Month: October 2025

 

 

Gal 5:16-23  But I say, walk by the Spirit, and you will not gratify the desires of the flesh.  For the desires of the flesh are against the Spirit, and the desires of the Spirit are against the flesh, for these are opposed to each other, to keep you from doing the things you want to do.  But if you are led by the Spirit, you are not under the law.  Now the works of the flesh are evident: sexual immorality, impurity, sensuality,  idolatry, sorcery, enmity, strife, jealousy, fits of anger, rivalries, dissensions, divisions,  envy, drunkenness, orgies, and things like these. I warn you, as I warned you before, that those who do such things will not inherit the kingdom of God. But the fruit of the Spirit is love, joy, peace, patience, kindness, goodness, faithfulness, gentleness, self-control; against such things there is no law.

 Revelation 14:18    And another angel came out from the altar, the angel who has authority over the fire, and he called with a loud voice to the one who had the sharp sickle, “Put in your sickle and gather the clusters from the vine of the earth, for its grapes are ripe.” So the angel swung his sickle across the earth and gathered the grape harvest of the earth and threw it into the great winepress of the wrath of God.

 

 

Matthew 11:28-30     Come to Me, all you who labor and are heavy laden, and I will give you rest. Take My yoke upon you and learn from Me, for I am gentle and lowly in heart, and you will find rest for your souls. For My yoke is easy and My burden is light. ()

These are among the most beautiful words spoken by Jesus. It’s an invitation to all burdened humanity to find relief and rest in Jesus.

In this invitation, Jesus invited all who labor and are heavy laden. He called those who sensed they must come to Him to relieve their need instead of living in self-sufficiency. According to one commentator, labor implies the burdens we take upon ourselves, and heavy laden implies the burdens others put upon us. Jesus used the idea of heavy laden again in Matthew 23:4 speaking of the spiritual burdens religious leaders lay on their followers.

To all those burdened, Jesus simply said: Come unto Me. That is an invitation; Jesus didn’t tell us to “go” to Moses or anyone else. He invited us to first come to Himself, not to a doctrine, a ceremony, a minister, but to Jesus Himself as a personal Savior.

This was a declaration of authority – only God can say, come unto Me. The prophets pointed to God, but Jesus points to Himself.

Yet this call to those who are burdened also includes some kind of burden, in the sense that as part of the invitation, Jesus said take My yoke upon you and learn from Me. We must come as disciples to learn, willing to be guided by His yoke – not merely to receive something. We are ready to bear whatever burden He appoints for us.

According to Adam Clarke, the ancient Jews commonly used the idea of yoke to describe someone’s obligation to God. There was the yoke of the kingdom, the yoke of the law, the yoke of the command, the yoke of repentance, the yoke of faith, and so on. In this context, it is easy to see Jesus simplifying and saying, “Forget about all those other yokes. Take My yoke upon you and learn from Me.”

This isn’t a call to a lazy or indulgent life. There is still a yoke to bear and burden to carry. Yet with and in Jesus, they are easy and light. When training a new animal (such as an ox) to plow, ancient farmers often yoked it to an older, stronger, more experienced animal who bore the burden and guided the young animal through the learning process.

That’s what makes the yoke of Jesus easy and His burden light – because He bears it with us. Borne alone, it might be unbearable; but with Jesus it can be easy and light.

If your yoke is hard and your burden is heavy, then either it isn’t His yoke or burden, or that you aren’t letting Him bear it with you. Come, find rest for your soul. (Guzik)

 

Genesis 16:13     Thou God seest me.

Violet Liddle was a remarkable Christian maid who served the likes of Churchill, Eisenhower, Lady Astor, and George Bernard Shaw. Growing up, she came downstairs every day beneath a framed Bible verse on the wall, which read: “Thou God seest me.” As a result, some of her first memories involved knowing that God watched her wherever she was. “Still,” she wrote, “I don’t really regret this introduction to God because it did instill in me an understanding that God is always around us, and I’m glad that over the years I’ve come to recognise that the verse is a promise of God’s loving care.”

God’s Word was an important part of life for the people of Israel. God gave leaders, kings, and everyone else specific instructions for the ways to remember His words by placing them in places they would see each day. Deuteronomy 6 tells us to write God’s Word “on the doorposts of your house and on your gates” (verse 9).

Look around you today for places to post Scripture so it stays at the forefront of your mind. A verse on the wall may reside in your children’s minds for decades to come! (Jeremiah)

 

Jonah 1:2      “Arise, go to Nineveh, that great city, and cry out against it” .

We live in a sin-sick and dark world. This statement shouldn’t come as a surprise to you, especially if you’re reading it as a follower of Jesus Christ. All around us are people—from family to co-workers to celebrities—trying to push a sin-filled, post-Christian worldview.

I have a friend who says that sin will take you where you don’t want to go, keep you longer than you want to stay, and cost you more than you can afford to pay. When we stay in sin, sin tightens its grip on us and makes it harder for us to get away. Consider this: If we never have our sins forgiven, then it will be our sins that will take us to hell—a place where no one wants to go.

