February 1 Stop and Remember
In verses 13 through 20, we have learned more about each of us being a child of God.
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A love relationship with God is the foundation not only of faith, but of a life in the kingdom of heaven.
Our character, the “who” that is our self, is secure within the borders of God’s kingdom. Life from a kingdom perspective shows the glass is not just half-full, but that it is refillable.
That life with its messiness still happens is only for a time.
February 2 Missing the Kingdom of Heaven…
Matthew 5:21 “You have heard that it was said to those of old, ‘You shall not murder, and whoever murders will be in danger of the judgment.’ 22 But I say to you that whoever is angry with his brother without a cause shall be in danger of the judgment. And whoever says to his brother, ‘Raca!’ (‘Fool’) shall be in danger of the council…..”
That the Pharisees and scribes obeyed the law against murder is no surprise. That law is standard throughout the world.
Do you think that when you don’t kill someone that they will know that you love them? Of course not.
Jesus says that calling someone an unkind name is as bad as murder because both show that love is missing. He is saying that if you think only murdering a person is a crime, and other hurtful thinks are OK, then you should think about it again.
When we call someone a bad name, everyone, including God, knows that we are not showing love.
The other person may call us a bad name back. So now we are both unhappy. We are without love, joy, peace, and the other fruit of the Spirit.
Jesus has been telling us how to be blessed, but here He is telling us what will keep us from being blessed.
What do you think about being joyful and at peace instead of angry and hurtful?
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If we think there are degrees of sin, the worse sins just moving us a little further away from God, perhaps Jesus is telling us to reconsider this perspective.
Jesus tells us that murder and calling another person a bad name – killing the character of the other person – have the same effect on us. As we break the bond of love with another person, we destroy our own oneness with the Father.
It is impossible for the other person to make us respond a particular way. Each person is responsible for their own choices. Our freedom to choose our response is always with the self.
Let’s look more closely at the consequences of murder of the body and murder of the name.
February 3 And Landing in a Mess
Matthew 5:21 “You have heard that it was said to those of old, ‘You shall not murder, and whoever murders will be in danger of the judgment.’ 22 But I say to you that whoever is angry with his brother without a cause shall be in danger of the judgment. And whoever says to his brother, ‘Raca!’ (‘Fool’) shall be in danger of the council. But whoever says, ‘You fool!’ shall be in danger of hell fire.”
Jesus says that anyone who murders another person will be judged for this act. He also says that calling another person a bad name will be judged. The translators say the punishment for guilt is “hell fire.”
Remember that God is love, and Jesus is showing God’s love. So let us try to understand what Jesus is saying using the example of His time on earth.
The word translated as “hell” is Gehenna, also called the Valley of Hinnom. Once upon a time, this valley had been a place where sacrifices were made to other gods. By the time of Jesus, it was a place where trash from Jerusalem was taken and burned.
Gehenna was a smelly, dirty place. No one would want to live there.
Jesus is saying that if we murder someone or even call them a bad name, we destroy the beauty of our own life.
Instead of the fruit of the Spirit, like love, joy, and peace, we will have the opposite, the fruit of the flesh. This includes things like hatred, selfishness, and anger.
Jesus wants us to enjoy life, and this is by having the fruit of the Spirit. If we turn away from God and the Holy Spirit, we choose to make others unhappy and ourselves unhappy.
What are the things that let you know that you are blessed by God?
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The Jewish Temple, with the Most Holy Place of God inside, was on the top of Mount Zion in Jerusalem.
Gehenna, the Valley of Hinnom, was at the lowest place below Mount Zion. We have “heaven above and hell below,” at least, figuratively.
Jesus is speaking figuratively that we will live in hell as we murder – or slander – other people. We separate ourselves from unity with God to our own detriment.
Why should there be a hell waiting for us when we are fully capable of creating that unpleasantness ourselves?
February 4 Do Not Be Afraid
Matthew 5:22 “But I say to you that whoever is angry with his brother without a cause shall be in danger of the judgment. And whoever says to his brother, ‘Raca!’ (‘Fool’) shall be in danger of the council. But whoever says, ‘You fool!’ shall be in danger of hell fire.”
Many people do not understand when Jesus talks the way He does. We want to be sure what Jesus meant and not what other people think that He might have meant.
Jesus is not trying to make us afraid of a place called “hell.” Jesus does not use fear to make people do what they should do.
The words, “Do not be afraid” are used often in the Bible. We are not to fear God. We are to respect Him for the love that guides His power.
Jesus is telling us that we have a choice of a life of love, joy, and peace, or a life of hatred, selfishness, and anger. We can choose to be happy or not.
What happens outside of us may not be pleasant, and those things may not make us happy. But happiness – love, joy, and peace – come from inside us, from having the Holy Spirit within us.
We trust that God knows what is best for us and that the Holy Spirit will guide us.
What does trusting in God look like to you?
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2 Tim. 1:7 For God has not given us a spirit of fear, but of power and of love and of a sound mind.
The command, “Do not be afraid” (or “Fear not!”) reminds us that fear is a choice.
Fear is the natural reaction to a sudden perceived threat. In the light of faith and reason, fear will flee.
We must examine the cause of our fear as well as the nature of our hope.
February 5 Anger without a Cause
Matthew 5:22 “But I say to you that whoever is angry with his brother without a cause shall be in danger of the judgment….”
Has someone ever done something that was harmful to you or someone else and you got angry?
There was a good reason that you were angry, right?
Jesus knows that things will happen that quickly create anger in us. He saw the religious leaders saying things that were untrue about God and He became angry. He saw those same religious leaders hurting people with their words and actions, and He became angry.
Jesus understands our anger, but He also shows how to let that anger go away.
We ask for the Holy Spirit to guide our anger in the right direction and take it from us.
We may be able to tell the person who hurt someone that what they did was wrong. We may also be able to help the person who was hurt. Doing these things with love in our hearts lets us release the anger, lets it go away.
Sometimes we are not able to help either person. Then we ask that the Holy Spirit move on the hearts of both people so that each knows they are the children of God and they are loved. The Holy Spirit will help both people move toward love of each other if they will allow Him to work.
You probably remember a time when you were angry. When you are angry, what do you think the Holy Spirit would suggest that you do?
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We can be triggered by events to righteous anger. We saw this with Jesus, as when He was confronted with lies from the religious leaders about the character of God.
Something that violates the principle of love of God and other people is just cause for anger. This is an emotion that stirs us to action, to stop the hurt.
But this is not an emotional state in which to live for an extended time.
We release our anger by correcting what we have the ability to correct. We allow the other person the freedom to choose change, and we allow God to change what only He can change.
