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For I know the plans I have for you,declares the LORD, plans to prosper you and not to harm you, plans to give you hope and a future. Jer 29:11 |
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| Archived Manna: | |
Dear
Friend,
If you do not already have a habit of gathering daily manna the first thing in the morning (we can look at the example given to us in Exodus 16 and find the pattern for make it a habit. Establish your life and your schedule to allow you the necessary time to do your daily collection first thing every morning to give you the strength to make it through the day. And remember that today’s manna will not be sufficient for tomorrow; tomorrow’s manna must be collected tomorrow morning. Wednesday, June 16, 2021
Today's Passage : Today's Passage :Sermon on the Mount - Giving Bible Verse:Matthew 5:42 "Give to him who asks you, and from him who wants to borrow from you do not turn away." Message:
Christ is actually not extending the law of Moses here, for the duty to give and lend under the law was extensive. (E.g., Deut. 15:7-11.) Jews, however, were well on their way to having one set of rules for dealing with other Jews, and another for everyone else. Jesus abolishes this restriction.
Unlike the previous verse, however, we can put some limits on the obligation of giving. If a person is simply unwilling to work, we can refuse to feed him. (2 Thess. 3:6-13.) In this day and age, however, where we encounter so many strangers, we must always consider the possibility of a debilitating mental illness when we see a beggar.
Nor does this verse deal with evil persons who seek to take from us by force, as did the previous verses. What this seeks to do is to remind us that our duty to God lies in the everyday. There is a story -- well, actually a formal study done by two social scientists, who finagled a theology school to give seminarians an “important” assignment: Present a lecture on the Good Samaritan (Luke 10:25-37) to a panel of professors.
Our scientists then arranged for many of the students to run a bit late for their presentation and to encounter, on their way to their presentation, a person on the ground, coughing and moaning. About half the students simply rushed past the apparently troubled stranger, in some cases stepping over the person's prone body. (There were many variables and scenarios; see The Good Samaritan Experiment for a fuller explanation. The complete study can be read here.)
This should give us all pause, for these people were more dedicated to serving Christ than most of us. They were primarily defeated, the researcher concluded, by being in a hurry. Some were so focused on their task that they did not even notice the person in distress.
So there is a practical lesson to be learned. If we allow ourselves to become too stressed out and hurried in life, our service to Christ will suffer. We have to use our brains and our willpower, to cut out activities that impede us; for having time to pray, to study Scripture, and to be ready for unexpected calls for help has the utmost importance to our souls.
Meditation : Prayer : If you are with me, O God, who can be against me? For I am sure that neither death nor life, nor angels nor rulers, nor things present nor things to come, nor powers, nor height nor depth, nor anything else in all creation, will be able to separate me from the love of God in Christ Jesus my Lord...........Amen |
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