“Wondrously show your steadfast love,
O Savior of those who seek refuge
from their adversaries at your right hand.”
– Psalm 17:7

The steadfast love of God is just that…steadfast. His love is unchanging, unwavering, unyielding. It does not wax and wane like the moon or rise and recede like the tides. It does not vary with His mood as our love often does. His love is unconditional, faithful, and forever. This is a truly great prayer, “wondrously show your steadfast love…”!

When your enemies (whether human adversaries, dark spiritual forces, or simply the stresses, trials, temptations, and tribulations of life in this fallen world) surround you, remember that God is your Savior. Don’t try to “grind it out” or “go it alone”! Seek refuge in God, crying out often to Him in prayer. Find your strength and spiritual protection in Him. Be honest with Him about what you need in your season of crisis.

He is faithful and true, so be bold enough to pray that He would reveal His steadfast love in marvelous and wondrous ways. Ours should not be a timid or cringing faith! Instead, because of the finished work of Jesus on the Christ we are able to enter boldly into God’s presence and ask, as His beloved sons and daughters, that He would “wondrously show” His steadfast love to us and to all who are watching!

“But many who are first will be last, and the last first.” – Matthew 19:30

There’s a fundamental reversal of the world order that many followers of Jesus still struggle to embrace. We know it, but still have a hard time living it! Many Christians are still caught up in the worldly culture of looking out for number one, striving to be top dog, building empires, and the pursuing earthly success, status, and wealth. Those things aren’t what get us ahead in God’s eyes or Kingdom!

In God’s eyes, quiet faithful service with integrity is greater than having the corner office. Living a professional life that leaves time for personal ministry and nurturing your family is more important than any temporary title or responsibility. A lifetime spent giving away your money to support the Kingdom is far better and more enriching than striving to become wealthy or even comfortable. When we get to heaven we will be surprised at who is honored there: people who labored in anonymity and even futility for the Kingdom will be rewarded beyond well-known leaders with TV platforms.

Heaven will be quite different than earth and we’ll discover that our perspective here was more distorted than a fun-house mirror. We would all be wise to reflect now on what actually makes someone “first” in the Kingdom of God and begin to pursue that rather than continuing to pursue what merely gets us ahead during our brief tour of duty on earth.

“But Jesus said, ‘Let the little children come to me and do not hinder them, for to such belongs the kingdom of heaven.’” – Matthew 19:14

During His earthly ministry it was the disciples who tried to prevent kids from coming to Jesus. Today it’s often…us. We hate to admit it, but it’s often we parents or grandparents who keep our kids and grandkids from Jesus. How?

We fill their schedules so full of activities, lessons, sports, and events that they have no time or energy for Jesus. They’re physically and emotionally exhausted and want to sleep in just one morning a week and stay home just one evening a week. In sympathy we let them and what gets cut out of their lives? Jesus.

We orchestrate their lives carefully and energetically to make sure they get the grades, D1 scholarship, college admission, and career of their dreams but don’t invest the same kind of planning, energy, enthusiasm, and discussion in their spiritual growth. Who do we functionally cut out of their lives? Jesus.

We get so busy ourselves that we either neglect or at least fail to regularly work on our own spiritual growth and devotion to Jesus in their presence. Who do we demonstrate doesn’t matter in our own lives? Jesus.

We’re so busy rushing around that we can’t have times of relaxed conversation, prayer, simple devotions, or discussion of the news of the day from a spiritual perspective around the dinner table. Often we’re never even at the dinner table at the same time. Who aren’t we inviting to dinner? Jesus.

Our kids and grandkids are the earthly loves of our lives. Take time to reflect on whether your choices, actions, words, and patterns of life hinder them from what should be the most important relationship of their lives.

“Honor the Lord with your wealth
and with the firstfruits of all your produce;”
– Proverbs 3:9

We live in a time and place of great abundance, yet many struggle with a deep desire for more. When we get more, we remain unsatisfied, wanting still more. Despite having more stuff than the overwhelming majority of people and cultures throughout the history of the world, we are increasingly desperate to get more and increasingly anxious and afraid of losing what we have. We’ve built an entire industry around storing and protecting all the stuff that we don’t have space to store ourselves.

These is symptomatic of a heart problem, a problem that can be healed by following this proverb. Too often our stuff own us rather than us owning our stuff. The best and most reliable cure for this is to honor God with our possessions. When we give the first and best of our income and possessions to God and His work it transforms our relationship with our stuff.

When we give generously of our first and best to the Lord to support the local church, ministries that care for the poor and most vulnerable in our community, and the Kingdom-building mission of God across the world, our mindset and relationship with money and possessions changes radically. We no longer covet and fear but eagerly look forward to what we can give back to God. It’s both personally liberating and glorifying to God all at the same time.

This proverb continues with a principle that may not exactly be a promise, but is definitely a common experience for those who consistently commit their first and best to the Lord, “then your barns will be filled with plenty, and your vats will be bursting with wine.” God rewards our faithfulness with our material possessions – often by giving us even more to devote to Him while always redefining our understanding of plenty and filling our hearts with Him!

“Then they understood that he did not tell them to beware of the leaven of bread, but of the teaching of the Pharisees and Sadducees.” – Matthew 16:12

The Pharisees and Sadducees were well-respected, scholarly religious leaders and teachers. People admired them and gave them prominent roles in society. But Jesus warned His disciples to beware of the infectious nature of their Bible teaching. We too must beware of Bible teaching by well-known teachers and scholars who aren’t actually teaching what Jesus taught.

Pharisees were meticulous about rule-following and zealous for God’s Law, but did so to save themselves. They taught and labored so they could be good enough to not need a Savior and it was a fraud! Christian teachers can fall into the same trap, encouraging moralism, good works, and onerous rule following without explaining and embracing the beautiful truth of the gospel: none of us can ever be good enough to save ourselves, yet God in His grace and mercy provided a Savior through the life, death, and resurrection of His Son Jesus. Beware of the Pharisees who teaches that you can do it yourself, to wash your face, clean up your act, and be the best you without confronting your own sin and ongoing need for a Savior. Seek teachers who humbly embrace the Gospel in their own lives and invite you to do the same!

Sadducees served as the priests of the people, but edited out the parts of the Bible they didn’t like: Old Testament prophets, angels, and the resurrection of the dead. We live in an era where many pastors and teachers also want to edit out part of the Bible they don’t agree with: the Old Testament, God’s moral law, the miraculous, the substitutionary atonement of Jesus on the cross. Beware of the Sadducees who teach what you want to hear. Seek teachers who will embrace and teach all of Scripture!