February 6 Love God and Other People
Matthew 5:23 “Therefore if you bring your gift to the altar, and there remember that your brother has something against you, 24 leave your gift there before the altar, and go your way. First be reconciled to your brother, and then come and offer your gift.”
We talked last time about when there is anger between ourselves and another person.
In these verses, Jesus is speaking of you bringing a gift to God. Perhaps you are bringing an offering or a prayer.
But you and another person are angry with each other. The love that should bring you together is not there.
Jesus says we were born to love God and each other. If we are not loving someone, then we are not obeying God’s law of love.
To make things right, we think about what it means to love someone else. We want what is best for them and care about their love, joy, and peace.
Jesus tells us to wait before we give our gift to God until after we have made peace with the other person.
What can you do to make things better when you have a disagreement with someone?
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Our oneness with God is fractured when our relationship with another person is fractured. We cannot be whole in ourselves or wholly (holy) with God.
Reconciliation with another person may be difficult. Care must be taken not to use force to come to unity on the issue. Force does not work in the long run.
We can control only our side of the relationship, and that is hard enough without trying to control their side, also.
February 7 Agreement
Matthew 5:25 “Agree with your adversary quickly, while you are on the way with him, lest your adversary deliver you to the judge, the judge hand you over to the officer, and you be thrown into prison. 26 Assuredly, I say to you, you will by no means get out of there till you have paid the last penny.”
When we agree with someone, we both think the same way on the subject. If we cannot agree, then we agree to disagree.
It may sound funny to say we agree to disagree. What this means is that we cannot be positively absolutely sure who is right. We respect each other enough to allow them to believe what they believe.
This is another way to show love. We do not want to agree with what we think is wrong, and neither do they. Maybe we will never know for sure who is correct. Or maybe one day we will discover that one of us is correct.
Until then, we love them as another child of God.
Have you and another person disagreed about something? How did you resolve the difference?
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We take care to resolve the issue with humility, for our own perspective may be wrong. We may need to meet in the middle with the other person, but we never compromise on what is true and just.
We may have to agree to disagree on this issue. This, too, is reconciliation.
February 8 Agree Quickly
Matthew 5:25 “Agree with your adversary quickly, while you are on the way with him, lest your adversary deliver you to the judge, the judge hand you over to the officer, and you be thrown into prison. 26 Assuredly, I say to you, you will by no means get out of there till you have paid the last penny.”
The sooner we come to agreement with our friend, the sooner we return to agreement with God and His law of love.
Jesus gives an example of why to agree quickly. The other person might have you arrested for saying bad things about them. Then the judge may agree and force you to pay a penalty.
“But it was just a misunderstanding,” you say. But the judge has ruled and says what amount of money you must pay or how long you will be in prison.
Jesus is saying that having something come between you and another person is like being in prison. Neither of you listens to the other. You are unwilling to agree. You are locked into a prison of disagreement. The prison is not loving.
That does not sound good, does it! We both want to be free.
How do you think you and another person can avoid this prison of disagreement?
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How many people are there with whom each of us is locked into the prison of disagreement?
Our feelings in these situations are not those of the fruit of the Spirit. This is our punishment, our penalty for remaining out of agreement.
“But there are times when we cannot come into agreement because the other person is wrong,” you say.
Yes, at least one of us is wrong in the argument. If we maintain a spirit of anger, we will both suffer the loss of the fruit of the Spirit whether we are right or wrong.
Maintaining anger beyond our ability to influence the situation in peace will destroy our own peace. We give it to God and the Holy Spirit.
February 9 Stop and Remember
Loving Your Neighbor
We have been learning about how to love one another.
The Law of the Ten Commandments says we are not to murder anyone.
When Jesus says, “But I say…” we know that He is going to give us a better understanding of God’s law of love.
Do you remember what Jesus said was as bad as actually killing someone?
Yes, even just calling them a bad name.
Jesus say that even if we only call the person a bad name, the spirit in our heart is as bad as murder. When we do not show love, we are acting like the person does not exist. If we call them a name, we are saying we wish they were not there.
When we have a disagreement with someone, we are not being at one with them. Loving them as God loves us and them.
Do we have the Holy Spirit inside us when we are angry with someone?
No, of course not.
It has been said that our words to others are to be as gifts to each other. Think of your words as little silver boxes with bows on them.
You like to receive presents, don’t you? And isn’t giving gifts fun, also?
What does it look like when two people are having this kind of conversation?
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We will not be able to come into agreement with every person we encounter. Even Jesus, filled with the fruit of the Spirit, could not make a friend of everyone He met. All He could do was to throw out a lifeline. He could not – would not – attempt to control whether they grasped hold or not.
We make friends of those who are willing. Let’s work on that first.
The harder lesson of how to treat those who reject us will come soon enough.
February 10 Missing the Kingdom…Again
Matthew 5:27 “You have heard that it was said to those of old, ‘You shall not commit adultery.’ 28 But I say to you that whoever looks at a woman to lust for her has already committed adultery with her in his heart.”
You have probably heard of adultery. When two people marry, they promise to love only each other as husband and wife. When a person does not keep this promise and does acts of love with another person as if they were married, it is called adultery.
The Ten Commandments tell men and women not to commit adultery. Jesus says that if you desire another person and have thoughts of being married to them, then you have committed adultery in your heart. He says having adultery in your heart is as bad as actually committing adultery.
There was a Commandment against murder, but Jesus said that just saying bad things about another person was as bad as committing murder.
There is a Commandment against adultery, but Jesus says that just thinking about committing adultery in your heart is as bad as actually committing adultery.
There is a pattern here. Do you see what Jesus is teaching with these two examples?
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We each wear a mask. The Greek word “persona” means mask, as worn by an actor. The personality is outward, but the character of the real person is hidden inside, beneath the mask. So it is in real life, also.
Jesus again calls out the hypocrisy of the religion of His era. While proclaiming obedience to the letter of the law, the people obedient to religion miss the relationship with God.
The Holy Spirit is our link, and Jesus is our example. The legal requirements are outside. The connection is inside.
February 11 What We Choose to See
Matthew 5:29 “If your right eye causes you to sin, pluck it out and cast it from you; for it is more profitable for you that one of your members perish, than for your whole body to be cast into hell.”
These statements sound, well, “gross” is probably the best word.
Knowing Jesus and the way He talks, we quickly realize that He does not really want you to pull out an eye. He wants us to think beyond just what the words of the law say. He wants us to think about the spirit of loving God and each other.
Think about the way we use words to compare things. You’ve probably heard this song: “You are my sunshine, my only sunshine. You make me happy when skies are gray.”
The song is saying that another person brightens your day. The song does not say the other person is really the sun, but only adds brightness to life like the sun.
