Matthew 5:18

“For assuredly, I say to you, till heaven and earth pass away, one jot or one tittle will by no means pass from the law till all is fulfilled.”

                These words that speak of the end give me a shocking sense of finality. I have days sometimes where I look around and I get a momentary shock of reality, but not this reality. I suddenly remember more than usual that one day I will no longer be here. I will no longer be on this earth. I will close my eyes on this world and open them in the heavenlies. I won’t go to Starbucks, or do school, or talk to friends, or grow anymore, I won’t cry, I won’t be in this body… I won’t be here anymore. I’ll open my eyes to something completely beautiful, and full of joy.

                But until then…

                Not one jot or tittle will pass from the law, until all is fulfilled. All of the Bible, all that was said… not until the very last “Amen.” We should live accordingly.

                I keep hearing something I learned the other day. “This is your one chance in all eternity to make a difference for Jesus. Use it well.”

                Today, I will pray for ten minutes after each meal today for God to open my eyes and to prepare me for the field.

Matthew 5:17

“Do not think that I came to destroy the Law or the Prophets. I did not come to destroy but to fulfill.”

                Jesus came to pull us under his saving grace. God forgave us all our sins; past, present and future. He holds us in his arms and is unwilling to let us go. He loves us, and he doesn’t see our sin anymore when he sees us.

                But God had that plan from the beginning.

                I remember first hearing that God used to want sacrifices to him, and now he doesn’t and I wondered why God changed his mind. I didn’t understand why God wrote such a long Old Testament that contained so much if it wasn’t important anymore.

                But right here we see that God didn’t come to say, “Okay, you know all that I said before? Just kidding! Forget everything you knew, ‘cause now I’m here, and I’m all that matters.” That would be self-contradicting, and would have no credibility.

                In Luke 24:13-32, we see a scene where Jesus comes and talks to two men while walking on the road and opens Moses and the Prophets to them, and shows how the Messiah had fulfilled all of those things. Everything in the Old Testament POINTS TO JESUS.

                I took a Bible College class on the Chronicles, the Samuels, and the Kings. The Bible College teacher would point to a story or a practice and then have us flip to the New Testament and see it fulfilled. It’s all one book! Not only that, but hundreds of prophecies connect the NT with the OT.

                Today I will remember that the Lord doesn’t change, and I will rely on his love and promises to me when doubt comes upon me.

Matthew 5:16

“Let your light so shine before men, that they may see your good works and glorify you Father in heaven.”

“This little light of mine, I’m gonna let it shine. Hide it under a bushel, no! Won’t let Satan *poof* it out.”

                The old children’s song was sung with such fervor, but I definitely feel as though I might’ve forgotten to take it with me as I grew up. We have a light to shine before men. A light that we shouldn’t and shouldn’t be ABLE to hide! A light that we can’t let Satan take away.

                I let him though, or I hide. It’s not just that I’m afraid of showing Jesus to a person, I’m afraid of even speaking to people I don’t know at times. I don’t have to be witnessing to show Jesus, I can show him by showing that I care, but so often I don’t even do that! I get nervous talking to people, and I don’t do much more than not get frustrated or simply saying “Have a good day,” as I walk away.

                When I go home, I will make a conscientious effort to talk to people waitresses, cashiers, etc, and continue shining my light outside of simply the Potter’s Field classroom – and I’ll write down the results in my 2013 journal.

I Corinthians 9:27

“But I discipline my body and bring it into subjection, lest, when I have preached to others, I myself should become disqualified.”

                This reminds me of what Pastor Steve was teaching this morning. He was talking about these other religions that all do so much to bring their body into submission, and they do so much for their gods, but we have the one true God and we do so little. I was challenged by this.

                Think about it! The Mormon runs to a new neighbor with cookies within an hour; the Jehovah’s Witness is so quick to share their faith; the Hindus pray daily for hours at a time. Why don’t we keep these things?

                With Christianity, it’s not actually required for us to do these things, while it’s required with theirs… which is of course unbiblical – our works don’t save us. But why don’t we show our love to God so much more than they? Why can’t we have this devotion? The Hindu finds no problem reading and praying every morning, why is it so hard for us to?

                This week I will write prayers to God in my journal for thirty minutes every night – in order to better discipline myself into submission and devotion to God.

I Corinthians 9:26

“Therefore I run thus: not with uncertainty. Thus I fight: not as one who beats the air.”

                This is how we run, knowing that the one guiding and giving our steps knows exactly what he is doing. Not with uncertainty. Not with faltering steps. Not looking back. And notice that this doesn’t even say “walk”, it says “run”!

                I lived in the same room for two and a half years, and I still didn’t run in it when it was completely dark. I would walk slowly, feeling around for the familiar touch of the things around me. I was afraid that something might’ve changed in the time I’d spent with the light off.

                I can’t remember one time when the room changed on my way from the light switch to the bed. Why don’t I just trust my instincts and run through the dark? I’m afraid of falling.

                It’s like this with the Lord. We can trust him to guide us and to tell us when something’s in our way. We shouldn’t be this way! He’s our guide, our protector and provider, and he’ll catch us if we do fall.

                Today, I will walk with the Lord guiding my steps, praying for his direction.

I Corinthians 9:25

“And everyone who competes for the prize is temperate in all things. Now they do it to obtain a perishable crown, but we for an imperishable crown.”

