The Savior Comes, Day 18 Sharing our blessings. Read Matthew chapter 18. This story has always been an interesting one to me. The man receives a blessing. His debts are erased and he is forgiven. However, when he has the opportunity to do the same for another person, he doesn’t share that blessing with others. When God blesses us, do we share that blessing? Do we bring others along with us and help them to experience the same blessing of God that we experience? We should not be stingy with the blessing of God in our lives. We are to share with others.

The Savior Comes, Day 17 Listen to Him! Read Matthew chapter 17. God speaks to the disciples and identifies exactly who Jesus and exactly how they should respond to him. They are to listen to Jesus. We may truly understand that Jesus is the Son of God, but does that knowledge translate into action? Do we actually listen to what he says and do what he tells us? If we truly believe that Jesus is the Son of God then why do our actions so often not line up with that belief? We are to make our decisions based on his leading and direction in our life. How are we…

The Savior Comes, Day 16 Do we recognize the Savior? Read Matthew chapter 16. If we say that we follow the Savior, would we know him when we saw him? The people were talking about Jesus. The entire community was very taken with everything this amazing man was doing. But they didn’t know who he was. So Jesus asked his disciples. Peter gives the monumental statenent made in verse 16. When we are asked who Jesus is, how do we respond? Do we recognize the Savior and his holiness? Do we share who he is with others? When we are given the oppretty to share and testify to who Jesus…

The Savior Comes, Day 15 Where are our hearts? Read Matthew chapter 15. Throughout this chapter, Jesus has several run-ins with the Pharisees and others who don’t believe in him. Jesus quotes this verse from Isaiah about these people. Jesus explains that they are honoring him with their lips but their hearts are far from him. God sees our heart and he knows whether what we are saying is actually what we mean or not. God wants to know where our hearts are? God wants our heart to truly be reflected in everything that we say and do. When we say that we love God and seek to honor and…

The Savior Comes, Day 14 What are we bringing to Jesus? Read Matthew chapter 14. Reading the familiar story of the feeding of the 5000, it’s interesting to see that there is a distinction between what the disciples have, and what they bring to Jesus. They tell Jesus what they have, but there is a separate moment where they have to actually bring it to him. What we are offering Jesus? Do we bring it to him? Are we offering to him everything that he has asked of us? What has Jesus asked of us? Are we just telling Jesus what we have to offer, or are we actually offering…

The Savior Comes, Day 13 The good and the bad together. Read Matthew chapter 13. As Jesus is telling the parables, he shares the story of the weeds and the wheat growing together. He explains that they cannot pull out the evil ones without damaging the wheat, so he allows the good and the bad to grow together. We a witness to the rest of the world. However, we also are growing with the good and bad together. We have to learn how to grow in spite of the evil that we are around. We must continue to be the light to the world and to grow in Christ, no…

The Savior Comes, Day 12 What fruit are you producing? Read Matthew chapter 12. When we think about trees and the fruit that they produce, we often think of the good types of fruit that we enjoy eating. A tree that produces delicious fruit is a joy and a treasure to have around. However, there are trees that do not produce good fruit. The trees become diseased or something else happens and the fruit is destroyed in the process. When we think about what we do on a daily basis, what types of fruit are in our lives? What is visible in our lives? Often times when a tree is…

The Savior Comes, Day 11 Rest. Read Matthew chapter 11. Today, the idea of rest really resonates with me. While I am getting enough sleep at night, my time awake during the day has not felt very restful. Lots of things are going on, and I feel pulled in many different directions with lots of different responsibilities all piling up. There’s nothing wrong with feeling that way because that means that I am passionate about the things I do during the day, and that I want to continue to do them well. However, God is not a God of stress. God wants us to rest in him. No matter what…

The Savior Comes, Day 10 Be careful what you are afraid of. Read Matthew chapter 10. Jesus is sending out his disciples. Throughout this chapter, Jesus tells his disciples to go and do what he has been doing among the people. The disciples are to heal the sick and to forgive sins and to teach the people what Jesus has been teaching them. However, he acknowledges that they will be afraid. There were going to be times and places where people were not going to like them and they would be called names and persecuted. Jesus reminds them that if people did that to him, they will do that to…

The Savior Comes, Day 9 It’s time for the harvest. Read Matthew chapter 9. As we read through this chapter and we see the many miracles of Jesus, it’s interesting to think about the fact that Jesus saw the harvest as plentiful. There were so many people who questioned what he did or didn’t understand why he was doing what he was doing, yet Jesus still saw this as a time of plentiful harvest. As we look around us, we see so many people who don’t understand God and who are in some ways even going against what God has said, but yet the harvest is still plentiful now just…