Instead of pulling out an eye (literally), what if we pulled our eyes (figuratively) from watching things that are not of the fruit of the Spirit,
For example, watching a show that teaches that it is OK for people to be mean to each other is telling us something that is not true. We would not want someone to be mean to us, and we would lose a friend and be disobedient to God if we were mean to someone.
We pull our eyes away from things that will keep us from loving God and other people.
Where do your eyes go to see God’s love?
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Understanding figurative language – metaphor, simile, hyperbole, etc. – is important in understanding many of Jesus’ teachings. Children are gradually able to understand this concept better between approximately 6 and 12 years old. Help them with examples appropriate to their understanding and environment.
A wonderful side effect of this type of instruction is that we learn the concept better, as well….
February 12 What We Choose to Do
Matthew 5:30 “And if your right hand causes you to sin, cut it off and cast it from you; for it is more profitable for you that one of your members perish, than for your whole body to be cast into hell.”
After telling us to pluck out an eye that causes us to sin, Jesus tells us to cut off a hand that causes us to sin! Again, He is using a very extreme example to get our attention.
Does the eye decide where to look? And does the hand decide what it will do?
No, the mind tells the eye where to look and the hand what to do.
Jesus says we should not tell the eye to look at something that will hurt our relationships with God and other people. And we should not tell our hand to do something that will hurt our relationships with God and other people.
Jesus teaches us to think on those things that are good, like love, joy, and peace. And the Holy Spirit guides us to being love, joy, and peace.
When we see or do things that lead us away from love, joy, and peace, we should stop and listen to the Holy Spirit who will remind us of Jesus’ words.
When we do not feel like we love God or another person, how does it feel?
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Each moment we are making a choice on where to focus our attention. This is part of our God given freedom.
We choose for good - or not.
The mind tells the eye and hand what to do, but it is ultimately the heart that guides them all.
We are to have hearts of flesh, the hearts made to love, rather than hearts of stone, impervious to love and focused on the hardened self.
February 13 Landing in a Mess…Again!
Matthew 5:30 “And if your right hand causes you to sin, cut it off and cast it from you; for it is more profitable for you that one of your members perish, than for your whole body to be cast into hell.”
Jesus referred earlier to being in Gehenna, called hell (Matt. 5:22), and being thrown into prison (5:25). Jesus is not referring to real places. They are a way of describing how we can make our lives unpleasant.
In verses 29 and 30, Jesus again is describing how we can make our lives unpleasant. He describes how we can turn a blessed life of love, joy, and peace into a life of hatred, unhappiness, and conflict.
When we do not follow the law of love, the world becomes less pretty. Jesus compares it to living in Gehenna, the place where the city of Jerusalem took its trash in those days.
Jesus teaches us to learn how to live and love as God intended for us. We are to keep our eyes on the things that teach us of God’s love. We also are to tell our hands to do acts of love.
With the Holy Spirit in our hearts, we go with Jesus into the kingdom of heaven.
What does stepping into the kingdom of heaven look like or feel like?
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We can find many ways to separate ourselves from God and other people, to gradually lessen love. This is a choice, though it may be subconscious.
We choose what our senses – sight, touch, hearing, taste, and smell - will experience.
Some of these choices are made for us by accidents or other people. Sometimes, the city dump comes to us. Or we are thrown into it.
We then choose how we will respond.
The heart of stone chooses vengeance. The heart of love seeks the guidance of the Holy Spirit.
February 14 Divorce
Matthew 5:31 “Furthermore it has been said, ‘Whoever divorces his wife, let him give her a certificate of divorce.’ 32 But I say to you that whoever divorces his wife for any reason except sexual immorality causes her to commit adultery; and whoever marries a woman who is divorced commits adultery.”
We talked about adultery a few verses ago in verse 27. Jesus told us that thinking about breaking the promise made at our wedding to our wife or husband is as bad as actually breaking the promise.
Here Jesus is talking about divorce. Divorce is when people stop being married and become unmarried people again.
Jesus reminds us that we are not to break promises.
Jesus simply says that promises are serious. We are to love one another as husband and wife when we are married. When one or both people decide not to honor their wedding promise, they divorce.
Divorce is a hard thing for everyone. If your parents divorce, if they lose their love for one another, their love for you and your love for each of them does not change.
How does the connection of love of husband and wife look to you?
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Divorce is hard for adults. Each goes their separate way.
Divorce is hard for a child. They have no separate way, but still live in a house divided – maybe even two separate houses.
Which home is theirs?
Loss of love does not come overnight. When the signals of lost love begin, our natural response, and the best one, is to choose love.
February 15 Promises
Matthew 5:33 "You have also heard that people were told in the past, "Do not break your promise, but do what you have vowed to the Lord to do.' 37Just say "Yes' or "No' - anything else you say comes from the Evil One.”
Do you know what a promise is? Yes, a promise means that what you say is true.
What is the difference between these two statements?
“Mother, I will clean up my room this afternoon.”
“Mother, I promise I will clean up my room this afternoon.”
In the second example, you promise to clean up your room this afternoon. Does that mean that in the first example you did not mean that you will clean up your room this afternoon?”
When you say that you will clean up your room, then you will clean up your room, won’t you? Is there any reason that you have to add, “I promise?”
Jesus says that we are always to tell the truth and to do what we say we will do. When people know that we will do what we say we will do, we do not have to promise.
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Can someone tell you a lie for your own good?
There are many examples of lies being told but justified by the liar (well, isn’t that what I am if I do this?) for the ultimate good.
That we sometimes do not handle the truth well at times is itself true. Is it better to believe a lie?
And if we lie for the good of the other person, where is our own credibility, our own integrity (wholeness)?
Many such lies will be uncovered eventually. Do we become like the boy who cried wolf?
February 16 Being Truthful
Matthew 5:34 But now I tell you: do not use any vow when you make a promise. Do not swear by heaven, for it is God's throne; 35nor by earth, for it is the resting place for his feet; nor by Jerusalem, for it is the city of the great King. 36Do not even swear by your head, because you cannot make a single hair white or black. (When someone asks you a question) 37Just say "Yes' or "No' - anything else you say comes from the Evil One.”
Jesus is talking to some people who believe that you only have to tell the truth if you swear (promise) that you are telling the truth. Then how can you believe anything they say if they do not also say that they promise they are telling the truth?
There is a story about George Washington, the first president of the United States.
When George was six years old, his father gave him a small hatchet for his birthday. George liked the gift and tried it out – on his father’s cherry tree! When his father discovered that the tree was cut down, he became angry. He asked his son if he had done it. George bravely said, “I cannot tell a lie. I cut it down with my new hatchet.” Washington’s father gave his son a hug. He was happy because his son’s honesty was worth more than any tree.
Do you think George thought his father would punish him for chopping down the cherry tree?