                I automatically go back to the verses I’ve held on to for some years now, so forgive me for writing it out again, “Therefore we do not lose heart, though outwardly we are wasting away, yet inwardly we are being renewed day by day, for our light and momentary troubles are achieving for us an eternal glory that far outweighs them all. So we fix our eyes, not on what is seen, but on what is unseen. For what is seen is temporary and what is unseen is eternal.” – I Cor. 4:16-18

                It shows me that while a race is a good analogy to our running and walking this narrow path that Matthew 7:13-14 talks about. But, it’s flawed because the trophy that the runners win is one that rusts, that gets bent, that can be lost or destroyed, or melted down. But we receive an imperishable crown – an eternal reward, and the things we will receive mean so so SO much more.

                Today, I will keep my eyes fixed on the eternal reward, and ask the Lord to provide strength for me when I’m tired, and to give me the courage to do what I am NOT looking forward to, and hopefully without crying.

I Corinthians 9:24

“Do you not know that those who run in a race all run, but one receives the prize? Run in such a way that you may obtain it.”

                Picture this; The race is on. The runners line up and take their starting positions. Their breathing slows as they ready themselves for the shot of the gun…. Bang! It goes off and all the runners fly forward, but only a few seconds in, almost all of them begin to slow, some even reaching a walking pace. You, as a spectator, groan – what kind of race is this? Where did all their adrenaline go?

                But no, this isn’t the race we wanna be watching; and this isn’t a race you wanna be in either! The race that we’re running is a race for a prize – for eternity.  Our race is a race we all run in, but a race we want to run like we intend to win.

                That’s an example of someone running to obtain the prize. We should get in to run the entire thing – and win… hitting the finish line full speed ahead. We should run the race we have set before us in this way. We should run full speed ahead, running for the race, for the prize. Our love and zeal should come through the fighting for the prize.

                Today, I will pray that the Lord would renew my zeal in His will and the plans he has for my life.

I Corinthians 9:22b-23

“I have become all things to all men, that I might by all means save some. Now this I do for the gospel’s sake, that I may be partaker of it with you.”

                This verse used to throw me off. Does that mean that Paul would pretend like he was an uncircumcised Gentile to the Gentiles and pull out his Pharisaic attitude around the Pharisees? Well – not that’s not it. He wasn’t called to pretend or act. He was called to simply become relatable to these men. To the Jews, he would find common ground and explain to them how he, as a Jew, found the Messiah, and was able to systematically explain his reasons for doing so. To the Gentiles he was able to become relatable by his Roman citizenship, and his knowledge of the ways of that culture.

                In order to be more effective, we should have a common ground. Think of the effectiveness that the well-learned Christian scholar has to witness to a skeptic scientific atheist with questions. Think of how simply the gospel can be preached to the regular citizen on a street, and how you wouldn’t put a scholar who would assail them with facts instead of being simple.

                The key is to be relatable. We find common ground. John 4 is an example of Jesus himself doing this. Both he and the woman were at Jacob’s well, and he quickly found ground with her in that they both wanted water from it.

                Today, I will look up more things about the people and nation of Costa Rica (where I’m going for six months), in order to be more effectively relatable to the people there.

Philippians 3:12

“Not that I have already attained, or am already perfected; but I press on, that I may lay hold of that for which Christ Jesus has also laid hold of me.”

                Here Paul reminds us that this isn’t a goal you reach here on this earth – the ability to count all things loss and rubbish and to only see Christ. This is something that happens when you reach the destination. When Revelation 21:4 comes to pass and all the former things have passed away.

                A set of verses I cling to when times are hard here on this earth is I Corinthians 4:16-18 (this is in the NIV – the translation I memorized it in) “Therefore we do not lose heart, though outwardly we are wasting away, yet inwardly we are being renewed day by day, for our light and momentary troubles are achieving for us an eternal glory that far outweighs them all. So we fix our eyes not on what is seen, but on what is unseen; For what is seen is temporary, but what is unseen is eternal.”

                This world is rubbish and loss, but since we’re living it – it’s hard to see it that way. We forget that the comfy couch you sit in now is nothing compared to what we will be seated on in Heaven. That the beautiful new paved road doesn’t compare to the golden streets. That the beautifully hand-crafted doors of the Sistene Chapel don’t even come close to the beautiful majesty of just the pearl gates that will lead us in to the eternal kingdom.

                Today, during On The Mount, I shall look up verses about the amazing power and majesty of God, and the coming kingdom and make it my prayer that I live for the heavenlies – and remember that the things here will one day pass away.

Philippians 3:11

“if, by any means, I may attain to the resurrection from the dead.

                The resurrection from the dead? Okay, Paul. Perhaps you’re going a little far with this. Some people might not get what’s being spoken here…

                People were raised to life in Jesus’ day by his miracles, plus the whole earthquake at Jesus’ crucifixion that made the stones roll away from the tombs and dead men come out and walk around. Sometimes even Paul would perform a miracle and raise someone from the dead.  However, I’m pretty sure that Paul isn’t saying he’d do anything to come back to life after he dies. He has said before, “To live is Christ, to die is gain.”

                So what is Paul actually saying?

                In Hebrews 11:35 it says, “Women received their dead raised to life again. Others were tortured, not accepting deliverance, that they might obtain a better resurrection.”

                What’s this better resurrection that both men (or possibly just Paul, since we don’t actually know who wrote the book of Hebrews) are talking about?

                The entrance into the kingdom. The eternal reward. The final day.

                Revelation 21:4 “And God will wipe away every tear from their eyes; there shall be no more death, nor sorrow, nor crying. There shall be no more pain, for the former things have passed away.”

                Oh, for that day – Lord. Oh for that glorious day.

                Today, I will pray for a renewing spirit from the Lord, to gain strength to fight the sadness, fear, and sickness. I will remember that one day everything that hurts and causes pain will pass away – and every tear will be wiped from my eyes.