth, but we lose our eternal, heavenly lives. Our cross is to love God and to live for Him, and to love our neighbor as God loves us. Oh, how many of us are destined to stand before our Lord just to hear the words, “I do not know you.”. Lord, have mercy! Lord, have mercy! Lord, have mercy on me, the sinner!

Numbers 14:18

‘The Lord is longsuffering and abundant in mercy and truth, taking away lawlessness, wrongdoings, and sins; but He would not cleanse the guilty by repaying the sins of the fathers on the children to the third and fourth generation.’

Encouraging Words

This verse comes at the end of a long dialog between Moses and God. God has expressed how fed up He is with the stiff-necked people that Moses has been leading through the wilderness. Now, before we start pointing fingers at these people, we must acknowledge that we too, as people that proclaim to be followers of Christ, are also very stiff-necked and self-centered. We are no different than our predecessors. Here we see God indicating that He is done putting up with these stiff-necked antics and Moses reminding God of His promises to not hold their children accountable for their parents’ sins. God did not need to be reminder. This is in their for us to be reminded of God’s love for us. It is for us to remember the sins of those who have gone before us and to not repeat their sins. Lord Jesus Christ, son of God, have mercy on me, the sinner!