Jesus says we must always give a truthful answer. Don’t we want other people to tell the truth when we ask them a question?
Can you draw a picture of what telling the truth looks like?
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Jesus says we must be in accordance with truth in our everyday lives, not only what we swear, but in our casual words, as well. Sometimes, the truth is unpleasant - maybe even, “often.”
Perhaps truth is the essence that unifies all of Creation. The apparent randomness of quantum physics and the existence of black holes defy the logic of the physical world. But they are true, at least, to the extent that we understand them.
Perhaps “Truth” lies on a higher plane.
February 17 The Evil One
Matthew 5:37 (When someone asks you a question) “Just say "Yes' or "No' - anything else you say comes from the Evil One.”
These verses about telling the truth, about being honest with other people, tells us there is an “evil one,” someone who is not truthful, someone who lies.
Let’s tell a picture story and imagine an example of these verses.
I knock a glass off of the kitchen table. It falls and breaks on the floor. No one sees the accident or hears the glass break. Someone comes into the kitchen, sees the broken glass on the floor, and asks, “Who did this?”
Something in me says I should act innocent so I can escape blame for the accident.
Another voice in my head says that I should be honest and tell what really happened.
A cartoon might show an angel on one shoulder telling me to be honest and the devil on the other shoulder telling me to lie.
The choice is up to me. If I lie, can I blame the devil because I chose to lie?
How would you answer the question – can you blame the devil for what you do? Why?
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After eating the forbidden fruit in the Garden, Eve blamed the serpent and Adam blamed Eve. He actually blamed God because God created Eve.
How did casting blame for their own choices work for them?
Blaming others for our choices never improves the situation. We may escape consequences for the moment, but the first lie is the beginning of a list that we must defend for the rest of our lives.
As we focus on the example of Jesus, a teller of truth even in the face of death, we see He takes truth seriously.
Jesus preached and lived to show us heaven on earth. Circumstances do not change the character required of a citizen of heaven and a child of God.
February 18 Stop and Remember
Choices
We make choices. We choose to see something with our eyes or to do something with our hands. We choose what to think in our minds.
When we choose to let our eyes and hands and thoughts be guided by the Holy Spirit, we will have the fruit of the Spirit. We will experience love and joy and peace.
When we choose to let our eyes and hands and thoughts go away from the guidance of the Holy Spirit and the examples that Jesus gave us, our lives will not be full of love and joy and peace.
In fact, when we do not have this love and joy and peace, our lives will become very unpleasant. Jesus compares such a life to living in the city dump – not a happy place to live!
Choosing to tell the truth is another important choice. When we are known to always tell the truth, people can trust what we say, But if we sometimes lie, how will they know when we are telling the truth?
When people cannot trust us to tell the truth, we find ourselves in te smelly, dirty city dump again!
Jesus says when we answer someone “yes” or “no”, (remember George Washington and the cherry tree story?), we are to give a truthful answer, even when it seems hard to tell the truth.
How do you want to feel in the place that you live? What does it look like?
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The freedom to choose is both a gift and a responsibility.
Only when we learn to shoulder that responsibility, take it seriously, will we be able to reap the consequences of our choices and enjoy them without remorse.
There is ab “everlasting” effect to the choices we make. This is not only the direct consequences flowing from our choices, but also the effects on our relationships with God and other people.
February 19 An Eye for an Eye
Matthew 5:38 “You have heard that it was said, ‘An eye for an eye and a tooth for a tooth.’”
This was a common belief when Jesus lived, that whatever a person did to you, then you could do the same back to them. If they hit you in the eye, you could hit them in the eye. If they knocked out your tooth, you knocked out one of theirs.
At first, that sounds fair, doesn’t it? If they hit us, we hit them back. If they call us a name, we call them a name.
Do you get the feeling that Jesus is going to tell us something different, that He will say, “But I tell you…” the opposite?
Think about it. If another person does something that is wrong, does that make it right for us to do the same wrong thing?
Does someone else doing the wrong thing make it right for us to do the wrong thing?
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In a lawless society, basic laws are a step in the right direction, as with the Ten Commandments.
If a person kills your cow, and you kill their child in retaliation, you have escalated the injustice. You have done a greater wrong than they have done, and they owe you an additional wrong to make things even. Or they may choose to kill you and your whole family.
A law that sets equal penalty for wrong doing is a step forward from ever increasing levels of wrong doing.
This is primitive justice. We know that Jesus wants to move us toward love of God and the people He created.
And Jesus will tell us – and show us – how to do that.
February 20 Turn the Other Cheek
Matthew 5:38 “You have heard that it was said, ‘An eye for an eye and a tooth for a tooth.’ 39 But I tell you not to resist an evil person. But whoever slaps you on your right cheek, turn the other to him also.”
Yes, Jesus tells us to react to the violence of the other person in a different way doesn’t He?
When the other person acts badly, they expect us to act badly. But what if we don’t do something that is wrong just because they did it?
If they call us a name, we call them a name. If they push us, we will push back. If they hit us, we will hit them. You see, it keeps getting worse when we repay evil with evil.
What if we choose not to fight? What if we choose not to call them bad names or to hit them?
There is a good chance that the fight will stop there.
One wrong doing leads to another. Jesus says, “Stop it! Do not do wrong things.”
What do you think will happen if we do not hit back but are peaceful?
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In the Law of Moses, judges were counseled to give fair judgment. The example of “eye for eye, tooth for tooth” is given in Ex. 21:22-26 (and Lev. 24:20 and Deut. 19:21).
Under the teaching of the Pharisees, this guidance for the judges was extended to all citizens. The role of judge and executioner (so to speak) was given to those who were not in the position to judge.
The Ten Commandments were in the Ark of the Covenant. Covering the Ark was the Mercy Seat. The Pharisees did not teach the significance of this visual aid.
February 21 Winning and Losing
Matthew 5:39 “But I tell you not to resist an evil person. But whoever slaps you on your right cheek, turn the other to him also.”
When a person gets hit, there is a natural feeling to want to hit back, to defend themselves, right? Jesus shows us a better way than fighting back.
When a fight begins, you wonder who will win, don’t you? One person wins, so that means the other person loses.
No one wants to lose, do they?
What if a fight begins, but then no one loses? If neither one loses, that means they both win.
When Jesus was hit (John 18:22-23), He showed self-control, one of the fruit of the Spirit. Jesus simply asked why the guard struck Him since He had done nothing wrong. Anyone watching this scene agrees that Jesus has not done anything wrong to the guard.
The guard does not hit Jesus again. Jesus is still at peace with everyone, even the guard. Peace is another fruit of the Spirit.
We’ll see in the next few verses that Jesus still loves everyone, even those who treat Him badly, like the guard.
