“The good person out of the good treasure of his heart produces good, and the evil person out of his evil treasure produces evil, for out of the abundance of the heart his mouth speaks.” – Luke 6:45

A credit card marketing campaign has long asked, “What’s in your wallet?” Jesus, however, asks a much more important question: “What’s in your heart?” He also tells you how to figure out the answer to that question. Since most of us have difficulty being honest about our heart condition, Jesus teaches us how to do the hard work of self-examination.

First, examine your words. What comes out of your mouth in startling, unplanned, unexpected, or stressful situations? Is it good or evil? Honoring to God or not? Encouraging or discouraging? Do you speak optimism or pessimism? Patience or anger? Kindness or cruelty? Building others up or tearing them down? Be honest! What comes out of your mouth in unguarded moments? The answer to that question reveals the remaining work to be done in your heart. If ugly things come out of your mouth, then there are still ugly parts of your heart. Take these parts to Jesus in prayer, repentance, and meditation on Scripture. Don’t be afraid to do that work – embrace it! Don’t be ashamed – we all have work to do. Jesus didn’t go to the cross just to change your eternal destination – He went to change every part of your heart. Invite Him and permit Him do His work!

Second, examine your actions. Are they the loving, gentle, kind, others-oriented actions of blessing that Jesus would do? Or are they, at heart, actions designed to benefit yourself, make yourself look or feel good, or manipulate others? Once again, be honest! Why are you doing the good things that you do? Are you doing Christ-like things or the same things any non-believer does? Your actions, and their underlying motives, also reflect your heart condition. Is it good or bad? Christ-transformed or untransformed? Are you bringing out good treasure that blesses the world because your heart is filled with the blessed, holy treasure of Jesus Christ Himself? If not, turn your heart over to Jesus and let Him replace the bad treasure with more of Himself. #FollowJesus

“The Lord has sworn
and will not change his mind,
‘You are a priest forever
after the order of Melchizedek.’”
– Psalm 110:4

King David wrote these words more than 1000 years after Melchizedek and more than 1000 years before the death, burial, resurrection, and ascension of Jesus. Nonetheless, Jesus is the subject of this psalm! The Holy Spirit revealed this truth to David ten centuries before it was fulfilled. That’s how reliable God and His Word are!!! Jesus is the One Who rose from death and ascended to Heaven where He serves as the great high priest interceding on behalf of everyone who believes in Him. Jesus has made the once-for-all sacrifice that saves our souls when we trust in Him.

Jesus is the priest like Melchizedek (introduced in Genesis 14). Jesus is both a king and a priest, just like Melchizedek and unlike the high priests of Israel in David’s time. Melchizedek ruled over the city of Salem (“peace”) meaning he was the king of peace. Jesus is the Prince of Peace. Melchizedek’s name literally means “King of Righteousness” and Jesus is the perfectly righteous king Who rules and reigns over the universe. Melchizedek was a priest, not based on his family of descent, but by God’s divine appointment. Jesus likewise became our priest by God’s will and appointment rather than by His family of origin.

This entire psalm would have been something of a head-scratcher when David first wrote it under the inspiration of the Holy Spirit. It seems unlikely that any readers would have understood all its implications for ten centuries. But God is perfectly faithful! What He promises in His Word will happen. We must simply be faithful and patient. God’s promises will unfold in His timing rather than ours. God’s people may have to wait hundreds or thousands of years to see those promises fulfilled, but they will be fulfilled. Jesus, our great high priest in the order of Melchizedek guarantees that! #FollowJesus

“David said to Solomon, ‘My son, I had it in my heart to build a house to the name of the Lord my God.’” – 1 Chronicles 22:7

David absolutely loved God!!! He loved God so much he wanted to build a wonderful temple for Him. That certainly sounds like a great idea God would want to endorse. David’s desire was to bring glory to God by building a magnificent place for people to come and worship from all over the world. This is a good desire. You’d expect God to give David, the man after His own heart, the green light. He didn’t. God said, “No”. David wasn’t allowed to build God’s temple. His son Solomon would be the temple builder. God wanted His temple built by a man of peace rather than a man of war.

God didn’t reject David or his idea. He merely rejected the timing (for the rest of David’s life). How would you respond to God saying “No” to an idea you were so excited about it??? Would you be crushed and disappointed? Frustrated? Angry? Offended? Would you charge ahead anyway? Would you give up on God altogether? David teaches us how to handle disappointing situations where God’s timing is radically different from ours. Rather than be upset or stubborn, David devoted the rest of his life to preparing Israel and Solomon to build the temple after David’s death. He collected mountains of building materials, put people and plans in place, and mentored his son. David took God’s denial seriously and did everything he could to make Solomon successful in his place and to bring maximum to glory to God through the temple.

