At our Bible study last night, we also looked at the words of Jesus in Matt 7:1-12, which look at a range of subjects about how best to live as people in God’s kingdom. His words on prayer remind us of the need to persevere: we must ask, seek and knock, but again, He balances what we must do with a secure knowledge of what God does for His children, reminding us of His generosity and provision. We may struggle at times with prayer, for God sometimes seems to test us by making us wait for answers, but Jesus shows us the generous nature of God to assure us that He is not mean.
Jesus also wanrs of the dangers of judging others, speaking humorously about the ‘plank’ in our own eyes while we are keen to remove the ‘speck’ from someone else’s. We can’t always see others clearly and need God to reveal to us our own sin before we speak about other people’s (see John 8:1-7).
Jesus also reminds us that we need wisdom; it’s not always the right time to speak of spiritual matters to those who are deliberately ignoring God’s ways.
In these verses, Jesus gives us examples of good behaviour (befitting of the kingdom of God) and poor choices which are not going to help in the long run.
1. Worry is a poor choice which will lead to anxiety and keep us in a place where we are depressed and unable to serve God effectively. (Matt 6:25-31) It is pointless, fruitless and a total waste of time and energy. To say that ‘I’m a worrier’, implying that we have no choice in the matter, is a lie. We worry by choice. Jesus urges us to choose an alternative to worry.
2. We are to choose to put God first in everything and are assured that God’s provision will meet all our needs. (Matt 6:32-34) Nature itself demonstrates to us God’s perfect care and attention to detail. This should encourage us to have faith and to trust.
3. God’s nature means we should treat others as we would like God (and others) to treat us. (Matt 7:12) This will mean refusing to live in a self-righteous, judgmental, over-critical way. It will mean giving people the benefit of the doubt and refusing to treat sacred things in a profane way.
The words of Jesus are wise pointers we do well to heed if we want to live well.
