At His Feet

4/16/2020

4/16/2020: Matthew 5 and 6: Living righteously.

We read in chapter five that we are the light of the world, a city on a hill that can't be hidden. (Matthew 14-16.) That like a lamp glowing and twinkling in the darkness – so our good deeds (righteous living) may be seen by others and give God the glory.

Jesus continues teaching us how to do this with his famous, outrageous lessons that went above what we were taught before coming to Christ.

He touches on murder (Matthew 5:21-26), then adultery (27-30), then divorce (31-32), then oaths (33-37), revenge/eye for an eye (38-42), and love for our enemies (43-48)

Which I will be studying this week because God knows I need to know how to walk in these days where people are crazy and full of fear. Especially since hatred is going rampant and sometimes, I too, want to slug a person whose mean to me. Thank God that He held me back.

The lessons continue in chapter six but what I notice now is that in chapter six, God (Jesus Christ) is concerned on the motivation of the practices, as well as the actions. He makes it very clear to us not to be like the pharisees who they purposely practiced their good deeds in crowds just for the praises of people, not for God. Because of that, Christ said that they got their reward. That's sad because their reward came from humans and we all know how we are. Praises from us humans mean nothing.

Now a reward from God is cemented – something that is better than the love of people. This is true. I tried seeking love from people, did everything to be seen by the people I wanted acknowledgement badly in my own life. It just left me heartbroken in the end and feeling a bit violated a little in my heart. When I came to Christ, things changed. I started learning (still learning) what true love is and what its like to actually be loved in return.

As my grandmother always says, God comes first. Not family, not friends, not that cute nerd in your church. GOD COMES FIRST.

And he honors the sacrifices we make for Him.

So when we give, when we pray, and when we fast – watch your heart. See to it that we hold no ulterior motive than bringing praise to God and helping others. See to it that you're not out to get praises from the lips of people because those praises can quickly turn on you.

That's the way they treated Jesus. He is God and is good but he knows how quick we humans change. One moment the people praised Him crying Hosana! The next time though, they stood up and shouted for Pilate to crucify Him.

Just keep that in mind.