I read something neat the other day, and it said this: “When God blesses you, don’t raise your standard of living—raise your standard of giving.”I love that! It shows an understanding of the true purp...  Read More

Forgiveness is such a key component of our walk with God. We must be willing to extend the same forgiveness we have received from Him. In matters of prayer, Jesus often instructs us to examine our hea...  Read More

I love how Jesus continues to subtly tell us what we are supposed to be doing. For instance, notice His use of the word when instead of if. We are supposed to give, as mentioned yesterday, and we are ...  Read More

Matthew 6 continues Jesus’ Sermon on the Mount—a lengthy teaching that began with the Beatitudes and carries on through chapter 7 of Matthew. Today’s devotional focuses on giving to the needy.Jesus is...  Read More

Jesus closes out Matthew chapter 5 with one of the most difficult commands—to love our enemies. It is when we show love to those who spitefully use us that we truly reflect our Father. Is that not exa...  Read More

Jesus certainly shows us a different way than the world presents. It often seems only fair to operate by the “eye for an eye” principle—sometimes with interest—but we are called to be like our Father ...  Read More

God holds us to our words. Words are powerful, carrying the power of life and death within them. Being a person of integrity requires that our words and our actions align. We are to be people of our w...  Read More

God takes covenant very seriously, and God hates divorce. Divorce is not to be considered for just any reason, even though this seemed to be a custom at certain points in the Old Testament. Jesus clar...  Read More

Jesus goes after matters of the heart once again. In this case, He addresses the sin of lust and adultery. Notice that it is not only “acted” lust but also “thought” lust that is condemned. Jesus make...  Read More

Anger always leads to bad things. As Yoda said in Star Wars, “Anger leads to the dark side.”This passage of Scripture is especially relevant today, as there have been all kinds of riots and demonstrat...  Read More

Jesus tells us not to misunderstand His purpose in coming. He would not have said this unless there were already people who misunderstood why He had come. Some were even expecting Him to overthrow the...  Read More

We are called to make a difference in the world we live in and have been given a mandate to go and make disciples of all nations. Here, Jesus uses two powerful analogies: we are to be like salt and li...  Read More