The 260 Journey

Day 22

Today’s Reading: Matthew 22

The Bible never says you have to believe with all your heart, even though it says you must believe in your heart. But when it comes to loving God—that must be done with all your heart.

I think God leaves room for the growing faith and doubts that come with belief. But when it comes to love, we can make a choice immediately. Love is our greatest weapon against sin.

Nineteenth-century Scottish theologian Thomas Chalmers wrote, “The only way to dispossess the heart of an old affection is through the expulsive power of a new one—the expulsive power of a new affection.”

How do you get rid of an old boyfriend? Get a bigger boyfriend. Jesus is the bigger boyfriend.

So when Jesus was asked about the greatest commandment, He did not start with, “Thou shall not . . .” or “Thou shall . . .” Jesus started with love. “Jesus declared, “Love the Lord your God with all your heart and with all your soul and with all your mind” (Matthew 22:37).

If you get loving God right, loving your neighbor is easy—because it all starts with God and loving Him.

So many people want to change today. Change must have a starting point. To change a life without first addressing the core becomes futile. To educate and to try to reprogram without dealing with the love issue is a dead end. Why?

What you love you will do. What you love you will sacrifice for. What you love you will make time for. If you love your boyfriend, you will sacrifice all to be with him. If you love baseball, you will find a way to play year-round or watch year-round. If you love your spouse, you will sacrifice to please him or her. Change starts with love. Change starts with asking the question, “What do I love most?” And the answer could startle us.

Jesus said, “Love the Lord your God with all your heart and with all your soul and with all your mind.” Everything self-corrects from there. To pursue Christianity without love does not last long. So, pray each day that you will love God with all your heart, soul, and mind. Because when you love, the other stuff naturally follows.

Start with love today. To try to change stuff without loving God is not change, it is conformity, and it won’t last long. A friend of C. S. Lewis asked him, “Is it easy to love God?” Lewis answered, “It is easy to those who do it.” Christianity is not easy for those who don’t love God but love church, love being moral, love the atmosphere. When you fall deeply in love, you want to please the Beloved. And that’s when real change will occur.

Day 21

Today’s Reading: Matthew 21

Theologian John Calvin said, “To know God as the Master and Bestower of all good things, who invites us to request them of Him, and still not go to Him and ask of Him—this would be of as little profit as for a man to neglect a treasure, buried and hidden in the earth, after it had been pointed out to him and he had the map.”

Jesus gave us a map and it’s called prayer. Right after Jesus spoke to a fig tree because it had no fruit, the “marveling” disciples asked, “How?” How did Jesus speak to that thing that was not producing fruit? And then Jesus revealed two treasure map verses:

Jesus answered and said to them, “Truly I say to you, if you have faith and do not doubt, you will not only do what was done to the fig tree, but even if you say to this mountain, ‘Be taken up and cast into the sea,’ it will happen. And all things you ask in prayer, believing, you will receive.
(Matthew 21:21-22)

All things you ask in prayer, believing . . . you will receive. There are only two hurdles to get over in order to get to receive: (1) you must ask and (2) you must believe. They seem simple but they are challenges we all face.

Hurdle #1: Asking

Statistics suggest the average Christian spends three to seven minutes a day in prayer. Our asking is limited today. If “asking” is what gets us to receive, we are not even asking very well.

C. S. Lewis may have captured the enemy’s plan for the Christian in his Screwtape Letters, a fictional letter of instruction to the demon Wormwood: “Interfere at any price and in any fashion when people start to pray, for real prayer is lethal to our cause.”

F. B. Meyer said it like this: “The greatest tragedy of life is not unanswered prayer, but unoffered prayer.” Let’s make a commitment to fight busyness and get to prayer.

Hurdle #2: Believing

There is a difference between believing someone and believing in someone. The first one deals with existence. The second deals with character and who they are.

To have faith in God is to believe He is and who He said He is.

Suppose you tell a friend you have faith in her. What does that mean? It means two things. First, you are sure the person you are talking to actually exists. And second, you are convinced she is trustworthy; you can believe what she says and trust in her character. Believing in prayer is believing who God said He is. Faith honors God and God honors faith. Faith cashes God’s checks. Faith in God will not get you everything you want, but it will get you everything God wants you to have.

Day 20

Today’s Reading: Matthew 20

Inevitably when someone well known dies, I get asked, “Do you think that person is in heaven?” Before I respond, I always think of John Newton, the eighteenth-century former slave ship captain who became an abolitionist and clergyman. He said, “If I ever reach heaven I expect to find three wonders there: first, to meet some I had not thought to see there; second, to miss some I had expected to see there; and third, the greatest wonder of all, to find myself there.”