This is how everyone wins.
There are times when we must take action to stop serious harm to ourselves or other people. That is a lesson for another day.
Are there people you find hard to love?
**
Jesus is preaching that the cycle of violence must be stopped. Courage is required to withstand such attacks, but peace is the reward. Jesus modeled this during His ministry right through His final hours (John 18:22-23).
Note: even Jesus would acknowledge that we are to protect the weak from harm. Had the Good Samaritan come upon the robbers in the act of beating the Jewish man, he surely would have intervened to protect the man.
Yes, Jesus is our model. We find following His example is hard, but only as hard as it was for Him.
February 22 Yielding
Matthew 5:40 "If anyone wants to sue you and take your shirt, let him have your coat also. 41 Whoever forces you to go one mile, go with him two. 42 Give to him who asks of you, and do not turn away from him who wants to borrow from you.” (NASB)
Jesus gives three quick examples of other people wanting something from us:
In today’s three examples, Jesus is showing us how to act in love using the fruit of the Spirit again.
One of the most famous sayings of Jesus is that you should “treat people the same way you want them to treat you” (Luke 6:31 NASB).
Jesus’ answer in these three examples is to give to people what they need, and more if you are able! No one can give another person everything they want, but perhaps they are able to give what another person needs.
Can you draw a picture of the fruit of the Spirit of love in action?
**
Notice that there are four different levels of interaction here: brutal force, legal force, military force, and a request.
We could go into all of the specifics of these last three examples as we did with the first example. We could look at them relative to Jesus’ time and then bring these examples to our time.
Or we could imagine other examples like these four.
But the point is to learn the principle Jesus is teaching and apply it to our own lives now.
How does a person respond with the fruit of the Spirit in each situation?
February 23 Win-Win
Matthew 5:40 "If anyone wants to sue you and take your shirt, let him have your coat also. 41 Whoever forces you to go one mile, go with him two. 42 Give to him who asks of you, and do not turn away from him who wants to borrow from you.” (NASB)
We read a couple of days ago that when someone hits me, I am to turn the other cheek and let the person hit me again.
When I am hit, it looks like the other person is winning and I am losing.
When I do not hit back, it looks like there is not a fight.
If there is not a fight, it sounds like both people are winners!
The other examples that Jesus gives are to show us other ways to create more winners.
When we treat others the same way that we want to be treated, we are following Jesus’ example. As more people follow His example, we have more and more winners.
Can you think of a way for another person and you to both be winners?
**
Everyone wants to be a winner, to come out of the contest on top.
This implies there must be a loser, a person on the bottom.
As long as we participate in win-lose activities, we will be creating a few winners on top and a mass of losers on the bottom. The ones in between are as much “losers” as the people at the bottom when compared with the very top.
More than 99% of us settle for being “losers” as long as we keep playing the game this way.
Think about that….
February 24 Love Your Enemy
Matthew 5:43 “You have heard that it was said, ‘You shall love your neighbor and hate your enemy.’ 44 But I say to you, love your enemies, bless those who curse you, do good to those who hate you, and pray for those who spitefully use you and persecute you,….”
God loves you. God loves me. God loves each one of us because He is the one who created us.
Sometimes people speak bad words of God or even deliberately act badly toward Him. He still loves them. They are not having joyful lives, and God understands that. He wants to show them a happier way to live.
When Jesus was crucified, He forgave those who crucified Him. He showed the same love His Father showed, love even for His enemies.
When someone is unkind to us, we find it hard to love them. But we follow Jesus’ example. We help them to know they are loved as God’s children, if we can.
Sometimes we have to stay away from them for our own safety, but that does not mean we don’t pray for them to find a more joyful way to live.
You do not have to name anyone, but is there someone for whom you want to pray?
**
There is no place in the Old Testament that says we are to hate our enemies. This false statement is an addition of the interpreters to God’s word.
In fact, there are numerous places that say the opposite:
Ex. 23:4-5 4 “If you meet your enemy’s ox or his donkey going astray, you shall surely bring it back to him again….”
Prov. 25:21 If your enemy is hungry, give him bread to eat;
And if he is thirsty, give him water to drink;
And more, such as Job 31:29-30, Prov. 24:17, Oba. 1:12, etc.
Being aware of the attitude of others toward us is not to change our attitude toward them.
February 25 A Child of the Father
Matthew 5:44 “But I say to you, love your enemies, bless those who curse you, do good to those who hate you, and pray for those who spitefully use you and persecute you, 45 that you may be sons of your Father in heaven; for He makes His sun rise on the evil and on the good, and sends rain on the just and on the unjust.”
Jesus wants us to be in the kingdom of heaven with Him and with God even while awe are on earth. When we follow the example of Jesus, the Holy Spirit is in us and we are connected with Jesus.
Jesus reminds us that God loves everyone, even those who act unkind and do not seem loveable.
Because God loves each of us, He gives each of us another sunrise. The sun comes up, and we start a whole new day. The sun is for both those who do good and for those who do not do good. If it rains, the rain comes for those who do good and for those who do not do good.
God loves us even when He wishes that we would change. He gives us a new day.
Each new day is an opportunity to choose love. This is why we all get new days.
When you wake in the morning, what is a good thing to do first?
**
Each of us wants to be special. We may see earning this status of “special” as being the richest, the smartest, the most powerful, or some other superlative.
What if we each knew that we were God’s favorite?
This is love. Love is not diminished for each existing child by adding one more child to the family. Love is not diminished when one misbehaves. Love is not increased when one excels.
You, also, are God’s favorite child, even as you are.
February 26 Loving All
Matthew 5:46 “For if you love those who love you, what reward have you? Do not even the tax collectors do the same? 47 And if you greet your brethren only, what do you do more than others? Do not even the tax collectors do so?”
Jesus often tells us something important using different words to make sure we understand. We know the lesson is important when He does this.
He tells the people listening to Him that they should even love the tax collectors.
The Romans had men who collected taxes from the people. The taxes were necessary for Rome to have an army, to build grand buildings, and also to make the Romans in charge wealthy.
The people of Israel hated the Romans for forcing them to pay money for things that did not help them or their families.
When Jesus is saying the people should love EVEN the tax collectors, He is telling them something they would never have thought to do.
But when we think about God loving even the Romans of that time, and loving even the men who crucified Jesus, we see a big example of loving those who hate you.
What does this king of love look like?
**
Each of us have people with authority over us: a variety of government officials at different levels, workplace superiors, teachers, etc. Not all of them use their position wisely, and we may find ourselves at odds with them. We may even find ourselves resentful of things they do that are in the overall best interest.
Not everyone will like us, nor will it be possible to like everyone. This does not mean that we cannot pray for their initiation into the court of brotherly love and into acceptance of the title of a child of God.