Most of us get excited when we have a good idea to honor or serve God. We ask God to rubber stamp our plans and bless them as we charge ahead. Sometimes God says “No” and we need to listen for that and obey Him. We need to be like David and keep a positive attitude, even when God stops us in our tracks and says we’ll never see those plans come to fruition in our lifetime. In those cases, we must stay focused on God rather than ourselves. We need to see whom we can invest in preparing while we glorify God in every aspect of our waiting. #FollowJesus

“O Lord our God, you answered them;
you were a forgiving God to them,
but an avenger of their wrongdoings.
Exalt the Lord our God,
and worship at his holy mountain;
for the Lord our God is holy!”  
– Psalm 99:8-9

We humans tend to want things simple. We want a single explanation or description for things so we can easily understand them. We do that with God, often reducing God in our mind to a single attribute. He is loving OR He is forgiving OR He is just OR He is holy. He’s all those things and many more! God must never be reduced to a single attribute for your convenience. God is infinitely beyond us. Each of His attributes are without limit. Though God is “simple” and indivisible in His nature, He can’t be reduced to a single one of His attributes.

These verses remind us of this truth. God is truly a forgiving God. His ability to forgive is infinitely beyond our ability to even imagine forgiving. When God forgives, He forgives totally and completely. Our sins and failures are utterly gone, never to be brought to God’s mind again. His forgiveness is never transactional or temporary. Once He’s forgiven, He never holds your past mistakes over your head or throws them in your face. Because of the work Christ did on the cross, you are guaranteed that as a follower of Jesus, God will always forgive you when you ask Him for forgiveness.

However, God must never be reduced in our mind to a simple forgiving machine. When we do that, we don’t take sin seriously, we don’t take God seriously, and we don’t take forgiveness seriously. While God will always forgive His children when we truly repent of our sin, He’s also infinitely just. He will avenge our wrongdoings. All sin is rebellion against Him. All sin separates us from Him. All sin carries the penalty of death. The good news is that Jesus paid that penalty for us through His death on the cross. It was His sacrificial death and resurrection that satisfied God’s perfect, infinite justice. It was upon Jesus that the just punishment for our sins fell. This is why we must take sin so seriously in our own lives, because Jesus died to deal with it. We only receive the benefit of His death if we’ve trusted in Jesus as our Lord and Savior. Apart from Christ, everyone still faces the justice of God’s wrath for their sins and we need to take that seriously as well.

God is also perfectly, infinitely holy. He’s utterly without sin, set apart from sin, and worthy of all worship. He’s holy and faith in Jesus makes us holy in His eyes. Such faith is the only thing that can truly make us holy and reconcile us with God in His holiness. We’re utterly dependent on Christ to bring us into relationship with God. Now, we’re called to live in holiness because He is holy. We’re commanded to imitate Jesus because He has made us holy. Don’t try to reduce God. He’s gloriously worthy of worship precisely because of His many attributes, all of which find their ultimate expression at the cross. Don’t reduced Him. Worship Him! #FollowJesus

“The devil said to him, “If you are the Son of God, command this stone to become bread.” And Jesus answered him, “It is written, ‘Man shall not live by bread alone.’”” – Luke 4:3-4

Out in the desert, in the place of testing, the devil spoke in his devilish way. He intentionally spoke to express his doubts and contempt for Jesus, “IF you are the Son of God…”. He sought to provoke Jesus into doing a miracle not out of necessity or to bring glory to God but to merely to flex. To show off, prove Himself, and cover any self-doubts. If this happened to us, we can feel our wounded pride rise up and take over, can’t we? “How dare he question me” we would think to ourselves. “If? If!” we would snort angrily.

Jesus did none of that. He was here to rescue sinners and glorify God, not to perform tricks and elevate Himself in Satan’s eyes. He knew He was the Son of God. There was no need to show off. His response, quoting from Deuteronomy, was absolutely perfect. There is far, far more to life than our physical needs and the satisfaction of our pride. Unfortunately, so many today need to learn this lesson! We’ve become a society driven by short-term needs. We’re controlled by our appetites and urges. We define ourselves by them and celebrate them. If we feel something, we believe we must act on that feeling. If we’re hungry, we must eat immediately. If we’re lustful, we must act on that immediately. If we’re angry, everyone must know about it. We seek to live on bread alone!

We aim too low! We are spiritual beings, created in God’s image, made for eternity, with the capacity for reasoning and moral judgment. Good works have been prepared by God for us to do. Too often we just use our gifts and blessings to feed our endless appetites for the mundane things of the world – food, pleasure, entertainment, power, safety, or status. Don’t let that happen to you! Turn your mind toward higher things. Meditate upon God the Father, Jesus the Son, and the Holy Spirit. Linger longer in Scripture. Love God and neighbor more fully. Pursue God’s Kingdom purpose for your life. Make disciples of all nations, not merely dinner plans. Don’t settle for stones and bread. #FollowJesus