Sadly, many in our churches are also falling for the lie that there are no consequences to our sin. After all, if Christ died for our sins, why can’t we just go on sinning? The price has been paid.

Of course, sin does matter. Our sin—yours and mine—is what drove Jesus to the cross. It’s hard to consider the suffering He endured on our behalf and not recognize the gravity of sin.

The first chapter of Jonah is a prime example of the consequences of our sin. We all know the story:

God commanded the Prophet Jonah: “Arise, go to Nineveh, that great city, and cry out against it” (Jonah 1:2).

Nineveh was at one time considered the largest city in the world. However, it is not called “great” simply because of its size, but also because of its sin. The city was notorious for its violence. It’s no wonder that when Jonah got the message, he went in the opposite direction.

Was he scared? Maybe, but we also know that he did not want Nineveh to experience God’s forgiveness (Jonah 3:10, 4:1-2). Instead Jonah ran away from Nineveh, ultimately ending up on the sea and being tossed overboard, finding himself in the “belly of the fish” (Jonah 1:17).

What can we learn from Jonah’s tumultuous journey?

First, sin causes us to flee from the Lord. Twice in verse 3 alone, we are told plainly that Jonah was trying to escape the “presence of the Lord.” It is alluded to again in verse 10. Jonah went to Joppa, paid the fare, and got on the boat.

It’s interesting that this prophet, who conversed with Almighty God, thought he could escape the presence of the Lord by physically moving from one place to another. How often, however, do we do the same thing spiritually? Sin causes us to spend less time studying the Bible and less time in prayer, moving away from the presence of God in our lives.

Second, our sin will affect others. Jonah’s sin so impacted the experienced sailors that they were scared to death. They had never seen a storm such as this, and they were forced to throw their cargo (i.e. their income) into the sea as the ship was breaking apart. Further, when they learned that Jonah was the cause of the storm, they were forced into the position of having to make a heartbreaking life-or-death decision.

Similarly, you may think that your sin isn’t harming anybody, but that’s not the case. Your spouse, children, colleagues, or church are likely being impacted, whether you or they realize it.

Third, sin can bring a false sense of peace. Even in the midst of the huge storm—as the sailors frantically unloaded their ship and cried out to pagan gods—Jonah slept soundly in the bottom of the boat.

One of the worst things we can do is to use “peace” as a determining factor in judging if we are in the middle of God’s will. You may feel like you’re getting away with sin, or that it’s no big deal, but it will eventually rear its ugly head.

Finally, sin will take us where we don’t want to go. Because Jonah disobeyed God, he found himself in the midst of a storm in the middle of the Mediterranean Sea. Ultimately he was thrown overboard into the sea, and—by verse 17—he was in the belly of a fish. Not good.

The city of Nineveh was infected by sin, but once Jonah proclaimed God’s message, they immediately repented and cried out to God. “Then God saw their works, that they turned from their evil way; and God relented from the disaster that He had said He would bring upon them, and He did not do it” (Jonah 3:10).

The same can happen for us. Rather than taking pride in our sin or minimizing its impact, we must see the gravity of it and repent as well. When that happens, the chains and bondage of sin can and will be broken through Jesus, our Savior. (Graham)

 

 

 

These things I speak in the world so that they may have My joy made full in themselves.

–John 17:13

A person who is content has learned that inner peace isn’t determined by external circumstances. He doesn’t tie his happiness to the Dow Jones Industrial Average, his children’s SAT scores, or the model of his car. Instead, a content person has learned to look inward for satisfaction in life. He has learned to be satisfied with what God has already provided.

Since the garden of Eden, humans have been tempted to be discontent. God gave Adam and Eve all kinds of trees with delicious fruit, while only one tree was off-limits. What did Adam and Eve do? Instead of focusing on the many trees God gave them to enjoy, they zeroed in on the one they didn’t have. They chose to believe Satan’s lie that said, in essence, “Eat from that tree, and you will be satisfied.”

Satan continues the same lie with us today. He says, “What you don’t have is keeping you from being happy.” The temptation to be discontent sometimes results in overt sins such as sexual immorality, dishonest financial gain, or substance abuse. But other times, our insatiable desire for something more or different than what God has given us manifests as a general sense of unrest.

The life of Jesus Christ demonstrates the possibility of contentment. Jesus had no possessions, no financial margin, and no cushion in every sense of the word. In Matthew 8:20, He said, “The foxes have holes and the birds of the air have nests, but the Son of Man has nowhere to lay His head.” Not only that, but Jesus was also constantly dogged by His critics. His family didn’t understand Him. His enemies tried to kill Him. Yet despite His outward circumstances, Jesus had an inward joy. In John 17:13, He said, “These things I speak in the world so that [My followers] may have My joy made full in themselves.” In the life of Jesus, we see contentment in spite of external circumstances.

