Tag Archive | Matthew 5

Matthew 5 – Salt and Light

Mar8

Good morning y’all. Today I’m looking at  Matthew 5. There is so much to learn from this chapter but i’m going to focus on verse 13 -16.

Be blessed 🙂
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“You are the salt for everyone on earth. But if salt no longer tastes like salt, how can it make food salty? All it is good for is to be thrown out and walked on.    You are the light for the whole world. A city built on top of a hill cannot be hidden,  and no one lights a lamp and puts it under a clay pot. Instead, it is placed on a lampstand, where it can give light to everyone in the house.  Make your light shine, so others will see the good you do and will praise your Father in heaven”. (Matthew 5:13-16 CEVUS06)

Here, Jesus is saying we are the salt of the earth and light of the world.

Salt adds flavour and makes things taste better.

Light brings illumination where there was once darkness.

Bringing this home to our christian walk, we are called to add flavour here on earth and to bring illumination to the darkness around us in the world. There is so much darkness it’s unbelievable. We are not meant to add to the darkness, rather we are meant to bring light.

Question is are we truly loving up to this expectation from God? Do we act as salt and light everywhere we go? In our place of work or school, can people detect that we are children of God? When we go somewhere do people say after we’ve left of how we’ve made their lives better; how we have impacted them for good?

This was what Jesus lived for. Everywhere He went scripture says He was doing good.  People saw the love of the Father in Him. Even the disciples of old,  people recognised them as followers of Christ by the life they lived and how they conducted themselves both in speech and action.

Our lives should truly reflect that of our heavenly Father. People should see the love of Jesus reflected in us and that love should draw them to God. I once heard a pastor say “your lifestyle can either attract people to God or repel them from God”. I pray we are attractors and not repellants.

Some of us started out as salts and lights but somehwere along the line, we have lost our saltiness and light. I realised that the only way we can keep the saltiness and light, is to remain in constant fellowship with the Holy spirit. Completely yielding to him and offering the members of our body as instruments unto righteousness. Time with the Holy Spirit will produce the fruits of the spirit in us.

“But the Holy Spirit produces this kind of fruit in our lives: love, joy, peace, patience, kindness, goodness, faithfulness, gentleness, and self-control. There is no law against these things!” (Galatians 5:22-23 NLT)

“Since we are living by the Spirit, let us follow the Spirit’s leading in every part of our lives”. (Galatians 5:25 NLT)

If we fail to walk with the Holy Spirit, we will loose our saltiness and light. We would be of no use but to be cast away. This sort of reminds me of the scripture that says any tree that doesn’t bear fruit will be cut away.

“Remain in me, and I will remain in you. For a branch cannot produce fruit if it is severed from the vine, and you cannot be fruitful unless you remain in me”. (John 15:4 NLT)

“Anyone who does not remain in me is thrown away like a useless branch and withers. Such branches are gathered into a pile to be burned”. (John 15:6 NLT)

Let’s do a honest check today and make the words of Psalm 139: 23-24 our prayer.

“Search me, O God, and know my heart; test me and know my anxious thoughts. Point out anything in me that offends you, and lead me along the path of everlasting life”. (Psalms 139:23-24 NLT)

Have a blessed Sunday 🙂

***With God all things are possible***

Exodus 23

Feb4

Good evening y’all. Today we are looking at Exodus 23.

This chapter is a continuation of the laws God gave to Moses for the children of Israel.

Exodus 23: 1-12
While reading this chapter, I asked myself how would I have fared based on these instructions that God laid out for the children of Israel. Would I pass if I was to be judged based on those laws?

We could argue that those laws are old testament laws and therefore don’t apply to us (seeing as we are operating under the new covenant) but I realised that those laws were all summed up by Jesus in His teachings.  This means they are still applicable to us today 🙂 . If we read Matthew chapter 5, we will see Jesus talking about the laws of Moses and how they apply to us. Infact in verse 17 of Matthew 5 He said:

“Don’t misunderstand why I have come. I did not come to abolish the law of Moses or the writings of the prophets. No, I came to accomplish their purpose.(NLT)

I have listed out some of the instructions from verse 1-12:
– Don’t spread false rumours
– Don’t give false testimony against another
– Don’t follow the crowd to do wrong.
– If you find a lost item, return it back to the owner.
– Don’t walk away from people who require help
– Don’t cheat a poor person from what’s rightfully their’s just because they are poor
– Don’t sentence an innocent person
– Don’t take bribes
– Don’t oppress foreigners

Matthew 7: 12 says: “Do to others whatever you would like them to do to you. This is the essence of all that is taught in the law and the prophets.(NLT)

This verse rightly sums up everything we have been reading so far from chapter 21. If only we would treat others the same way we would have them treat us, the world would be a better place to live in.

So today, let’s examine ourselves using God’s word as the standard

Exodus 23: 20 – 33
God promises them his presence in the form of an angel. He wasn’t going to leave them alone to journey through the wilderness.  (I love me some God 🙂 He’s always thinking about us and how to make life easy for us). The angel was going to protect them and lead them safely to the promised land.

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If they obeyed and followed His instructions, there were benefits/blessings that they would enjoy such as:
– Guidance
– Protection
– Deliverance from enemy
– Provision
– Divine health

In like manner we can relate this to the presence of the Holy Spirit in our lives.  God has given Him to us to help us on our journey here on earth. He is there to teach and guide us on how to live our lives.

“And I will ask the Father, and He will give you another Advocate, who will never leave you.  He is the Holy Spirit, who leads into all truth. The world cannot receive Him, because it isn’t looking for Him and doesn’t recognize Him. But you know Him, because He lives with you now and later will be in you”.(John 14:16-17 NLT)

We are to obey the Holy Spirit and yield to His leading. That’s the only way we can be pleasing to God and enjoy the blessings He has for us.

Verses 24 and 25 reminds us that even though we are living in this world we are not of this world and so shouldn’t imitate the world or their ways of doing things.

“You must not worship the gods of these nations or serve them in any way or imitate their evil practices. Instead, you must utterly destroy them and smash their sacred pillars. “You must serve only the Lord your God…”(Exodus 23: 24-25a NLT)

This is also made clear in Romans 12:2

“Don’t copy the behavior and customs of this world, but let God transform you into a new person by changing the way you think. Then you will learn to know God’s will for you, which is good and pleasing and perfect.”(Romans 12:2 NLT)

Let’s examine ourselves today. Colossians 3:1- 2 says
“So if you’re serious about living this new resurrection life with Christ, then act like it. Pursue the things upon which Christ presides. Don’t shuffle along, eyes to the ground, absorbed with the things right in front of you. Look up, and be alert to what Christ is doing — that’s where the action is. See things from his perspective.”(MSG)

Let’s stop hiding under the blanket of grace. Its time to get up and start doing what is required of us. Shall we continue in sin and say grace abounds? God forbid!

Prayer:
Dear Lord we thank you for today. Thanks you for your word. Pls help us to live in obedience to all that you have commanded. Thank you Lord. In Jesus Name we have prayed.

Thanks for joining today.

Have a wonderful night 🙂

***With God all things are possible***