EXPAND TO READ: MATTHEW 12 (HCSB)
PERSONAL JOURNAL:
SIN (verse 30): There have been times, even since coming to faith, that I have gone against what Your word says, Father. I am not proud of these moments of mine, but this verse has convicted me rather deeply on this topic. You say that anyone who is not with You is against You. I never wanted to be against You, but I see that’s exactly what I was doing by not following You fully. I never once proclaimed to be against You with my words, but I now see that my actions and my heart were speaking against You. Please forgive me for this, Father. Continue to remind me that I should always try my best to be aligned with Your will in my words, in my heart, and especially in my actions. Please continue Your works in my heart so that as I continue to heal from my past and seek new, better direction and wisdom from You, my actions will begin to fully align with Your will for my life.
PROMISE (verse 50): This is a very sobering and amazing promise which You are making to us here. Whoever does the will of the Father in heaven, they will be considered Jesus’ brother, sister, mother, etc. How powerful is this promise! Wow! Not only do I have a heavenly Father which is the perfect Father whom I can lean on to fill the many voids my earthly Father gave me, but I can also call Jesus my brother if I am in the will of my Father in heaven! That is an absolutely amazing promise that I am very grateful for. It’s almost a double promise, because You are also saying that Jesus’ Father in heaven is also our own and as we align with His will for our lives, we also become brothers and sisters of Jesus in this life! Thank You, Father, for the amazing spiritual family You are helping me to build and to truly develop a relationship within this life.
ATTITUDE (verse 48-50): When Jesus was asked who His mother and brothers were, he gave such a clear and quick answer by simply extending his arms out to all of His disciples and stating they were. The act of obedience and faithfulness the disciples showed towards Jesus and to His Father in heaven elevated them to the status of mother, brother, or sister of Jesus! I want this to remain in me as well, so I ask that You please continue to sharpen me as an obedient follower in this life, Father, so that I too can always say that I am a brother of Jesus and a son of the most-high Father in heaven!
COMMAND (verse 32): This command is a rather scary one to be honest. It speaks of the one sin that will not be forgiven. It does surprise me, however, in the first part of the verse that speaks of what will be forgiven in contrast to what will not. The verse surprisingly says that anyone who speaks against the Son of Man, Jesus, will be forgiven! WOW! On the other hand, it also says that whoever speaks against the Holy Spirit, will not be forgiven…ever! I find it odd that someone who speaks against Jesus CAN be forgiven, but I guess Your wisdom and grace is far more vast than my own understanding can take on in this life, Father. Please help me to be able to follow this command so that I never speak against the Holy Spirit in this life, Father. Help me to become more aligned with the Holy Spirit as a whole, so that as I do continue to build up my relationship with You, I can also begin to truly understand the Holy Spirit’s guidance towards me.
EXAMPLE (verse 30-32): What Jesus speaks of here is a rather amazing example of Your grace and mercy towards us. He starts off with being clear that anyone who is not with Him is against Him. Then He proceeds to say that all will be forgiven every sin and blasphemy except for blasphemy against the Spirit. I find it amazing that You hold the Holy Spirit in the highest regard for the “unforgivable sin” in these verses. Jesus Himself is not worried about people speaking ill of Him, as all of that will be forgiven. If you dare speak ill towards the Holy Spirit, however, then You are no longer operating under God’s grace and mercy from that point forward as no forgiveness will be sent your way. This is powerful, convicting, and a little scary at that. This means that even those in this world, even today, who blaspheme Jesus Himself can still be forgiven! I always thought it was blasphemy against all parts of the trinity, so anyone who spoke blasphemy against You, Jesus, and/or the Spirit were essentially lost forever. I hope that one day I can truly understand why the Holy Spirit is held in such a higher regard in this topic over Jesus, but I guess I am not ready for that revelation, yet. One day, I’m sure.
*DAILY NOTE: There are so many great stories and comparisons being made in Matthew 12. The one I find most amazing, that I never thought of before, is Jesus comparing Himself to Jonah. Jonah spent 3 days and 3 nights in the belly of the huge fish, just the same as Jesus spent 3 days and nights in the “belly” of the earth, in a sense (the tomb). There are so many parts of the Bible that have stories about people I think are completely unrelated to the story of Jesus, yet then I see a link between them that I never noticed just like here with Jonah! How amazing is it that everything points directly to Jesus! Even the stories about others within the Bible seem to all have some type of correlation to Jesus! Thank You for this revelation today, Father, but also thank You for the growth in our relationship together. As I do become closer to You, I feel great joy in my heart that seems to be filling all the voids and healing all the pain that I’ve had in there for most of my life. Thank You for that, Father!
EXPAND TO READ: GENERAL NOTE FOR MY QUIET TIMES
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