While there are several things in the first four chapters of Matthew's gospel that have challenged me over the years, this morning I was particularly struck by Matthew 4:4. This verse is one of Jesus' responses to the tempter, "It is written: 'Man does not live on bread alone, but on every word that comes from the mouth of God.'"
Simply put, there's nothing else that satisfies my soul like the Word of God. That's why I'm so encouraged to be embarking on this blogging journey with all of you. While I have had great success in sprinting through God's Word, I often finding myself struggling with the marathon. There is this continuing irony that I wrestle with in that I love digging into God's Word, but far too often I allow other things to squeeze that time out of my life. So instead of having time to dig, I simply grab some crumbs off the surface.
This morning the challenge for myself is to see this thing through, 90 days of consistency. Bread is food for the natural man, but the Word of God is food for the spiritual man. When I neglect spending time with the Lord in His Word, I end up embodying the very thing Paul said of some first century believers in 1 Corinthians 3:3, "Are you not acting like mere men?" I don't want to live like mere men do. I don't want to lead, to serve, to parent, or even play softball like mere men do. And the only way for that to happen is to daily surrender to the Lord, spending time with Him, and allowing His truth to renew my mind and form my character in His image.
What has God spoken to your heart through His Word today?
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After reading the first four chapters I realize that I had forgotten a lot of good stuff there in the beginning of Matthew. I get caught up too much sometimes at discounting what I would consider "basic" stuff. It was refreshing for me to read about how Jesus handled the temptation of the devil. He always had a response from the Word of God to combat the devil's temptations rather than relying on his own wisdom (although he had plenty!). I am guilty of being too independent in trying to fight temptations by myself rather than giving control over to God and asking for His help. For me, I'm going to continue to work on allowing the Word of God to become my defense rather than my own worthless intellect.
ReplyDeleteThe other thing I found noteworthy was that, in Matthew, the first thing that Jesus and John the Baptist both first preached about in public was to "Repent, for the kingdom of heaven is at hand." (chp. 3:2, 4:17) It must be pretty important if that is the first thing that both of them said!
I'm excited to start this study. It's just so good to grow in God's Word with other believers!