Selfless Faith

In Matthew 15:17, Jesus asks Peter and the disciples, “Do you not yet understand that whatever enters the mouth goes into the stomach and is eliminated?”

God hates legalism and when we act in super religious pious plastic ways. We create our own set of laws on how people should dress, how they should talk, what music they should listen to, and what foods they are allowed to eat and what foods they are not allowed to eat. We even go as far as saying this is the true day that God must be worshiped. The sad part is we can’t even keep our own man-made laws, let alone the laws of God has put forth before us.  Seems like we play the hypocrite quite often. We are more offended by the foods our brothers and sisters eat, the clothes they wear or how they style their hair while the world is killing one another, advocating the mass genocide of babies, and performing lewd adulterous acts. We just sit in judgment of those Christ has invited to eat at His feast. Do we see how easily we put ourselves in the position of God? When we impose our own worthless laws upon our brothers and sisters in Christ, we stand in judgment over them when they do not live up to our standards, standards we can’t live up to ourselves. It is time to put our self-righteousness behind us, which God sees as filthy rags anyways, and follow after Jesus Christ, our Lord, the one who has delivered us from a life we couldn’t live on our own. Then, and only then, can we start living and loving one another as we are commanded to do so by God.

   Send article as PDF   

In Matthew 15:14, Jesus says to the disciples regarding the Pharisees and religious rulers that were so blinded by their self righteousness “Let them alone. They are blind leaders of the blind. And if the blind leads the blind, both will fall into a ditch.”

Pride, selfishness, conceitedness, and self-glorification feed the flesh. The flesh grows stronger and stronger in its attempt to put out the flame of the spirit. In turn, leaders and false prophets arise preaching to people a sweet flesh flattering and fattening message. When the true word of God comes to the people, they anger. The flesh hates God and has no reverence for Him. The flesh (and all those who are slaves to the flesh) wants to kill God and execute all those who follow Jesus. What are we to do? Do we keep quiet and continue to let the blind lead the blind? Of course not! We are to continue in prayer and teach the truth of God through the love of Jesus Christ. Our hope is their flesh may weaken for even a split second and their eyes can be opened, their ears can hear and their hearts willing to accept Jesus into their lives. Let’s not argue or debate with the world, but pray for them constantly. The deeper they dig their self-glorified grave, the harder we must pray for them. There is an interesting saying that was popular recently which said “Yes we can!” That seems to be the most untrue statement I’ve ever heard unless you you add the word fail to the end. Yes, we can fail. Other than that “No, we can’t.” We are so pitiful that we can’t even breath on our own strength without God giving us the power and will to breath. Since the beginning of time we tried and we couldn’t. Why is now so different? If we “can,” then why haven’t we? Let’s be realistic. No, we can’t; Yes, God can and He ALWAYS does!

   Send article as PDF   

In Matthew 15:13, Jesus replies to His disciples, “Every plant which My heavenly Father has not planted will be uprooted” in regards to their question about the statements He made towards the Pharisees.

Thank God he has power over everything. He is the LORD of Hosts! Many times we see things and we have no idea what is going on. We just cry out to God and ask why? We don’t understand the things that are happening in our homes, neighborhoods, cities, countries, states, country, and around the world. We see earthquakes that kill thousands upon thousands to people murdering each other to planes flying into tall buildings, to economical collapse, yet we have no understanding or explanation for these events. We try to rationalize it, but we can’t. We continue to pray but it seems as God doesn’t hear us sometimes. O my beloved, God hears every single prayer of the righteous and humble in heart. He will never forsake those who are His in Christ Jesus. We sometimes think God doesn’t care because He has not rescued us from our current situation. He cares more than we can ever know. He knows the exact number of hair strands on our heads. We have to wait upon the Lord. He is continuously refining us through the flames of His love, mercy, compassion, righteousness, and grace. We can’t forget He is the Lord of Hosts. He determines who wins wars, who is plagued with sickness and diseases, the actions of nature. Our God is in control of it all. God did, God does and God will continue to do. As busy and hard at work God always is, He is still able to dedicate His full attention to listen to our prayers, His children to cry out to Him. We sure do serve a loving and faithful Father.

   Send article as PDF   

In Matthew 15:12, the disciples of Jesus came and said to Him, “Do You know that the Pharisees were offended when they heard this saying?”

There is such a tough spiritual battle within us. We do not want to offend anyone but we know we must share God’s truth. There is a natural burning in our hearts when we see people going the wrong direction. We often try to kindle that burning in fear of being offensive. When we see a car driving the wrong way on a one way street, don’t we honk our car horns, flash our lights, jump up and down trying to get that person’s attention? Why is it so tough for us to do the same when we see the lost eternally going in the wrong direction? With the society we live in today, tolerance and acceptance is greatly preached. There are even laws in place that forbid us to do good physically and more importantly spiritually. It just seems to me, from an American standpoint, the more tolerance of what is against God’s will that is preached by the lost and perishing, the quicker our country digs its grave morally, financially, economically and moreover spiritually. Today, it is very popular to be tolerant of what is apparently wrong, but look past being tolerant what is right in the eyes of the Lord. Let us pray for our country, our leaders, and the entire world that they may open their eyes and stop going the wrong way down a one way street.

   Send article as PDF   

In Matthew 15:10, Jesus called the multitude to Himself and said to them, “Hear and understand.”

I just stand in awe at the wonders of God the Father and the Lord Jesus Christ. Jesus came for a purpose and was not distracted. He did not compromise with His course of action. After He rebuked the Pharisees and scribes on the burdens they impute on men, He calls the multitude back and continues to teach them. They same way Jesus called the multitude, He calls us to teach us as well. Some people have a notion that faith and salvation only comes through the preaching of a pastor or priest. That is not true. Romans 10:17 says “faith comes by hearing, and hearing the word of God.” Jesus said “hear and understand.” Jesus was God in the flesh when He walked the earth. Hearing the word of God may initiate through a person, but understanding primarily comes from the study of scripture and prayer. The ear is only the gateway to the heart hearing, knowing, and understanding God’s voice. We can hear the word of God with our ears but until it makes it to our hearts, it will not have any effect on our lives.

   Send article as PDF