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The Great Exchange {Matthew 11}

9:00 AM

  Matthew 11


There is a weariness that requires more than eight hours of sleep each night. The rest Jesus is speaking about here is a spiritual rest. Since the seventh day of creation, God has demonstrated our need for rest, but many haven't heeded His invitation. It was rest that He promised His children in the wilderness, but "They failed to enter that rest because of their disobedience" (Hebrews 3:19). 

We see in the verses prior to Matthew 11:28, Jesus is rebuking the different towns which have refused to follow Him in spite of the many miracles He has already preformed in them (Mt. 11:20-24). God longs for His children to enter His rest. How about you?

I'm sure you thought, "Of course!", but do your recent actions convey that same sentiment? Remember, Israel refused even after wandering in the dessert!

We have a God who loves us so much that He desires to take our burdens off our own shoulders, place them on His, and give us His peace in return. I call that a great exchange; my burdens for His peace, but I've discovered in the past that I haven't always made the exchange so quickly. 

Do you feel buried under the burdens of this world? Stressed? Anxious? Is your heart at peace, or are you bombarded by worrisome thoughts? God is offering you HIS peace today if you will take some time to be “yoke” to Him and His teaching.

His ways are different from the world’s ideas. The world tells us we can only have peace when we’ve completed the job, life is settled, or we've gained the approval of man. God tells us over and over in His word to stop working in our own strength, yoke ourselves to His teaching, and get rid of all the stress and pressure of the world. “casting all your anxieties on him, because He cares for you.” (1 Peter 5:7) You have a God who cares about you!

He wants us to, "be still (let be, cease from striving), and know (recognize and understand) that I am God." (Psalm 46:10) He is able. Not even our best efforts can come close to all HE can do through us!

David knew this when he wrote Psalm 23, 

 The Lord is my Shepherd [to feed, guide, and shield me], I shall not lack. He makes me lie down in [fresh] green pastures; He leads me beside the still and restful waters. He refreshes and restores my life (my soul); He leads me in the paths of righteousness [uprightness and right standing with Him—not for my earning it, but] for His name’s sake. Yes, though I walk through the [deep, sunless] valley of the shadow of death, I will fear or dread no evil, for You are with me; Your rod [to protect] and Your staff [to guide], they comfort me.
In the most stressful time of my life. " - Psalm 23:1-4

During one of the most stressful times in my life, The Lord would wake me at around 2am each morning with the words, "Come away with Me, My beloved" taken from Song of Solomon. This passage speaks of springtime, and new life!

Song of Solomon 2:10-13

 My beloved speaks and says to me:
‘Arise, my love, my fair one,
   and come away;
 for now the winter is past,
   the rain is over and gone.
 The flowers appear on the earth;
   the time of singing has come,
and the voice of the turtle-dove
   is heard in our land.
 The fig tree puts forth its figs,
   and the vines are in blossom;
   they give forth fragrance.
Arise, my love, my fair one,
   and come away.

I did not hear these words spoken audibly, mind you, but they would come as a thought, and I would climb out bed, grab my Bible and journal and meet with Him out in my favorite chair in the living room. We'd read the Psalms and I shared all my concerns and questions, and He'd reassure me each time, and then I'd go off to sleep again until morning. We'd sometimes spend up to two hours in that chair, but I always woke refreshed and ready for the day, as if I'd slept for eight hours straight!

If you'd like to, or need to make a great exchange, here are three steps that should help:

1. Think about your life for a moment. In what areas do you need God’s peace today? 

2. Tell Him. Offer that area of your life to God and ask Him for His advice, (Js 1:56) Listen as you read His Word and keep listening throughout the day. 

3. Surrender yourself to Him; your thoughts, ideas, actions and invite Him to come take over.

 And remember He desires for you to enter His rest just as much, if not more, than you do!

