Be Still and Know Daily Bible Devotion

Watch out for false prophets. They come to you in sheep’s clothing, but inwardly they are ferocious wolves. By their fruit you will recognise them.

False prophets make an appearance in both the Old and New Testaments. Jeremiah had a particular problem with them. He believed that he was called by God to inform the people that, unless they turned back to Him, a foreign nation would sweep over them. This was not the message that people wanted to hear. They much preferred the soothing words of the false prophets who told them that they had nothing to worry about. But the truth was that they had everything to worry about because Jeremiah’s words were true and, in due course, the Babylonians attacked Jerusalem and took the Lord’s people off into exile.

False prophets were a continual challenge in the early Church and Jesus sought to prepare His followers to meet them. What they needed to know was how to spot a false prophet. Jesus told His followers to look carefully at their lives, because the way in which they acted would be bound to reveal the people that they truly were.

False prophets still exist today. When we see religious leaders who are only out to make money, or to gain a reputation and a following, we need to be suspicious. When we see anger, rudeness, selfishness and divisiveness we are bound to ask where those actions come from. As Jesus said: “every good tree bears good fruit, but a bad tree bears bad fruit” (Matthew 7:17).

Question – How would you spot a false prophet?

Prayer – Lord Jesus Christ, thank You for warning us about the dangers that we might face and for giving us Your Spirit to give us wisdom and strength as we confront them. Amen

Matthew 7:12 In everything, do to others what you would have them do to you, for this sums up the Law and the Prophets.

This statement is often known as The Golden Rule. The Jews were familiar with something like this but always in the negative form. Only Jesus expressed the rule positively. That is to say, we are not merely to stop thieving, lying and killing but to go out of our way to love, care and encourage. And the reason for living in this way is that surely this is exactly how we would like other people to treat us.

Jesus plainly saw this simple and clear rule as a summary of His Sermon on the Mount. This principle should be shaping the way in which we live day by day. So our first task is to decide how we like to be treated. It would be excellent if you could take some time today to make a list of the things that are important for you. If you want to be loved, respected and listened to then that’s exactly the way in which you need to act towards others. It’s as simple as that!

The Golden Rule is very similar to the command to love our neighbours as we love ourselves. That is to say we need to start our thinking by reflecting on ourselves. This isn’t a command to be selfish! It is only selfish if the thinking stops with us. Having done our thinking about what we enjoy and appreciate we are then in the position to reach out in love to those around us.

Question – What do you want other people to do for you?

Prayer – Lord God, help me to love others in the way that I want to be loved. Amen

Matthew 7:11 - If you, then, though you are evil, know how to give good gifts to your children, how much more will your Father in heaven give good gifts to those who ask him!

Some years ago I was travelling on a bus in Israel and heard some amazing pan-pipe music. I spoke to the driver and told him how much I enjoyed it. Without a moment’s hesitation he took the cassette tape out of the machine and handed it to me, insisting that I receive it as a gift. I was quite embarrassed and insisted that he should keep it. He wouldn’t hear of it. It was now mine because I had liked it so much. Moments of generosity like that are a great blessing aren’t they? Our reading today tells us that that is the nature of God. He is always generous. He can’t wait for the opportunity to bless our lives. Jesus pointed out that no parent would give their child a stone if they asked for bread, or a snake if they asked for fish. Crazy and mixed up as we may be, we would never do those things. We want to bless our children and, Jesus says, God is exactly the same. He is looking for the opportunity to bless our lives.

When we are convinced of God’s generosity it will massively affect our prayers. Instead of coming to God with fear and anxiety, we can come to him with confidence and joy. We will pray knowing that God is delighted to hear our prayers and looking forward to us working with Him to receive and share His blessings.

Question – In what ways have you experienced God’s generosity?

Prayer – Lord God, thank You for all the ways in which You have been generous to me. Amen

Matthew 7:3 “Why do you look at the speck of sawdust in your brother’s eye and pay no attention to the plank in your own eye?”

Jesus uses this comical illustration to press home His teaching about being judgemental. Jesus isn’t suggesting that other people’s inadequacies aren’t real. They do indeed get lots of things wrong. But He encourages us to look at ourselves and recognise that our failings may be much greater than the little failings of others. He isn’t saying that we should stop identifying the specks in other people’s eyes but that we should start by becoming far more self-aware.

How well do you know yourself? It is very easy for all of us to develop annoying habits and attitudes which are so deeply embedded that we are totally unaware of them. When someone points out that we are a little short of perfection, we shrug our shoulders and conclude that people just need to “take us as they find us”. Jesus suggests that this isn’t good enough. We need to let His light shine into our lives so that our shortcomings are revealed, and He can set us free from them in the power of the Spirit.

Jesus urges us not to judge people harshly because if we do so then that will be the way that He judges us. Don’t go there! We need to be constantly aware of our failings and in that way we will be always be gentle and gracious when we seek to help other people.

Question – What might be the log in your own eye?

Prayer – Lord God our Father I confess that I have sinned against You. Forgive me for those times when I have been so quick to see the failings of others and totally unaware of my own shortcomings. Amen

Matthew 6:26-27. Look at the birds of the air; they do not sow or reap or store away in barns, and yet your heavenly Father feeds them. Are you not much more valuable than they? Can any one of you by worrying add a single hour to your life?

The most useless thing that you can say to a person who is worrying is: “Don’t worry.” No doubt it is meant kindly, but you are actually increasing the person’s problems, because you have done nothing to stop their worrying and have now added a layer of guilt on top! I love Jesus’ approach. He tells His followers that they have no need to worry because God will provide for them. If He is able to look after the birds and the flowers, He can certainly cope with their problems. Trusting God is the answer. Worrying has never, and can never, build anything.

I do realise that those wise words don’t in themselves solve the problem. Worries will still come knocking at the door wanting to claim our attention. So what shall we do when the next worry turns up as it is bound to do? The best thing that we can do is to bring that worry to God in prayer. As we pray we are able to commit our concerns to God knowing that He knows the whole story. He knows all about our aches and pains, our passions, our frustrations, our hopes and our fears. Nothing is hidden from him and as we pray we can be sure that He longs to respond.

Question – What are you going to say when you are next tempted to say “don’t worry”?

Prayer – Lord God, thank You that You perfectly provide for my needs and that I have no need to worry. Amen