We also see contentment demonstrated in the life of the apostle Paul. When he wrote his letter to the Philippians, Paul was in prison, awaiting the outcome of his trial. Meanwhile, his enemies were trying to tear apart the Philippian church. Yet in Philippians 4:4, Paul said, “Rejoice in the Lord always; again I will say, rejoice!” How was Paul able to separate his inward emotions from his outward circumstances? He gave us the answer in verse 11: “I have learned to be content in whatever circumstances I am.” Notice the word “learned.” Contentment doesn’t come naturally, but it’s something we can learn. (Jeffress)

 

Psalm 145:9     The Lord is good to all, and his mercy is over all that he has made.

Psalm 16:2     “I say to the Lord, ‘You are my Lord; I have no good apart from you”.

Psalm 73:28      “For me it is good to be near God”.

 

Set aside for a moment the gifts you yet long to have. Can you see — in your morning coffee and stocked pantry and spring leaves and garden plot — that “the Lord is good to all, and his mercy is over all that he has made” (Psalm 145:9)?

Even still, God knows that his general goodness, the goodness he scatters across all our days, does not remove the pain of particular goods not given. We find in the Psalms the conviction that God not only gives me good but also works my good through everything bad.

We see God’s commitment to work our best most starkly in his commitment to forgive our worst. Indeed, when the psalmists celebrate God’s goodness, they often have the goodness of his grace in mind. “You, O Lord, are good and forgiving” (Psalm 86:5). Through Jesus, God crowns our guilty heads with grace and rescues us from messes of our own making (Psalm 103:4; 107:1–3). He redeems us from the worst we’ve ever done.

And if God worked our good even at our worst, then he certainly will work it everywhere else, even in those places where his goodness seems gone. In Psalm 23, David pictures the goodness of God following him, pursuing him, not just sometimes but “all the days of my life” (Psalm 23:6). On some days, God’s goodness chased him toward green pastures and still waters; on other days, it drove him into the valley of death’s shadow; on all his days, it led him toward “the house of the Lord” where he now dwells forever. And thus God’s goodness does with us.

When we get to that house and look back upon our twisting way, we will no doubt see more clearly how not only the pastures but also the valleys carried us closer to heaven — how goodness laced both the giving and the taking. But for now, God bids us to believe what we may not be able to see: The hand that leads us into the land of deep darkness is none other than the hand of God’s goodness leading us home.

And so our own hearts have found a thousand ways to finish that sentence without reference to God. But when we see the hand that holds ours — a hand now bearing scars — and when we hear the counsel he gives and sense the glory he is, we cannot finish the sentence except as Asaph does: “For me it is good to be near God.”

God, the good Father, good Son, and good Spirit. God, the fountain from whom every gift flows. God, the one who created us to commune with him and redeemed us to rejoice in him. God, the definition of good and the one without whom nothing is good. Come valley, come darkness, come lack, come loss — if we get more of God, we have more good than all the earth has to offer besides.  (Hubbard)

 

 

Then He spoke many things to them in parables, saying: “Behold, a sower went out to sow.” (Matthew 13:3)

Matthew 13 is all about parables, stories Jesus used to describe the work of God and the response of man. Jesus used parables so the hearts of those rejecting would not be hardened further (Matthew 13:10-17). The same sun that softens the wax hardens the clay; and the same gospel message that humbles the honest heart and leads to repentance may also harden the heart of the dishonest listener, confirming them in the path of disobedience.

The opening parable of Matthew 13 is famous. Jesus told the story of a farmer casting seed (a sower), and the seed fell on four kinds of soil or ground.

The first seed fell on the “wayside” or footpath (Matthew 13:4) and was quickly eaten by birds. Just so, some receive God’s word with hardened hearts and the devil snatches away the sown word. This represents those who never hear the word with understanding. The word of God must be understood before it can truly bear fruit. One of Satan’s chief works is to keep men in darkness regarding the gospel (2 Corinthians 4:3-4).

The second seed fell “on stony places” (Matthew 13:5-6). Planted in thin soil on top of stone, this seed quickly grew but then withered and died. Just so, some respond to God’s word with immediate enthusiasm yet soon wither away. They are not willing to endure tribulation or persecution because of God’s truth.

The third seed went “among the thorns” (Matthew 13:7). As it grew, the stalks of grain were soon choked out by thorny weeds. Just so, some respond to the word and grow for a while but are choked and stopped in their spiritual growth by competition from unspiritual things such as the cares of this world and the deceitfulness of riches.

Finally, the fourth seed fell on “good ground” (Matthew 13:8). This brought a good crop of grain, and some respond rightly to the word and bear fruit. They bear fruit in differing proportions, but there is a generous harvest for all.

We can benefit from seeing bits of ourselves in all four soils.

– Like the wayside, sometimes we allow God’s word no room at all in our lives.
– Like stony places, we sometimes have flashes of enthusiasm in receiving God’s word but quickly burn out.
– Like soil among thorns, the cares of this world and the deceitfulness of riches constantly threaten to choke out God’s word and our fruitfulness.
– Like good ground, God’s word bears fruit in our lives.

Yet, notice that the difference in each category was with the soil itself. The same seed was cast by the same farmer. The different outcomes were not the fault of the seed or the sower, but of the kind of soil they landed on.

“Lord, plow and prepare the soil of my heart to receive Your word and give an abundant harvest for your honor and glory.” (Guzik)