Although I have never shot fish in a barrel, I imagine this is what it is like. There is so much that could be said about this section, but what spoke to me is that I can either live for man or for God. For the world to see or God to see. "Be careful not to do your 'acts of righteousness' before men, to be seen by them" (6:1). "And when you pray, do not be like the hypocrites, for they love ...to be seen by men." (6:5) Jesus, on the contrary, lived life for God's praise not men's. So he says when I give, pray, or fast it is to be in secret becuase "your Father who sees in secret will reward you" (6:4).
What spoke to you?
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WoW! In these chapters there is a lot of stuff going on. It’s like sitting down in an all you can eat place and not knowing what to put on your plate first .
ReplyDeleteI guess the thing that really gets my attention is the fact that satan says to Jesus two different times “if you are the Son of God…”. It seems today people still struggle with the same question. Is Jesus who the bible says he is? How can I be sure? They want to see a sign or something to believe.
We see Jesus begin His ministry by teaching and performing miracles and calling His disciples. We also notice that wherever He goes, multitudes of people follow Him. The during His sermon on the Mount, 5:17, Jesus reminds them that He came to fulfill God’s word, but is that what the people were wanting to hear? Were they there just to watch miracles be performed? We don’t know why.
Later on in chapter 16:15, Jesus is going to ask His disciples “who do you say that I am?” it’s the same question I think we all are being asked today. The devil sure knows who Jesus is today because when Jesus was resurrected the 3rd day from the dead, it answered his question “if you are the Son of God”.
Today, we as Christians believe and know Jesus is the Son of God out of faith in God’s word.
joe
This reading selection has so many important aspects, it is very specific about turning your giving, praying or fasting into a public spectacle is of utmost importance to God. What we also took out of this passage was that the scripture can be manipulated for someone’s own purpose, when taken out of the context, like the devil when he tried to manipulate Jesus into committing a sin. As a Christian you have to realize that if the devil can twist scripture then there are definitely people in this world who could do the same for their own purposes. Christians should knowledgeable of scripture so they are not mislead.
ReplyDeleteJosh & Kassidy