January 1, 2013
SCRIPTURE: Matthew 11:20-24
OBSERVATIONS
I’m not sure about you, but I was not hoping to spend the first day of 2013 thinking about Judgment Day.
Jesus seems to be working with the idea that the kinds of miracles that He is performing ought to result in deep, life-altering repentance, and He is surprised that it is not.
He notes how two Jewish towns (Chorazin and Bethsaida) show Him less regard than two neighbouring pagan towns Tyre and Sidon.
He even suggests that the infamous Sodom (and Gomorrah) were more receptive than they were… and they were destroyed!
Will nothing bring these people to repent, will nothing humble them enough to seek God’s mercy and help?
What do you notice in this passage?
APPLICATION
What would it take for you or me to experience deep, life-altering repentance?
For some people it is a near-death experience – like a car accident or a heart attack – that makes them rethink life and priorities.
For some people it can be the beginning of a new year, a time to resolve to make changes.
Are you thinking of making any resolutions, and if so, why?
If you new that Jesus was coming THIS YEAR “to judge the living and the dead”, what resolutions might you make then?
Do you believe in a final judgment day?
Do you believe that unless you repent – admit your flaws and failures, come to God for mercy and help, and strive with His help to change – you will be judged GUILTY.
What will it take for me to really address the sin issues in my life, to really repent and resolve to change?
What do you sense the Lord saying to you?
PRAYER
Lord, I can be stubborn and stupid, I know that. May this year be different… In fact, with Your help, I resolve that it will be different!
Jesus follower
trying to find His way
Observations:
Jesus must have revisited the towns where He had been proclaiming the Good News but the people did not change their ways. Therefore the ‘woes.’ And if Jesus had performed the miracles in Tyre and Sidon, they would have responded differently. They would have repented. And on the day of judgement it will be more bearable for Tyre and Sidon than for the villages Jesus mentioned in His woes. They would have been more accepting of His Word.
Applications:
Listen and do. Open ears and open hearts. See and believe and act.
Listening requires doing. Hear the Word of the Lord requires action. Doing nothing is a choice. As Adan and Eve chose so do I have a choice. To listen and do is the only way.
As I enter the New Year, I need to listen and obey for there is no other way. As I tell my students, ‘Just do it,’ so must I. Just do the will of God in my daily living for Jesus. Open ears. Open eyes. Open heart. Open hands, All to serve Him.
All for Jesus, all for Jesus!
All my being’s ransomed powers:
All my thoughts and words and doings,
All my days and all my hours.
Refrain
All for Jesus! All for Jesus!
All my days and all my hours;
All for Jesus! All for Jesus!
All my days and all my hours.
Let my hands perform His bidding,
Let my feet run in His ways;
Let my eyes see Jesus only,
Let my lips speak forth His praise.
Refrain
Worldlings prize their gems of beauty,
Cling to gilded toys of dust,
Boast of wealth and fame and pleasure;
Only Jesus will I trust.
Refrain
Since my eyes were fixed on Jesus,
I’ve lost sight of all beside;
So enchained my spirit’s vision,
Looking at the Crucified.
Refrain
Oh, what wonder! how amazing!
Jesus, glorious King of kings,
Deigns to call me His belovèd,
Lets me rest beneath His wings.
Refrain