Perfect advice from Jesus

The fashion police are suggesting we add animal prints to our wardrobes this fall. The health advisors are telling us to line up for this year’s flu shots, especially if you have passed your 65th birthday. The financial advisors are suggesting a lot of things, and we know how that advice can turn out. We don’t lack advice in this world, but neither do we lack advice that is always perfect.

What is the perfect advice Jesus offered? 

The Sermon on the Mount summarizes Jesus’ entire earthly ministry. Jesus left heaven to teach and make the New Covenant between God and man possible. Jesus began his Sermon on the Mount with the Beatitudes and followed those lessons with practical advice for daily living. If every Christian lived faithfully to Jesus’ most important sermon, churches would probably need to set aside thirty minutes of every worship service just for baptisms. 

Jesus made a statement in his Sermon on the Mount that might be the best advice he ever gave. He said, “But seek first the kingdom of God and his righteousness, and all these things will be added to you” (Matthew 6:33). I can’t think of a single lesson Jesus ever taught that isn’t covered by that one verse!

Jesus gave us that perfect direction. Now, how do we put it into practice?

Lesson 1: Seek first

What is the first thing you “seek” after you wake up? For me, it’s coffee! But once I have that first cup in my hands, I settle into my chair and consider the day. My mind naturally shifts to that day’s agenda and needs. Soon, I’m making plans, lists, and deciding how to accomplish things. Maybe the better question to consider each morning is, “What is the highest priority I should seek to remember today?”

How would our lives change if the first thing we sought each day was the sovereign word and will of our King? How would that priority lead us to seek a right relationship with him throughout our day? I have often heard someone teach “seek first” as the priority to set a time for morning devotion with God. While that is a great idea, it doesn’t really teach the verse correctly. Jesus was saying that making God King is the most important priority for our use of time all day and every day.

If you make God your sovereign King today, what will he add or take off your schedule? Who will you call, care about, or counsel because God’s Spirit chooses to work through your life to impact another? Making disciples is about offering people the opportunity to surrender their lives to a King.

What edict will your King give you to accomplish today? 

Lesson 2: The kingdom of God and his righteousness

The apostle Paul wrote, “None is righteous, no, not one” (Romans 3:10). The prophet Isaiah said, “We have all become like one who is unclean, and all our righteous deeds are like a polluted garment. We all fade like a leaf, and our iniquities, like the wind, take us away (Isaiah 64:6). It didn’t take Adam and Eve long to follow Satan’s suggestions, and people have been unrighteous since that day.

God gave us freedom to choose and then told us to surrender that freedom to his rule. Why would the Creator set up a system he knew would allow each person to sin and become unrighteous? God is the one and only King, yet every person will seek something or someone less than the God we are supposed to seek “first.” 

God created us with the ability to choose so that we could choose to love him and others. That’s why Jesus taught his listeners to seek God as King and to seek “his righteousness.” We will never be capable of righteousness on our own, and God will never be anything less than righteous. When we seek God as our King, we will also seek his will and word for our lives because we trust his perfection. 

Jesus had already told his listeners on the mountainside that day, “Blessed are those who hunger and thirst for righteousness, for they shall be satisfied” (Matthew 5:6). Jesus taught that we should seek to be right with God as much as we seek to consume food and beverage every day. I won’t be fully satisfied with my life until I seek to be right with God even more than I seek that first cup of coffee each morning.

None of us is righteous. We all seek to please others sometimes more than we seek to please God. We often trust his grace for our choices more than we choose to submit our choices to his perfect grace. He gave us his word, his Holy Spirit, and his commands. Forgive us Lord, for the many times we have considered your sovereign will as an option.

Lesson 3: God wants to add every good thing to your life.

God is our loving Father. He didn’t give us his word and will to remove our choices, and he didn’t give us his Spirit to replace our free will. Instead, God wants to be our sovereign King to guide and empower our choices. God provided us with a clear path to live with his blessings. Why do we ever choose something else? But we do.

Jesus told those on that mountainside that if they would seek God and his righteousness, “all these things” would be added to their lives. When we truly know God’s perfection, we will want to walk in his ways. That’s our best life on earth and our rewarded life in heaven.

Which choices will you make today that God can bless? Every choice you make today that honors him as your King will matter eternally, for you and likely for others as well. Those moments are the best moments in this life! 

That’s what the “therefore” is there for.

After Jesus had given his listeners great advice for living as a child of God, he said, “Therefore.” What was the “therefore” there for? The answer to that question is one of the best ways to know whether you are living with God as your King today.

Jesus said, “Therefore, do not be anxious about tomorrow, for tomorrow will be anxious for itself. Sufficient for the day is its own trouble” (Matthew 6:34). 

What are you worried about today? What possible problems or concerns do you have for the months and years to come? How might those thoughts or ideas hinder you from accomplishing something God has called you to do today?

If God is your King today, then you can trust him to be your King tomorrow and every day that follows. As you seek his priorities for this day, you can trust tomorrow’s worries to his promises. Every worry and every concern serves as a reminder to bow before your King and say, “I make you King of every moment. Remove those things from my life that hinder your will and add anything that is your will to my life. I will trust your direction as the work of your love and grace.” 

He is our perfect King and our holy Father. Let’s seek to enthrone him in our lives today and then do the same tomorrow. Let’s make sure we obey the perfect advice Jesus gave us first. Everything else will follow.

It’s a new day. Are we ready?

My husband Jim sent me an article saying, “This is the best article I’ve seen.” Jim reads all the time so I knew I needed to read that article too. 

The article is titled “The New Cold War” and discusses what is happening in Ukraine and why those events indicate the world has entered a new day. The article is an intelligent look at why every country, but especially the United States, needs to get ready for the decades ahead. 

