18:3-4 - I often look at my boys, Dane and Aidan, and envy their innocence. They are totally worry free and they completely trust Mandy and I to meet their every need. They are free to find the joy of every aspect of life. I believe to humble myself as a child, I must see myself for what I truly am...utterly weak and helpless and in need of my Father's love and protection. May I chose to put my life completely into the hands of God, so that I can begin to truly live.
18:18ff - I think this ties back directly to what Jesus was talking about in chapter 16 when he blesses Peter. This does not mean that we are all given these incredible God-powers that allow us to bind and loose anything we want here on earth (That would mean we could limit God - and that is impossible). I believe that he is describing the power that we are able to tap into when we plug into God's plan...we will have the power to bind and loose because it is things that God has already bound and loosed that we are adhereing to and living out.
18:20 - I have heard this verse used flippantly about, uh...a mil...no, a billion times in churches over the years, and I think there needs to be some clarification. There are three important words that we have to understand here - "IN MY NAME." This doesn't mean that God is automatically behind anything any Christians say or do, when thy claim to be gathering in His name. Like everything else Jesus talks about in the gosepls, this is not about the letter of the law, but the spirit of the law. To truly be gathered in His name means that the people gathered are truly seeking His will with a humble heart and they are chasing after His spirit and His kingdom as they gather together. This does not mean: we say we are gathered for Him, and then try to push through the the agendas of our own selfishness and egos. I would say that most of the time I have heard this verse used, the latter was the case. Hopefully wherever we gather, we are trying to always seek first His kingdom and not our own.
18:32ff - How many times have we been in the shoes of this servant? Forgiven for countless cimes against the creator of the universe and then unforgiving with the trivial sins that flawed people have made against us. It doesn't make us seem very appreciative of the grace of God when we live ungraciously.
1 comment:
It has always stuck out to me Jesus' challenge for us to be more like children. I remember as a child how puny, weak, and dependent I was. Yet it was at this point in time where I was best equipped to be a follower of Christ! I didn't bave my own agenda to worry about, pride was not an issue. Father, help me to be more like a child as I grow...
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