With that thought in mind, I tell the person a story:

“Let’s say you knew a guy named Rudy who was from the worst part of town. Rudy grew up with no father and no discipline in the home, and from an early age he got in trouble with the law. As a kid, he stole candy; by the time he was a teenager, he’d worked up to stealing cars. Into his early adulthood, he broke into people’s homes. During one break-in, he discovered the residents at home and he killed them. He got convicted and sentenced to death. You also knew the people he killed, so you attended the execution. You saw him enter the room, then walk behind a curtain for his execution. Question: Does that thief who killed those people go to heaven?”

The person always responds, “Of course not. I knew him till the end. He didn’t repent.”

But then I add a twist and change the scenario.

“Okay,” I tell the person. “On that day three executions were scheduled simultaneously in that room. Rudy and one other man were thieves. The third was a deranged man who claimed He was God. Just before Rudy died, he had a conversation with the so-called deranged man, in which he heard something about paradise and he accepted the man at His word. Did he go to heaven?”

The person typically knows the “right” answer: that Rudy went to heaven. But I can see the confusion and frustration on the person’s face, especially because of the sins Rudy committed. Inevitably, the person is grappling with the fairness of it all.

Surely, he can’t be in heaven, the person thinks. He was a thief and a murderer. How is that fair?

And yet this twist in the story is not made up. It happened at Calvary. A life of sin and selfishness was altered in seconds—all because the thief talked to the Middle Man.

Jesus is our middle man—the one whose sacrifice made a way for us to go to heaven. No matter who the person is or what they have done, on the day they die, they enter heaven and walk on streets of gold.

Before that scene at Calvary even happened, Jesus prepared us for the reality of salvation with this parable, what we call a little story with a big meaning, which comes from today’s reading, in Matthew 20:1–16.

Jesus compared the kingdom of heaven to a vineyard owner who hired workers early in the morning and agreed to pay them a certain amount of money, a denarius, for their day’s wages.

Around midmorning, the vineyard owner caught sight of some others who were loitering in the marketplace, so he offered them work and set wages to tend to his vineyard. He rounded up more workers at noon, at midafternoon, and in the early evening, offering the same work for a set wage.

At quitting time, the owner directed his foreman to summon the workers, starting with the last group, and to pay them their wages. Each group received a denarius. By the time the foreman summoned the first group who had worked all day, they believed they should receive more wages because they had worked longer. And yet the foreman handed each person a denarius.

The men in the first group complained to the owner, saying it wasn’t fair that the last group of men, who only worked a brief time, received the same amount they received. “We worked harder and longer. We dealt with the heat of the day! How is this fair?”

But the owner explained that he wasn’t being unfair. They had agreed to work for the set amount. “I want to give the one who was hired last the same as I gave you. Don’t I have the right to do what I want with my own money? Or are you envious because I am generous?”

Jesus ended his parable by saying, “So the last will be first, and the first will be last” (see Matthew 20:1-16).

I was born again at a very young age, so I am part of that first group of workers Jesus talked about. And one day my payment will be heaven and eternal life.

Others are part of the last group, what I call the eleventh-hour person. They won’t work as long as I and others in the earlier groups have worked. But here’s their payment: heaven and eternal life. They will receive that payment even if they repent of their sins and accept Jesus mere moments before they take their final breath. They receive exactly the same payment.

How is that fair? You may think. You’ve worked hard, lived a good life, followed all the rules, so how is it fair that some guy who lived a terrible life gets the same reward when he seeks forgiveness within moments of his death?

Jesus explains that the reward is given because God is generous.

So, if you are wondering about the eternal destination of a friend whom you knew to be hardened toward God for all of his life, wait to pass that judgment. You don’t know what happened in the eleventh hour, you don’t know if the Holy Spirit got through to him. Remember that a thief got into heaven in the eleventh hour. Your friend may have that same experience. All because of God’s amazing generosity.

Day 19

Today’s Reading: Matthew 19

J. C. Ryle wrote, “The highest form of selfishness is a man content to go to heaven alone.” I don’t ever want to be content to go to heaven alone. I want to take as many as I can with me. But I have some hard cases in my relationship circle that need a miracle. I bet you do too. If you know someone who needs to be saved, fortunately, today’s reading in Matthew 19 gives us hope.

Listen to what Jesus said about God: “With people this is impossible, but with God all things are possible” (verse 26).

