Intro to Matt. 7:7-12

 

SPIRITUAL DIARY FOR 1/22/2021 10:25 AM

 

My Worship Time                                                                              Focus:  Intro to Matt. 7:7-12

 

Bible Reading & Meditation                                                 Reference:  Matt. 7:7-12

 

            Message of the verses:  “7 "Ask, and it will be given to you; seek, and you will find; knock, and it will be opened to you. 8 “For everyone who asks receives, and he who seeks finds, and to him who knocks it will be opened. 9 “Or what man is there among you who, when his son asks for a loaf, will give him a stone? 10 “Or if he asks for a fish, he will not give him a snake, will he? 11 "If you then, being evil, know how to give good gifts to your children, how much more will your Father who is in heaven give what is good to those who ask Him! 12 "In everything, therefore, treat people the same way you want them to treat you, for this is the Law and the Prophets.”

 

            We move from “Stop Criticizing” to “Start Loving” as Jesus in these 12 verses gives all we need for human relations to succeed. Imagine all of the thousands, if not millions of books that have been read on human relationship, and Jesus, as He only could shows is in 12 versus what we need to do, as we have stated, stop criticizing and start loving.

 

            John MacArthur writes at the beginning of his chapter entitled “Start Loving” the following:  “Here is the conclusion of the main theme of the Sermon on the Mount, which is to give the standards for kingdom living.  Jesus has given the standards related to self, to morality, to religion, and to money and possessions.  Here He concludes giving the standards related to human relationships begun in verses 1-6.

            “This passage forms the positive side of Jesus’ summation of the principles that lead to right human relations.  To love others in the way God wants us to love first of all requires that we do not self-righteously and carelessly criticize and unmercifully condemn others.  If that attitude is present, it has to be removed.  Not to be unjustly critical of a person is not the same as loving them, but it is absolutely necessary before true love can exist.  Yet love is much more than something negative, it is immeasurably more than simply not wishing evil on others or doing them any wrong.  The mere absence of hatred and ill will does not constitute love.”

 

            As we think about love it seems that we only have one word for love in our English language.  A man can say that he loves baked beans, and in the next sentence say that he loves his wife.  The word in John 3:16 “For God so loved” is the word agape and that is used many times in the New Testament for love.  The word in its meaning means that God loves us unconditionally not looking for anything in return, but once a person is born of God they will begin to love God like He loves them and will love others in the same way that God loves them, doing something without asking or expecting something in return.

 

            In 1 Corinthians 13:4-7, what is called the love chapter, we will see that in verses 4-7 it emphasizes action.   We can see a number of times the words “love is” and then we see action following those words. 

                       

            The key verse in our verses for today is verse twelve:  “12 "In everything, therefore, treat people the same way you want them to treat you, for this is the Law and the Prophets.”  This is what we would call the “Golden Rule.”  William Barclay writes the following about this verse:  “That verse, often referred to as the golden rule, has also been called the Mt. Everest of ethics.”  MacArthur adds “The famous Bible scholar Alfred Edersheim said ‘it was the closest approach to absolute love of which human nature was capable.’  Bishop J. C. Ryel wrote ‘[This truth] settles a hundred different points,…it prevents the necessity of laying down endless little rules for our conduct in specific cases.’

 

            “Jesus gives three reasons for obeying the command to love others as ourselves:  God’s promise to His children demands it, His pattern for His children demands it, and His purpose for His children demands it.”

 

            Spiritual meaning for my life today:  It looks like as I read over what I have written here that I am about to get my toes stepped on for the next week or so.

 

My Steps of Faith for Today:  I hope that as I study this section that I won’t have to get my toes stepped on after I learn from this wonderful passage, a passage that in my mind is very important for revival in my life.

 

1/22/2021 11:11 AM