I’m a Christian believer and a student and teacher of God’s word. In addition, I work in full-time ministry. One of the consequences of my work life is that I view current events from the lens of biblical history. As I read the article it made sense to me from a spiritual perspective as well as from the perspective of history. 

My conclusion from the article: Change isn’t coming. Change is here. 

Are we ready?

Thirty-plus years ago, Jim and I were discussing another article he had read. We were living in Midland, Texas, and our kids were running through the house dressed like ninja turtles and asking for peanut butter and jelly sandwiches. Now, their kids are that same age. 

The author of that article was predicting what the American economy and culture would be like when our children became adults. I wish I could link that article today as well, but it was published pre-internet. I just remember it discussed things like gas prices, wages, the workforce, the number of people who would likely be on government assistance, etc.  

I remember thinking, Gas will never cost that much. 

That article stated that my generation would be the wealthiest in American history, and the generations that followed would not know the same kind of financial success. I was not inclined to believe the predictions because I didn’t want to. It wasn’t good news and wasn’t written by someone who considered God’s role in governing this world. 

Today, however, I think about that article and realize the economist was almost prophetic. 

As I think about what I spent yesterday for a tank of gas, I wonder what the cost of life will look like when my grandkids are adults. As I consider the increased threat from China and Russia and probably North Korea, I wonder what kind of world order they will inherit. As I have continued to learn and teach Scripture, I see similar patterns in history, and it is a word to all Christians today. 

God always blesses what he has promised to bless. The safest people in this world are those who have placed their faith in Jesus and live each day with the promise of heaven. But, nations and cultures rise and fall, and God will allow his promised consequences. His promises to judge sin are truth, as well as his promise to save. 

As I’ve said before, the third or fourth stanzas of those old hymns are truth as well. Why did we stop singing those words in church? 

Have we done our job as Christians? 

Have we told the world they need a Savior? 

Have we convinced our kids that there is a heaven? That there is a hell? 

Are we ready for the changes that many of our “thinkers” say are coming and for the changes that are already here? 

Biblical history is world history

The Bible gives a historic perspective to current events. That is one of the most important reasons to study God’s word. His word is pure and complete truth. God’s character is unchanging and, therefore, if we know what God has done or allowed in the past, we can expect him to do or allow the same today. 

God has held the same goal for human beings since those days he walked and talked with Adam and Eve in the garden. God made the first sacrifice by killing an animal in order to clothe, or cover, his children. He has been providing a way to cover sins ever since. God wants people to dwell with him in heaven. World history reveals that God has always been providing a way to bring as many people to himself as possible. 

Last week, I reminded my Bible study of Paul’s words in Romans 1. Paul told the church in Rome, “The wrath of God is being revealed from heaven against all the godlessness and wickedness of people, who suppress the truth by their wickedness” (Romans 1:18 NIV). 

We don’t often hear verses like that preached anymore. We want people to be encouraged that God loves them and they can live eternally. But, all of God’s word is important. The key thing to note in the verse above is that God’s anger, or wrath, is against those who “suppress the truth” because of their wickedness. 

What is wickedness? 

I look at the millions of people fleeing Ukraine and think Putin is wicked for starting this war. I see the soldiers who are following his commands and know that some of them are involuntarily caught up in Putin’s wickedness. And I see the faces of the people who are fighting and fleeing and know that only some of them are spiritually innocent, forgiven of their own sins. I wonder how many on both sides are spiritually safe. 

In Scripture, wickedness can be defined as anything that suppresses God’s truth or purpose. Who is asking God what he wants to accomplish and how he wants to redeem the wickedness for his greater good? That is my prayer, for all of them. 

The question isn’t who is wicked because, by God’s definition, we have “all sinned and fall short” of God’s perfect plan (Romans 3:12). 

The question is: Are we teaching the complete truth about God’s goals by the way we live, worship, and evangelize?  

Are we ready for this new day?

I hope you all will take the time to thoughtfully read “The New Cold War.” It is an intelligent, important article, and I wonder if it is the article my kids will think about one day as they watch their grandkids playing. 

That article closes by saying, “This new struggle has been thrust upon us by Russia and China; there is no escaping it. Strength will be rewarded and weakness will be punished. The days of easy American preponderance have come to an end; for the next few decades we will have to work hard to keep the global balance of forces from turning against us. If history is a guide, the American people will rise to the challenge as long as our own national leadership is up to the task. As we judge those who seek to lead, this is the prime test we should put to all of them.” 

Change is coming because it always does. No one in the Apostle Paul’s day could imagine any nation would ever be more powerful than Rome. Rome had the armies and the weapons and had conquered the world. Interestingly, Christianity conquered Rome. 

Would Nero ever have imagined that in his capital city, at the very place he held his circus and had the apostle Peter crucified, a Vatican would be built and dedicated to the work of Christ? 

It’s a new day

It is quite likely the world is going to see great change in the decades ahead. I hope many of those changes will cause people to seek their salvation in Christ. It’s a new day, but God’s goal for human beings remains the same. He wants them to live eternally with him. 

Are we ready to serve God’s purpose by presenting ourselves as living sacrifices, “holy and pleasing to God” (Romans 12:1)? Are we helping those we know and love to do the same? 

Change isn’t coming. It has arrived. 

Let’s walk with God and ask him how we can live his consistent truth as the changes unfold. We want our friends and family to be saved, strong in the Lord, and ready for whatever this life brings. We want them to live today knowing eternity is their promise. 

It’s a new day. 

Aren’t you glad you are ready? 

Let’s share God’s eternal goal as we serve others so they can be ready as well.