With God all things are possible. All things! This is a powerful promise, because of what this verse is connected to. It is a response to a question, which makes this amazing verse even more amazing. It follows after Jesus personally invited a very rich young and powerful man known as the rich young ruler to follow Him. But the man refused. Let’s look at the story in context:

Jesus said to him, “If you wish to be complete, go and sell your possessions and give to the poor, and you will have treasure in heaven; and come, follow me.” But when the young man heard this statement, he went away grieving; for he was one who owned much property. And Jesus said to His disciples, “Truly I say to you, it is hard for a rich man to enter the kingdom of heaven.” (verses 21-23)

And then came the question: “When the disciples heard this, they were very astonished and said, ‘Then who can be saved?’” (verse 25).

They were probably thinking of others who needed to follow Jesus, and asked this profound question. Our question will be more like this: “Will my mother, my father, my family ever get saved?” And the answer to that question is . . .

With God all things are possible!

Who do you want to be saved? Who have you been praying for? Over their name declare: “With God all things are possible.”

Those words are for your unsaved loved ones every time you think there is no way. That is the context that gives hope for us who have people we really want to become Christians. Think of the hardest case and the most helpless condition and then announce to hell and Satan, “With God all things are possible!”

Corrie ten Boom said it like this: “If all things are possible with God, then all things are possible to him who believes in Him.”

If God is all you have, then you have all you need.

Day 18

Today’s Reading: Matthew 18

When I was working toward my undergrad degree in corporate finance, the students would say cash is king. When I was doing my graduate work in theology, the students would say context is king.

So many Bible verses get their punch from context, not from a denominational bent. One of those punchy passages is in Matthew 18. I couldn’t tell you how many prayer meetings I have attended where not many people showed up and the pastor said, “All I know is that Jesus said where two or three are gathered together there I am in that place.”

I have this sneaky suspicion that Jesus was not giving us a sentence we can use when we have bad attendance—where we just quote Matthew 18:20, and everyone is content and off the hook.

Let’s be honest, the Bible is full of people who met God by themselves and not with two or three people.

But context is king. This verse ends Jesus’ huge thought on fixing a broken relationship. Listen to the verses connected with it:

If your brother sins, go and show him his fault in private; if he listens to you, you have won your brother. But if he does not listen to you, take one or two more with you, so that by the mouth of two or three witnesses every fact may be confirmed. If he refuses to listen to them, tell it to the church . . . For where two or three have gathered together in My name, I am there in their midst. (Matthew 18:15-17, 20)

Two important thoughts:

1. It’s interesting that Jesus used the word church only twice in the entire Bible. One was in the chapter before when He said the gates of hell can’t prevail against His church. And second, when dealing with broken relationships. Devils and broken relationships . . . think about that—two of the church’s biggest enemies.

2. In the powerful context of two or three being gathered, I believe Jesus was saying more than encouraging us when there’s bad attendance. He was saying, “When you choose to fix a relationship in My house, and do it the right way, I want you to know that when you get the parties in the room, My presence plans on being there.” What an incredible promise.

The Bible reminds us over and over that we not only need God in our lives, we need people to be part of our lives as well. God wired us that way and designed life in such a way that life works better with people rather than in isolation. Relational isolation is especially dangerous. Just because it’s difficult doesn’t mean we give up on community.

To be certain, important and vital relationships, though they bring joy to our lives, can also have the potential of bringing pain and conflict. Conflict in and of itself is not bad, but unresolved conflict is. Unresolved conflict creates a toxic environment.

I think that’s why Peter responds to Jesus’ words with this question: “Lord, how often shall my brother sin against me and I forgive him? Up to seven times?” (verse 21).

Jesus didn’t let him off the hook. He told him, “I do not say to you, up to seven times, but up to seventy times seven” (verse 22).

Remember this math equation that Jesus brought up, seventy times seven?

It has to do with forgiveness. It’s connected to how often should I forgive my brother. Sounds like everyone has an account of 490 offenses with each other. I think C. S. Lewis gave the best insight on this idea: “We need to forgive our brother seventy times seven not only for 490 offenses but for one offense.”

To forgive for the moment is not difficult. But to go on forgiving, to forgive the same offense again every time it recurs to the memory—there’s the real tussle.

We forgive . . . and a week later some chain of thought carries us back to the original offense, and we discover the old resentment blazing away again. And we forgive again.

Wow, what an insight! Seventy times seven is not forgiving 490 different offenses but forgiving one offense 490 times. Forgiving over and over when our mind is plagued.

When the two or three whom Jesus is talking about try to work out an issue between them, Jesus says in essence, “Plan on Me being in attendance, because this is really important.” Jesus is not only committed to your relationship with Him, He is committed to healthy relationships with the others who are in your life, even if it takes 490 times to get it right and resolved inside and out.