We pray for the unity of the Spirit, knowing the possibility of the fruit of the Spirit arrives with each sunrise, a gift to each of us that is not withheld from anyone.
February 27 Being Perfect
Matthew 5:48 “Therefore you shall be perfect, just as your Father in heaven is perfect.”
You have probably heard it aid that nobody is perfect. No one does everything absolutely right every time.
That is not the kind of perfect Jesus is talking about.
Think of a pretty rose bush. There are lots of pretty red roses and green leaves. It looks perfect!
When that rose bush was just a little piece of stem transplanted from another rose bush, it was perfect then, also. Even though it was only a little stem, that is all it could have been at that time.
Later, you saw branches and leaves growing from this stem. Even though there were no flowers, the bush was perfect. Even though it was only branches and leaves, that is all it could have been at that time.
And then you saw flower buds, but no flowers yet. Even though there were no flowers, the bush was perfect. Even though it was only buds, that is all it could have been at that time.
Finally, there are the pretty roses. The bush is perfect because it is all it can be at this time.
Soon the petals will fall and the flower will disappear. The bush still will be perfect because it is all it can be at this time.
And you are perfect at this moment in time when you are being all that you can be as you grow in years and learning and faith.
What does a picture of perfect look like?
**
The analogy of the rose is important. There are stages of growth, each one perfect, culminating in being the best of what we are able to become.
Whether a rose bush, a bird, or a human being, there is great potential for becoming what we are intended to become.
The limitation is that life can aspire only to its own potential. A human cannot become a rose bush, or a bird, or God.
We are perfect when we manifest His character just as the rose bush and the bird manifest God’s character.
Each of us fulfills our purpose in the Garden.
February 28 More Perfect
Matthew 5:48 “Therefore you shall be perfect, just as your Father in heaven is perfect.”
The story of the rose bush may have helped us to understand about being perfect. There are still people who misunderstand Jesus’ talk in this verse about being perfect because they cannot imagine anyone being “perfect.”
So let’s look at it another way.
In the Gospel of Luke, Jesus says, “Therefore be merciful, just as your Father also is merciful” (Luke 6:36).
It sounds like Jesus is telling us to be as merciful as God. But I do not think we can match God’s mercy, His kindness and forgiveness.
What we can do is to be as merciful, as kind and forgiving, as we know how to be. We will learn how to do this better as we grow in understanding of God and His love.
How does it feel when you learn to do something better?
**
Made in God’s image, we were made with His character.
The created is by nature always less than the Creator. We do aspire to be all that He intended because fulfillment of His purpose is what leads to our happiness, our blessedness.
We will practice having mercy until it comes into full bloom like the rose, the best that we can be at being merciful.
February 29 Stop and Remember
Jesus teaches us that getting even with someone for doing something wrong to us does not make it right for us to do something wrong to them.
As a matter of fact, Jesus goes says the opposite: we are to love our enemies.
Every new day is an opportunity to start a new life, to become the child of God that God wants each of us to be.
We cannot make another person choose to do good things. And doing the same bad thing back to them is definitely not going to make them want to do better!
All we can do is to show them by our own actions what God’s love looks like.
What does God’s love look like to you?
**
Returning kindness for kindness works very well, but returning evil for evil leads to no good place.
Our kindness returned may need to be tempered with the reality of the situation. This does not mean it is to be withheld, but measured out safely and appropriately.
We choose our response to every question and to every act. A truthful response – one consistent with Jesus’ example and the leading of the Holy Spirit – always is based on love.
In verses 13 through 20, we have learned more about each of us being a child of God.
- Some people may not know of God and His love for them, and they may not be kind to other people, including us.
- We are to be like salt. Salt is a sign of friendship. It helps to keep food fresh longer and to clean hurt places. When salt loses its saltiness, it does not do these thinks any more.
- We are to be like light. Light is the love of God for each of us, and we are to show this light to others. We let the light of the Holy Spirit shine through us to light the way for ourselves and others.
- Jesus showed people the salt and light of God by teaching them a true understanding of God’s Law meant and what the prophets had said.
- Feeling God loves us for who we are, we can love Him back for who He is.
- Showing love on the outside reveals the love we have from God inside.
**
A love relationship with God is the foundation not only of faith, but of a life in the kingdom of heaven.
Our character, the “who” that is our self, is secure within the borders of God’s kingdom. Life from a kingdom perspective shows the glass is not just half-full, but that it is refillable.
That life with its messiness still happens is only for a time.
February 2 Missing the Kingdom of Heaven…
Matthew 5:21 “You have heard that it was said to those of old, ‘You shall not murder, and whoever murders will be in danger of the judgment.’ 22 But I say to you that whoever is angry with his brother without a cause shall be in danger of the judgment. And whoever says to his brother, ‘Raca!’ (‘Fool’) shall be in danger of the council…..”
That the Pharisees and scribes obeyed the law against murder is no surprise. That law is standard throughout the world.
Do you think that when you don’t kill someone that they will know that you love them? Of course not.
Jesus says that calling someone an unkind name is as bad as murder because both show that love is missing. He is saying that if you think only murdering a person is a crime, and other hurtful thinks are OK, then you should think about it again.
When we call someone a bad name, everyone, including God, knows that we are not showing love.
The other person may call us a bad name back. So now we are both unhappy. We are without love, joy, peace, and the other fruit of the Spirit.
Jesus has been telling us how to be blessed, but here He is telling us what will keep us from being blessed.
What do you think about being joyful and at peace instead of angry and hurtful?
**
If we think there are degrees of sin, the worse sins just moving us a little further away from God, perhaps Jesus is telling us to reconsider this perspective.
Jesus tells us that murder and calling another person a bad name – killing the character of the other person – have the same effect on us. As we break the bond of love with another person, we destroy our own oneness with the Father.
It is impossible for the other person to make us respond a particular way. Each person is responsible for their own choices. Our freedom to choose our response is always with the self.
Let’s look more closely at the consequences of murder of the body and murder of the name.
February 3 And Landing in a Mess
Matthew 5:21 “You have heard that it was said to those of old, ‘You shall not murder, and whoever murders will be in danger of the judgment.’ 22 But I say to you that whoever is angry with his brother without a cause shall be in danger of the judgment. And whoever says to his brother, ‘Raca!’ (‘Fool’) shall be in danger of the council. But whoever says, ‘You fool!’ shall be in danger of hell fire.”
Jesus says that anyone who murders another person will be judged for this act. He also says that calling another person a bad name will be judged. The translators say the punishment for guilt is “hell fire.”
Remember that God is love, and Jesus is showing God’s love. So let us try to understand what Jesus is saying using the example of His time on earth.
