Good morning, all!
Father, we know there is no life apart from You and all that we are is designed by You. Lord, open eyes to Your truth and open our hearts to Your word. We know Your son came so we could have life more abundantly and not less, Amen. Some may view this as an existential question, you know the meaning of life…MY life. What is life?
Matthew 6
Mat 6:25 – Therefore I say unto you, Take no thought for your life, what ye shall eat, or what ye shall drink; nor yet for your body, what ye shall put on. Is not the life more than meat? and the body than raiment?
Since we can’t do this on our own, don’t worry about what you’re going to eat and drink; not even what your appearance might be, is NOT life more than meat and what you look like?
Mat 6:26 KJV – Behold the fowls of the air: for they sow not, neither do they reap, nor gather into barns; yet your heavenly Father feedeth them. Are ye not much better than they?
Look at the fragile life of a bird, they’re not worried about anything, and our heavenly Father provides for them. Aren’t you more precious than them?
Mat 6:27 KJV – Which of you by taking thought can add one cubit unto his stature?
And if you put any mind time into making yourself something else, will it work?
Mat 6:28 KJV – And why take ye thought for raiment? Consider the lilies of the field, how they grow; they toil not, neither do they spin:
So why worry about what you look like? Consider the fields filled with lilies, how they grow; they don’t toil and spin about concerned with how they look.
Bottom Line
These of course the words of Jesus Christ which are very powerful if we can hear them this morning. When God speaks of life He’s not speaking of a temporary life, there’s nothing temporary about Him…He’s the same yesterday, today and forevermore…it’s a life ETERNAL.
Jhn 17:3 KJV – And this is life eternal, that they might know thee the only true God, and Jesus Christ, whom thou hast sent. For us to embrace eternal life we have to know the TRUE God and the Son…meaning you believe their life is your life and if you really BELIEVE it…you LIVE it. Is not life more than meat? What’s your meat? Jhn 4:34 KJV – Jesus saith unto them, My meat is to do the will of him that sent me, and to finish his work. Jesus’ meat…DESIRE…it was to DO whatever God said, makes sense, right? Probably can’t say we believe in God and then ignore what He has to say. What does God want us to do?
Mic 6:8 NLT O people, the LORD has told you what is good, and this is what he requires of you: to do what is right, to love mercy, and to walk humbly with your God. We’re told to do the right thing which is LOVE MERCY & WALK HUMBLY…that is the will our Father in heaven. Do we love to forgive? Do we live humbly? Interesting the order of our “to do” list, there’s NO chance we’ll live humbly if we will not first forgive. The only reason we don’t forgive is we put our hurt or our offense first and that’s not a humble spirit, it’s the opposite which is pride. Pride will sometimes mask itself as self-pity, it’s still self or me first before others. The question Jesus asks really comes in the form of a challenge, a good challenge of course He’s NOT being critical…when you KNOW the Father you understand His true nature and character…it’s kindness and truth. Our life is more than meat and our body raiment, life is more than what we want and what makes us comfortable…it’s about empowering others to live as Christ BUT….it has to start with us first. Again, He says there is nothing you can add to your stature…what stature are we talking about?
Eph 4:13 KJV – Till we all come in the unity of the faith, and of the knowledge of the Son of God, unto a perfect man, unto the measure of the stature of the fulness of Christ. The FULNESS of Christ, that’s the stature. Listen God knows who and what we are, the “perfect man” isn’t a single man it’s a life lived by many without separation or division…UNITY of faith. No such this as faith if you push people out of your life or you exclude them, it’s actually the 7th abomination of God…sows discord, you know which one is the first abomination? PROUD look…hmm, not even a word spoken a look alone gets the Lord worked up…yikes! Now it’s not that God’s saying you can’t have comfort; I mean Jesus said He was leaving us the COMFORTER so what’s He saying that the body is more than raiment…comfort. It means the perfect man is MORE than NOT less than that, we should be the PERFECT man not only in comfort but also in crisis. What was the biggest crisis Jesus faced? Yeah, the Cross. Do you remember any of the 7 sayings of Christ on the Cross? I’ll help you out this morning because we only need the first 2 to deliver the message this morning, the “to do” list…first, did Jesus love mercy? He must have the very first thing spoken in His time of crisis was “Father forgive them for they know NOT what they do”. And the second thing He said, “today you will be with ME in paradise”. Church there’s no such thing as paradise without a life paved with forgiveness, the will of the Father.
Point to Ponder
You want to make more money? Jhn 4:36 NLT – The harvesters are paid good wages, and the fruit they harvest is people brought to eternal life. What joy awaits both the planter and the harvester alike!
Let’s all live this life with the fulness of Christ, In Him Phil
Faith – Family – Friends
