Wouldn’t it be great if we had never put our foot in our mouths?
Or thought something selfish and flesh-minded during the midst of a spiritual conversation?
The struggle against flesh never stops, no matter how active we become in personal ministry.
Even people in full-time, vocational ministry say really dumb things occasionally.
I speak from experience.
Hopefully, the frequency diminishes as the years pass but we never stop being us.
Thank God that the more we learn about Him and talk with Him and serve Him and associate with people who adore Him, the less we’ll act like the Apostle Peter did in Matthew 19:27.
It was NOT a good day for the guy.
“Jesus said to his disciples, “I tell you the truth, it is very hard for a rich person to enter the Kingdom of Heaven. I’ll say it again—it is easier for a camel to go through the eye of a needle than for a rich person to enter the Kingdom of God!”
“The disciples were astounded. “Then who in the world can be saved?” they asked.
“Jesus looked at them intently and said, “Humanly speaking, it is impossible. But with God everything is possible.”
“Then Peter said to him, “We’ve given up everything to follow you. What will we get?”
Oops!
This was one of those moments that Peter would later regret, I’m sure.
Before he opened his mouth, he didn’t stop to think of what Jesus gave up when He left heaven and came to earth.
He didn’t think of all the promises Jesus had made about infinite blessings in heaven for the faithful.
He didn’t think spiritually but only materially and socially and politically regarding the new world.
Of course, we never think such thoughts, let alone speak them, right?
The fact is that we have had moments when we complained about doing SO much for God without seeing the payoff we wanted in the timetable we wanted.
Do these thoughts sound familiar to you?
- “Lord, I forgive and forgive and the person keeps hurting me. This forgiving stuff just isn’t working….”
- “Lord, I’ve tithed for a few weeks now and I haven’t gotten the storehouses of blessing yet that you promised in Malachi 3:10. You know I’ve got a lot of bills coming up that have to be paid and if you don’t give me a big blessing, I’m going to have to sell something and there goes my testimony of serving a generous God.”
- “Lord, I’ve been nice to my stubborn spouse for months now and have continued spending my “funny money” on things for him/her, yet I still get the same hassles as ever. A lot of good being merciful and generous is doing me right now….”
Listen, whether it’s material wealth or a mellowed-out relative or big-shot status in heaven or the hope that people we don’t like won’t make it to heaven, we have got to stop looking at faith as a strategy for boosting self.
We will never give up as much as Christ gave up for us. Even so, we all will gain much more than we could ever deserve as long as our hope rests in God and our greatest treasure is to please His heart.
As always, I love you
Martin