Blessings, 

sue

bear with one another

"It Was Worth It All!" {Galatians 6}

12:00 AM


As we move along through Paul’s letters to the churches we’ll begin to see a pattern in many of them where Paul decides to conclude with a list of commands. In the Book of Galatians, he closes by giving a series of proverbs, sort of speak, for he wants his readers to be guided by the Spirit and not a list of laws, so he gives them principles that will require a bit of thought;

“Brothers, if a man is caught out in some moral slip-up, you whose lives are dominated by the Spirit must correct such a man with the spirit of gentleness, and, as you do it, you must think about yourselves, in case you too should be tempted. Carry one another's burdens, and so fulfil the law of Christ. For, if anyone thinks of himself as important while he is of no importance, he is deceiving himself with the fancies of his mind. Let every man test his own work, and then any ground of boasting that he has will be in regard to himself and not in comparison with others. For each man must carry his own pack.” Gal 6:1-5

Paul clearly knew the troubles that arise in any Christian society and that the best of Christians can “slip up”. The word Paul uses is, paraptoma which doesn’t mean a deliberate sin; but a slip that might come on a slippery surface and not a premeditated decision to sin.  

So let’s take a look at all that’s expected of us concerning our brothers and sisters in Christ:
  1. We “must correct such a man with the spirit of gentleness” not lording over them or looking down upon them, but understanding the same could happen to any of us and we all need others to come alongside us at times.
  2. Only, we must be careful that we don’t slip also, for there is always a chance of us slipping as well. (v.1)
  3. We need to help in carry each others burdens which will lighten their load and help them to keep going! BUT, hold on, what did Paul mean by, “ and so fulfil the law of Christ.”?
The Bible never specifically defines "the law of Christ". However, most Bible teachers believe “the law of Christ” is what Christ stated in the greatest commandments in Mark 12:28–31, “‘Which commandment is the most important of all?’ Jesus answered, ‘The most important is, “Hear, O Israel: The Lord our God, the Lord is one. And you shall love the Lord your God with all your heart and with all your soul and with all your mind and with all your strength.” The second is this: “You shall love your neighbor as yourself.” There is no other commandment greater than these.’”
The law of Christ then, is to love God with all of our being and to love our neighbors as we love ourselves. Paul is saying that by carrying one another’s burdens we will be fulfilling “the law of Christ!”. That sure places a weight of importance on bearing with one another and their burdens, doesn’t it?
4.) We need to be sober in how we think of ourselves and realize we are no better than anyone else and just as capable of “slipping” at any given time.
5.) We should put our works to the test to see if they measure up to all God has called us to do. Only, let us measure ourselves and our work up to Christ, and not against another believer’s, for in doing so, we won’t run the risk of either becoming prideful, or envious of others.

I especially love what Paul added in verses 6-10,
“He who is being instructed in the word must share in all good things with him who is giving instruction. Don't deceive yourselves; no one can make a fool of God; whatever a man sows this he will also reap. He who sows to his own lower nature will from that nature reap a blighted harvest. He who sows to the Spirit will from the Spirit reap life eternal. Don't get tired of doing the fine thing, for, when the proper time comes, we will reap so long as we don't relax our efforts. So then, as we have opportunity, let us do good to all, especially to those who are members of the household of the faith.” -Gal 6:6-10

Paul, probably better than anyone, knew sometimes those on the front lines grow weary. He knew that the enemy is far more concerned with those on the front lines of the faith and will be constantly attempting to take them down, for they pose the greatest threat to his work, so Paul offers some encouragement to the weary worker;

  1. He encourages all of us who have received instruction to share all good things. Now, this verse was clearly referring to payments of some kind, but I’ve always taken it to mean verbal encouragement as well. Sharing how God used what they taught you, to help you impact others, is always encouraging to teachers and leaders alike.
  2. Paul also encourages all of us to remember we will reap what we sow. The Lord will see to it that our efforts will never be in vain and also includes a warning as well in that a self-centered life produces only material things that will eventually waste away.

At one time, as young Christian and a stay-at-home mom, I failed to place much value on the work I was doing everyday. Let’s face it, you clean the house only to clean it again the next day and the next… make a bed only to make it again the next and so on. Life as a stay-at-home mom can become pretty mundane, but there are those days when things happened that made it all seem worth it all. It’s the same with working in the ministry or with anything we do. There will always be days which cause us to wonder why we’re bothering to do what we do and other days where we wouldn’t trade what we’re doing for the world!

Sometimes the rewards don’t come often enough and it’s in those moments that I like to think that all my efforts are being deposited into a “heavenly saving account” that will pay great dividends sometime in the future! 

Now that my children are grown and have families of their own, I’ve reaped some of those early deposits and I can attest to the fact that God is faithful! There will come a day for all of us when we will say, “It was worth it all!” I promise!