Day 30 – Preach What You Practice

Matthew 7:28 When Jesus concluded his address, the crowd burst into applause. They had never heard teaching like this. 29 It was apparent that he was living everything he was saying – quite a contrast to their religion teachers! This was the best teaching they had ever heard.

There is nothing that moves me more than the telling of a true story. Nothing that motivates me more than the voice of true passion. Nothing that causes more change in my heart than true confrontation.

Forget the noise, the pomp and circumstance. Forget the rule books and the crowd. God is looking for outlandish devotion. Not many will be serious about obedience and be honest about their story. This walk with Christ is a process. He is forever pruning and changing us, rearranging and adjusting the matters of our hearts. In the end, you see, it’s not about talking like a christian, or dressing like a christian or even preaching like a christian. It’s all about walking in obedience to Christ, being honest about where you are at all times, and only preaching what you practice.

Day 29 – Don’t Miss the Boat

Matthew 7:23 And do you know what I am going to say? ‘You missed the boat. All you did was use me to make yourselves important. You don’t impress me one bit. You’re out of here.’

Right! My heart skips a beat just to think about hearing those words. I have to pull back sometimes and ask myself these questions: Am I using God, and my professed relationship with him to appear more important than others? When I tell others of what I do for the kingdom, what is the purpose? When I use the title bestowed upon me or the label of christian even, am I using it for identification or am I trying to use it to appear better than them? If the fruit of my life tells the story, why do I need a label to identify me?

Lord, help me to be a wise builder and build my life on you, my rock, Christ Jesus.

Day 28 – Selah

Matthew 7:21 “Knowing the correct password – saying ‘Master, Master,’ for instance – isn’t going to get you anywhere with me. What is required is serious obedience – doing what my Father wills.”

Here’s a phenomenal idea — serious obedience to God! Not special offerings, not magical mantra, not new programs, not short cuts, not tongues, not the way you’ve been baptised, not what you eat, or drink, or wear. Let’s just pause today, pay attention and reflect on that. Are we serious about being obedient to God?

Day 27 – Bear Fruit

Matthew 7:16 Who preachers are is the main thing, not what they say. A genuine leader will never exploit your emotions or your pocketbook. These diseased trees with their bad apples are going to be chopped down and burned.

I’ve worked for two types of leaders in my experiences. The first type is the pencil pushing, pyramid pundit type. They sit around and rationalize all things from the seclusion of their ivory offices. The second type is the leader/trainer, the coach/mentor, the type who’s in the trenches letting you catch what cannot be taught. The type of leader who’s on the floor with you, leaders like David in his early years, at the front of the battle.

Too often we as Christians try to be word-pushing spin doctors. We seemingly have no problem with the world knowing that we are Christians, or that we may even be leaders. However, that means that we have to maintain a safe distance. Here, Jesus instructs us to examine and, yes, judge the fruit of others. If we live our lives in obscurity, we deny ourselves the necessary fruit inspections that are promoted here. We also deny ourselves the pruning, weeding and nuturing that comes from a fruit-inspecting community. Yet again, we are encouraged to bear it all and show our fruit.

Day 26 – Did we miss our turn?

Matthew 7:13 “Don’t look for shortcuts to God. The market is flooded with surefire, easygoing formulas for a successful life that can be practiced in your spare time. Don’t fall for that stuff, even though crowds of people do. 14 The way to life – to God! – is vigorous and requires total attention.”

This gets to the core of what outlandish devotion is all about. No shortcuts! So many have formulated the way that they think leads to righteousness. Those ways in the end lead to destruction. There is no shortcut to God. There is only one way, and that is God’s way. It is often over-simplified and sugar-coated, but it is indeed vigorous and requires total attention indeed.

I remember a trip I took with my family and a family friend. It should have taken less than two hours. It took us seven hours. Why, you wonder? Following directions requires total attention, and that didn’t happen. For a lapse in attention, we paid with our time and money. Pay attention and stop looking for the easy way out. That’s the lesson to be learned.