Sometime ago I was reading the “red letter” edition of the Bible and giving particular attention to the words of Jesus, trying to focus on what he might be saying to me. Matthew Chapters 1 and 2, I passed with flying colors because there were no red letters – no words from Jesus’ mouth. In Matthew chapter 3, one red letter passage regarding being baptized in water. I was feeling fine, since I had done that!
On to Chapter 4 I go. Oh, my!
Verse 4: “Man does not live by bread alone but by every word that comes from the mouth of God.” Hurts me here badly.
Verse 5: “Don’t put the Lord your God to the test.” Honest evaluation about this, leaves me really questioning. When I trust him for something, am I submitting to his will, or am I claiming a promise out of content.
Verse 10: “Worship the Lord, your God, and serve him only.” A lot of form I go through is not worship, it is following man (or church). I work to serve, but is my service really for the Lord or is it done because of man (or church) or maybe just me.
Verse 17: “Repent.” I’m ashamed to confess that my first thought was “What have I done that needs to be repented for?” By the time I finished that conversation, I had found plenty.
Verse 19: “Come, follow me, and I will make you fishers of men.” I haven’t been following him to the sea or even to a mostly dried up creek bed. In my defense here, I am trying to find a way to use this computer to maybe do a little good for the Lord, to inspire someone, or give testimony to the advantages one has who takes a life with the Lord seriously.
But if I really want to follow, maybe I should be getting dressed, getting in the car and going to the river or some other fishing hole. Not many fish are landing in my lap right here at home.
With all this evaluation from just one chapter, I am on my knees at the cross, thankful for grace, thankful for the blood, hopeful only because of Him!
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Thankful for grace–Amen. Trying our best to live up to God’s standards = enormously expensive. Knowing that Jesus has defeated the devil, credited us with his righteousness, and forgiven all our sins = priceless. J.
Amen to that!
Yes, thankful for grace. Thankful for a Victorious Redeemer. Thankful for his righteousness. Thankful he has forgiven me. Now I want to follow him. To be obedient to him. To know him. Thanks Salvageable for interacting with me. Interaction – I think God like that too.
“Not many fish are landing in my lap right here at home.” Just had an interesting encounter during the sermon at church today along these lines also…God help me please.
Faye (below in comments) reminded me of more things I can do from home. Maybe I am making excuses. I’m curious about your “encounter.” Hopefully a post will be coming. Somehow I expect you will make a lesson for us. 😀
The toughest door to open is our own ❤️
An old time chorus, “It’s me, it’s me, it’s me, O Lord, standing in the need of prayer.” It’s probably a Negro Spiritual. I should look it up. I love the down home sense in those songs. Thank you for the comment.
A-men to the comments above. Have you ever had the experience of knowing that right from where you are at home fish can be drawn to the LOVE of GOD revealed in and through you by folk who come (tradespeople)..people who phone – even the nuisances – and what you can write to loved ones and even far, far wider. Not many fish landing in my lap either but I’m still baiting my hooks and sending out my lines. What you are becoming in more important than what you are accomplishing. I saw that quote on my date pad. Blessings to each one of you this day. Just your blogs, your comments and your faith shines from your written expressions.
Thanks, Faye. You make me think I could really be doing more from home if I look to see how Some times I get lost in projects that I am doing for a good reason, but I don’t give proper recognition to the fact that I am doing many things for the long range benefit of the spiritual good of my family. Things for passing on God’s legacy to/through my family. I need to have an attitude adjustment. l “Whatsoever I do, I will do it as unto the Lord.” Thanks.
One of the things I miss most about not being able to enjoy hard copy books, especially the bible are the red letters and being able to highlight and markup the margins. Even though I can no longer read it I still have my John MacArthur study bible. I am grateful for the audible and online versions but nothing takes the place of turning a paper page. Thank you for sharing this post.💗
I do enjoy being able to “mark up” my Bible. Thanks for pointing out that blessing I take for granted. Another thing is how you can get a visual image of the passage on the page which helps to find it later. Is there any way to bookmark an audio passage? There was a young man who ran past me on the sidewalk today. I needed to step off the curb, which is scary for me because I do not balance well, so I called him back and asked him to help me step down. He did so very graciously. I thought about the many years I took my walking and balance for granted. We are truly wonderfully made but don’t think of it often unless we lose some ability. Hopefully we tell the Lord thanks more often than we grumble. I really am blessed by you and your sweet and motivating attitude. You are beautiful in all ways. 😀
Hi Oneta, I was just remembering yesterday the many times prior to vision loss that I would look around me (in my contact lenses, breathe deeply and express my gratitude for being able to see with corrected vision). But you’re right we don’t think of these things often enough and to prove the point, when my neck or back starts acting up it’s only then I realize that for the majority of time I’m in no pain. We have so much to be grateful for.
The only way I can think of to markup an audio passage would be a Kindle Version where you can use audio along with the actual text. To my knowledge, for the Audible.com books unless they’ve updated their books I don’t know how they would provide this option but thank goodness in the world of technology almost anything is possible. 😃
It does seem like a good idea. When listening you could punch a button to indicate a place you would like to come back to. Someone needs to work on this. Hey, America, we need this! It would even make me like audio books better.
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A very thought-provoking essay on your reading of Matthew 4. Thank you for sharing, Oneta.
You are very welcome. Glad your trail walked you by here today. 😀