Skip to main content

Friday... It is so easy to live by our rights.


Matthew 17:27a (NLT), "However, we do not want to offend them."

Friday... It is so easy to live by our rights.

Now Matthew 17 starts with Jesus taking Peter, James and John up this mountain. And while Peter was talking, verse 5 (NLT) says, "But as he spoke, a bright cloud overshadowed them and a voice from the cloud said, 'This is my dearly loved Son, who brings me great pleasure. Listen to him.'" Yes, it was God speaking to them and telling them who Jesus really was.


Then go to the end of this chapter. Verse 24 says, "On their arrival in Capernaum, the collectors of the Temple tax came to Peter and asked him, 'Doesn't your teacher pay the Temple tax?'" Now Peter didn't say what many people would say, "Don't you know who this is? He is the Son of God. He doesn't have to pay any tax."

Now let's not get into politics and taxes but into our actions and attitudes and responses.

Verse 25 says, "'Yes, he does,' Peter replied... But before he had a chance to speak, Jesus asked him, 'What do you think, Peter? Do kings tax their own people or the people they have conquered?'' Verses 26-27 says, "'They tax the people they have conquered' Peter replied. 'Well then,' Jesus said, 'the citizens are free! However, we don't want to offend them, so go down to the lake and throw in a line. Open the mouth of the first fish you catch, and you will find a large silver coin. Take it and pay the tax.'"

It is so easy to live by our rights but Jesus, the Son of God said, "However. we don't want to offend them."

New International Version says, "But so that we may not cause an offense."

New International Reader's Version, "But we don't want to make them angry." Or is that what we want to do but not Jesus the Son of God.

The Message, "But so we don't upset them needlessly."

O God, if we loved like you loved it would make such a different in our actions, our responses and our influence.

In verses 22-23 Jesus tells his twelve disciples that he is going to die and then be raised from the dead. And then Matthew puts the story of the payment of the temple tax right where it is supposed to go.

When we give our life to Jesus we also give our rights to God and he gives them back to us as privileges.

Love makes all the difference in our responses.

Psalm 27:13 (NIV) says, "I remain confident of this: I will see the goodness of the Lord in the land of the living." And let's see it through through us. Yes, yes! #todaysbeginning


Labels:

Comments

Post a Comment

Popular posts from this blog

Friday... We have this hope of expectancy.

Psalm 5:3 (NLT), "Listen to my voice in the morning Lord. Each morning I bring my requests to you and wait expectantly." Friday... We have this hope of expectancy. Now David found a great way to start his day. He says in Psalm 5:1-3 (NLT), "O LORD, hear me as I pray." And that is a great place to start. It really is. Morning sunrise He goes on, "Listen to my cry for help, my King, my God, for I pray to no one but you." And that is so important. We don't try to pump ourselves up by ourself. No, we pray to no one but you, God, my LORD, my King. Now this relationship with God is so, so very important. And then David says, "Listen to my voice in the morning, LORD. Each morning I bring my requests to you" And that is so great. And then he says, "and wait expectantly." Yes, we have this hope of expectancy. We are experienced. That is what a relationship with God and a moment by moment connection does. It makes a difference in our daily wa...
Post a Comment
Read more

Friday... Yes, we can know this to be true.

Psalm 12:6 (NLT), "The Lord's promises are pure, like silver refined in a furnace, purified seven times over." Friday... Yes, we can know this to be true. Maybe this is what you want to say in this day in which we live. Psalm 12:1-2 (MSG) says, "Quick, I need your helping hand! The last decent person just went down, all the friends I depend on gone. Everyone talks in lie language; lies slide off their oily lips. They doubletalk with forked tongues." Do you ever feel that way?" Have you found that to be true? Well David the writer of this Psalm continues and says in verse 6 something to encourage us, to lift us up, to give us hope. Psalm 12:6 (NLT) says, "The Lord's promises are pure, like silver refined in a furnace, purified seven times over." The Message Paraphrase says verses 6-8 this way, "God's words are pure words, pure silver words refined seven times in the fires of his word-kiln, pure on earth as well as in heaven, God, keep ...
Post a Comment
Read more

Friday... So what is it that you really fear?

1 Corinthians 15:57 (NLT), "But thank God! He gives us victory over sin and death through our Lord Jesus Christ." Friday... So what is it that you really fear? Yes, fear holds us back. It seems to take hold of us so that we can't even really enjoy living. Now I have found that one of the best ways to handle fear is to solve the problem of what we fear. Let's say that death is what we really fear. Everyday we wake up afraid to get up because we are afraid to do anything because we are afraid to die. And that is so understandable. Now I have found the solution to fearing death. I have through faith taken care of my fear to die. 1 Corinthians 15:57 (NLT) says, "But thank God! He gives us victory over sin and death through our Lord Jesus Christ." Verse 22 (CEV) says, "Adam brought death to all of us, and Christ will bring life to all of us." Death was not God's plan. Adam was created for an eternal life but he and his partner, Eve blew it and sin a...
Post a Comment
Read more