Overview of: MatthewToday's Reading:
Matt. 7:1-29
"Sermon on the Mount"
Focus Verses: Matt. 7:7-8
7 "Ask and it will be given to you; seek and you will find; knock and the door will be opened to you. 8 For everyone who asks receives; he who seeks finds; and to him who knocks, the door will be opened.
Insight:
Giving and receiving are central to meaningful and loving relationships. The bonds of love are both demonstrated and deepened when one has the freedom to make a request and another has the will to grant it. Just as neighbors open their doors for each other, and just as parents are ready to provide for their children, our Father in heaven is ready to give us good gifts. He also calls us to be ready to treat others with the same goodwill we would like to receive.
Response and Action:
God has invited me to a relationship with him through Christ Jesus. He wants me to seek him out, to knock on his door, and to ask him for help. He promises I will find, the door will be opened, and my needs will be provided. This is the way God demonstrates his love for me; it is also the way I can demonstrate love for others. In the same way that I receive grace and love in my relationship with God, I should extend grace and love in my relationships with others.
O God, help me to love you with all my heart, soul, mind, and strength, and to love others as myself. Thank you that I can come to you with my requests and needs--that you can be found, your door is open, and you are giving. Grant me a sensitivity toward the needs of others around me. Help me to be available, approachable, and generous. In Jesus name, I pray. Amen.
Old Testament for Today: Jeremiah 29:10-13
10 This is what the LORD says: "When seventy years are completed for Babylon, I will come to you and fulfill my gracious promise to bring you back to this place. 11 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. 12 Then you will call upon me and come and pray to me, and I will listen to you. 13 You will seek me and find me when you seek me with all your heart.
In Context: Jeremiah 29:1-23
Proverb for Today: Prov. 18:15
"The heart of the discerning acquires knowledge; the ears of the wise seek it out."
Recommended Reading:
The Message of the Sermon on the Mount: Christian Counter-Culture
by John Stott
