Some things can be so deceptive… Doors or gates are like that. Entering them is one thing… what you find on the other side can be quite another!
Some entrances look so inviting, so attractive, so good … but once you enter they’re actually filled with terrible danger and death. After you enter, you’d like to leave – you’d like to escape, but you’re trapped – the door seems locked! Fear, even panic, grips you!
Other doors are quaint and plain – even weathered and uninviting… Who would choose this entrance anyway? You grab the knob or take hold of the latch to the gate with a little bit of anxiety… What’s on the other side? Someone you trust told you how to get to this door and that it was filled with treasure… Could it be? You reach out, depending on their word… You open it and find a room filled with bounty – a place of wonder and untold blessings!
Jesus used an analogy like this to describe two ways: The way to “destruction” – and the way to “life” (abundant life). Here’s what He said…
“Enter by the narrow gate. For the gate is wide and the way is easy that leads to destruction, and those who enter by it are many. The gate is narrow and the way is hard that leads to life, and those who find it are few.” (Matthew 7:13–14 ESV)
I want to choose wisely. I’ve been warned… I’ll take His word for it (rather than follow the crowd) – I believe He knows what He’s talking about, don’t you?
A person might think there is a contradiction between the teaching of Jesus between Matthew 7:7-11 and what He taught in Matthew 6:7-8. However, I am convinced that is NOT the case!
Here is what Jesus warned about in Matthew 6:7-8…
“When you pray, do not heap up empty phrases as the Gentiles do, for they think that they will be heard for their many words. Do not be like them, for your Father knows what you need before you ask him.”
These verses address the issue of prayer as a mantra, as incantation… the mindless repetition of phrases over and over with the belief that piling up those phrases will eventually capture God’s attention! (In fact, I can almost see the yawns of the person praying as he or she struggles to stay awake as they “put in time!”)
Matthew 7:7-11 however, encourages “engaged, faith-filled persistence” in prayer!
“Ask, and it will be given to you; seek, and you will find; knock, and it will be opened to you. For everyone who asks receives, and the one who seeks finds, and to the one who knocks it will be opened. Or which one of you, if his son asks him for bread, will give him a stone? Or if he asks for a fish, will give him a serpent? If you then, who are evil, know how to give good gifts to your children, how much more will your Father who is in heaven give good things to those who ask him!”
The imperatives in these verses – “ask, seek and knock” are continuous in the original language… “ask, and keep on asking … seek, and keep on seeking … knock and keep on knocking!” …THE HEAVENLY FATHER PROMISES “GOOD GIFTS” TO THOSE WHO PERSIST IN ENGAGED FAITH-FILLED PRAYER!
Hey… engaged, faith-filled persistence pays off! Know anyone who has persisted and was rewarded? Com’on, keep on asking, seeking and knocking! I’m going to!!!
I’m always blown away by the incredible, immeasurable, grace of God.
In the natural I have a tendency to think of some people as “savable” and secretly categorize others as beyond the saving grace of God. Every time I do that God surprises me (and I must admit shames me as well) by “saving” and transforming a life that I have shelved as beyond the reach of God’s grace. LORD HELP ME! WHEN WILL I LEARN MY LESSON!
This morning I read the following during my Bible reading during “coffee with the Lord”…
“If you confess with your mouth that Jesus is Lord and believe in your heart that God raised him from the dead, you will be saved. For with the heart one believes and is justified, and with the mouth one confesses and is saved. For the Scripture says, ‘EVERYONE WHO BELIEVES IN HIM WILL NOT BE PUT TO SHAME.’ FOR THERE IS NO DISTINCTION … THE SAME LORD IS LORD OF ALL, BESTOWING HIS RICHES ON ALL WHO CALL ON HIM. FOR ‘EVERYONE WHO CALLS ON THE NAME OF THE LORD WILL BE SAVED.’ Romans 10:9–13 (ESV)
I mean, Apostle Paul should know, right? He said, “Formerly I was a blasphemer, persecutor, and insolent opponent. But I received mercy because I had acted ignorantly in unbelief, and the grace of our Lord overflowed for me with the faith and love that are in Christ Jesus. THE SAYING IS TRUSTWORTHY AND DESERVING OF FULL ACCEPTANCE, THAT CHRIST JESUS CAME INTO THE WORLD TO SAVE SINNERS, OF WHOM I AM THE FOREMOST. But I received mercy for this reason, that in me, as the foremost, Jesus Christ might display his perfect patience as an example to those who were to believe in him for eternal life. To the King of the ages, immortal, invisible, the only God, be honor and glory forever and ever! Amen!!” (1 Timothy 1:12–17)
Wow!! Paul (Saul of Tarsus) the Christ-hater, the Christian killer, the persecutor of the Church, an apostle, writer of a fair share of our New Testament! Oh the grace of God! Who would have imagined it! Others come to mind: Manasseh in the Old Testament, vile and wicked king of Judah (read 2 Chronicles 33); and several years ago, Jeffrey Dahmer (serial killer, sex predator, labeled the Milwaukee Cannibal) who I understand came to Christ and was baptized before he was executed.
Reminds me of something else Apostle Paul write to the Corinthians…
“Do you not know that the unrighteous will not inherit the kingdom of God? Do not be deceived: neither the sexually immoral, nor idolaters, nor adulterers, nor men who practice homosexuality, nor thieves, nor the greedy, nor drunkards, nor revilers, nor swindlers will inherit the kingdom of God. AND SUCH WERE SOME OF YOU. BUT YOU WERE WASHED, YOU WERE SANCTIFIED, YOU WERE JUSTIFIED IN THE NAME OF THE LORD JESUS CHRIST AND BY THE SPIRIT OF OUR GOD.” (1 Corinthians 6:9–11)
OH THE MARVELOUS GRACE OF GOD! LORD HELP ME! WHEN WILL I LEARN MY LESSON!