The word translated as “hell” is Gehenna, also called the Valley of Hinnom. Once upon a time, this valley had been a place where sacrifices were made to other gods. By the time of Jesus, it was a place where trash from Jerusalem was taken and burned.
Gehenna was a smelly, dirty place. No one would want to live there.
Jesus is saying that if we murder someone or even call them a bad name, we destroy the beauty of our own life.
Instead of the fruit of the Spirit, like love, joy, and peace, we will have the opposite, the fruit of the flesh. This includes things like hatred, selfishness, and anger.
Jesus wants us to enjoy life, and this is by having the fruit of the Spirit. If we turn away from God and the Holy Spirit, we choose to make others unhappy and ourselves unhappy.
What are the things that let you know that you are blessed by God?
**
The Jewish Temple, with the Most Holy Place of God inside, was on the top of Mount Zion in Jerusalem.
Gehenna, the Valley of Hinnom, was at the lowest place below Mount Zion. We have “heaven above and hell below,” at least, figuratively.
Jesus is speaking figuratively that we will live in hell as we murder – or slander – other people. We separate ourselves from unity with God to our own detriment.
Why should there be a hell waiting for us when we are fully capable of creating that unpleasantness ourselves?
February 4 Do Not Be Afraid
Matthew 5:22 “But I say to you that whoever is angry with his brother without a cause shall be in danger of the judgment. And whoever says to his brother, ‘Raca!’ (‘Fool’) shall be in danger of the council. But whoever says, ‘You fool!’ shall be in danger of hell fire.”
Many people do not understand when Jesus talks the way He does. We want to be sure what Jesus meant and not what other people think that He might have meant.
Jesus is not trying to make us afraid of a place called “hell.” Jesus does not use fear to make people do what they should do.
The words, “Do not be afraid” are used often in the Bible. We are not to fear God. We are to respect Him for the love that guides His power.
Jesus is telling us that we have a choice of a life of love, joy, and peace, or a life of hatred, selfishness, and anger. We can choose to be happy or not.
What happens outside of us may not be pleasant, and those things may not make us happy. But happiness – love, joy, and peace – come from inside us, from having the Holy Spirit within us.
We trust that God knows what is best for us and that the Holy Spirit will guide us.
What does trusting in God look like to you?
**
2 Tim. 1:7 For God has not given us a spirit of fear, but of power and of love and of a sound mind.
The command, “Do not be afraid” (or “Fear not!”) reminds us that fear is a choice.
Fear is the natural reaction to a sudden perceived threat. In the light of faith and reason, fear will flee.
We must examine the cause of our fear as well as the nature of our hope.
February 5 Anger without a Cause
Matthew 5:22 “But I say to you that whoever is angry with his brother without a cause shall be in danger of the judgment….”
Has someone ever done something that was harmful to you or someone else and you got angry?
There was a good reason that you were angry, right?
Jesus knows that things will happen that quickly create anger in us. He saw the religious leaders saying things that were untrue about God and He became angry. He saw those same religious leaders hurting people with their words and actions, and He became angry.
Jesus understands our anger, but He also shows how to let that anger go away.
We ask for the Holy Spirit to guide our anger in the right direction and take it from us.
We may be able to tell the person who hurt someone that what they did was wrong. We may also be able to help the person who was hurt. Doing these things with love in our hearts lets us release the anger, lets it go away.
Sometimes we are not able to help either person. Then we ask that the Holy Spirit move on the hearts of both people so that each knows they are the children of God and they are loved. The Holy Spirit will help both people move toward love of each other if they will allow Him to work.
You probably remember a time when you were angry. When you are angry, what do you think the Holy Spirit would suggest that you do?
**
We can be triggered by events to righteous anger. We saw this with Jesus, as when He was confronted with lies from the religious leaders about the character of God.
Something that violates the principle of love of God and other people is just cause for anger. This is an emotion that stirs us to action, to stop the hurt.
But this is not an emotional state in which to live for an extended time.
We release our anger by correcting what we have the ability to correct. We allow the other person the freedom to choose change, and we allow God to change what only He can change.
February 6 Love God and Other People
Matthew 5:23 “Therefore if you bring your gift to the altar, and there remember that your brother has something against you, 24 leave your gift there before the altar, and go your way. First be reconciled to your brother, and then come and offer your gift.”
We talked last time about when there is anger between ourselves and another person.
In these verses, Jesus is speaking of you bringing a gift to God. Perhaps you are bringing an offering or a prayer.
But you and another person are angry with each other. The love that should bring you together is not there.
Jesus says we were born to love God and each other. If we are not loving someone, then we are not obeying God’s law of love.
To make things right, we think about what it means to love someone else. We want what is best for them and care about their love, joy, and peace.
Jesus tells us to wait before we give our gift to God until after we have made peace with the other person.
What can you do to make things better when you have a disagreement with someone?
**
Our oneness with God is fractured when our relationship with another person is fractured. We cannot be whole in ourselves or wholly (holy) with God.
Reconciliation with another person may be difficult. Care must be taken not to use force to come to unity on the issue. Force does not work in the long run.
We can control only our side of the relationship, and that is hard enough without trying to control their side, also.
February 7 Agreement
Matthew 5:25 “Agree with your adversary quickly, while you are on the way with him, lest your adversary deliver you to the judge, the judge hand you over to the officer, and you be thrown into prison. 26 Assuredly, I say to you, you will by no means get out of there till you have paid the last penny.”
When we agree with someone, we both think the same way on the subject. If we cannot agree, then we agree to disagree.
It may sound funny to say we agree to disagree. What this means is that we cannot be positively absolutely sure who is right. We respect each other enough to allow them to believe what they believe.
This is another way to show love. We do not want to agree with what we think is wrong, and neither do they. Maybe we will never know for sure who is correct. Or maybe one day we will discover that one of us is correct.
Until then, we love them as another child of God.
Have you and another person disagreed about something? How did you resolve the difference?
**
We take care to resolve the issue with humility, for our own perspective may be wrong. We may need to meet in the middle with the other person, but we never compromise on what is true and just.
We may have to agree to disagree on this issue. This, too, is reconciliation.
February 8 Agree Quickly
Matthew 5:25 “Agree with your adversary quickly, while you are on the way with him, lest your adversary deliver you to the judge, the judge hand you over to the officer, and you be thrown into prison. 26 Assuredly, I say to you, you will by no means get out of there till you have paid the last penny.”
The sooner we come to agreement with our friend, the sooner we return to agreement with God and His law of love.
Jesus gives an example of why to agree quickly. The other person might have you arrested for saying bad things about them. Then the judge may agree and force you to pay a penalty.
“But it was just a misunderstanding,” you say. But the judge has ruled and says what amount of money you must pay or how long you will be in prison.
Jesus is saying that having something come between you and another person is like being in prison. Neither of you listens to the other. You are unwilling to agree. You are locked into a prison of disagreement. The prison is not loving.
That does not sound good, does it! We both want to be free.
How do you think you and another person can avoid this prison of disagreement?
**
How many people are there with whom each of us is locked into the prison of disagreement?
Our feelings in these situations are not those of the fruit of the Spirit. This is our punishment, our penalty for remaining out of agreement.
“But there are times when we cannot come into agreement because the other person is wrong,” you say.
Yes, at least one of us is wrong in the argument. If we maintain a spirit of anger, we will both suffer the loss of the fruit of the Spirit whether we are right or wrong.
Maintaining anger beyond our ability to influence the situation in peace will destroy our own peace. We give it to God and the Holy Spirit.
February 9 Stop and Remember
Loving Your Neighbor
We have been learning about how to love one another.
The Law of the Ten Commandments says we are not to murder anyone.
When Jesus says, “But I say…” we know that He is going to give us a better understanding of God’s law of love.
Do you remember what Jesus said was as bad as actually killing someone?
Yes, even just calling them a bad name.
Jesus say that even if we only call the person a bad name, the spirit in our heart is as bad as murder. When we do not show love, we are acting like the person does not exist. If we call them a name, we are saying we wish they were not there.
When we have a disagreement with someone, we are not being at one with them. Loving them as God loves us and them.
Do we have the Holy Spirit inside us when we are angry with someone?
No, of course not.
It has been said that our words to others are to be as gifts to each other. Think of your words as little silver boxes with bows on them.
You like to receive presents, don’t you? And isn’t giving gifts fun, also?
What does it look like when two people are having this kind of conversation?
**
We will not be able to come into agreement with every person we encounter. Even Jesus, filled with the fruit of the Spirit, could not make a friend of everyone He met. All He could do was to throw out a lifeline. He could not – would not – attempt to control whether they grasped hold or not.
We make friends of those who are willing. Let’s work on that first.
The harder lesson of how to treat those who reject us will come soon enough.
February 10 Missing the Kingdom…Again
Matthew 5:27 “You have heard that it was said to those of old, ‘You shall not commit adultery.’ 28 But I say to you that whoever looks at a woman to lust for her has already committed adultery with her in his heart.”
You have probably heard of adultery. When two people marry, they promise to love only each other as husband and wife. When a person does not keep this promise and does acts of love with another person as if they were married, it is called adultery.
The Ten Commandments tell men and women not to commit adultery. Jesus says that if you desire another person and have thoughts of being married to them, then you have committed adultery in your heart. He says having adultery in your heart is as bad as actually committing adultery.
There was a Commandment against murder, but Jesus said that just saying bad things about another person was as bad as committing murder.
There is a Commandment against adultery, but Jesus says that just thinking about committing adultery in your heart is as bad as actually committing adultery.
There is a pattern here. Do you see what Jesus is teaching with these two examples?
**
We each wear a mask. The Greek word “persona” means mask, as worn by an actor. The personality is outward, but the character of the real person is hidden inside, beneath the mask. So it is in real life, also.
Jesus again calls out the hypocrisy of the religion of His era. While proclaiming obedience to the letter of the law, the people obedient to religion miss the relationship with God.
The Holy Spirit is our link, and Jesus is our example. The legal requirements are outside. The connection is inside.
February 11 What We Choose to See
Matthew 5:29 “If your right eye causes you to sin, pluck it out and cast it from you; for it is more profitable for you that one of your members perish, than for your whole body to be cast into hell.”
These statements sound, well, “gross” is probably the best word.
Knowing Jesus and the way He talks, we quickly realize that He does not really want you to pull out an eye. He wants us to think beyond just what the words of the law say. He wants us to think about the spirit of loving God and each other.
Think about the way we use words to compare things. You’ve probably heard this song: “You are my sunshine, my only sunshine. You make me happy when skies are gray.”
The song is saying that another person brightens your day. The song does not say the other person is really the sun, but only adds brightness to life like the sun.
Instead of pulling out an eye (literally), what if we pulled our eyes (figuratively) from watching things that are not of the fruit of the Spirit,
For example, watching a show that teaches that it is OK for people to be mean to each other is telling us something that is not true. We would not want someone to be mean to us, and we would lose a friend and be disobedient to God if we were mean to someone.
We pull our eyes away from things that will keep us from loving God and other people.
Where do your eyes go to see God’s love?
**
Understanding figurative language – metaphor, simile, hyperbole, etc. – is important in understanding many of Jesus’ teachings. Children are gradually able to understand this concept better between approximately 6 and 12 years old. Help them with examples appropriate to their understanding and environment.
A wonderful side effect of this type of instruction is that we learn the concept better, as well….
February 12 What We Choose to Do
Matthew 5:30 “And if your right hand causes you to sin, cut it off and cast it from you; for it is more profitable for you that one of your members perish, than for your whole body to be cast into hell.”
After telling us to pluck out an eye that causes us to sin, Jesus tells us to cut off a hand that causes us to sin! Again, He is using a very extreme example to get our attention.
Does the eye decide where to look? And does the hand decide what it will do?
No, the mind tells the eye where to look and the hand what to do.
Jesus says we should not tell the eye to look at something that will hurt our relationships with God and other people. And we should not tell our hand to do something that will hurt our relationships with God and other people.
Jesus teaches us to think on those things that are good, like love, joy, and peace. And the Holy Spirit guides us to being love, joy, and peace.
When we see or do things that lead us away from love, joy, and peace, we should stop and listen to the Holy Spirit who will remind us of Jesus’ words.
When we do not feel like we love God or another person, how does it feel?
**
Each moment we are making a choice on where to focus our attention. This is part of our God given freedom.
We choose for good - or not.
The mind tells the eye and hand what to do, but it is ultimately the heart that guides them all.
We are to have hearts of flesh, the hearts made to love, rather than hearts of stone, impervious to love and focused on the hardened self.
February 13 Landing in a Mess…Again!
Matthew 5:30 “And if your right hand causes you to sin, cut it off and cast it from you; for it is more profitable for you that one of your members perish, than for your whole body to be cast into hell.”
Jesus referred earlier to being in Gehenna, called hell (Matt. 5:22), and being thrown into prison (5:25). Jesus is not referring to real places. They are a way of describing how we can make our lives unpleasant.
In verses 29 and 30, Jesus again is describing how we can make our lives unpleasant. He describes how we can turn a blessed life of love, joy, and peace into a life of hatred, unhappiness, and conflict.
When we do not follow the law of love, the world becomes less pretty. Jesus compares it to living in Gehenna, the place where the city of Jerusalem took its trash in those days.
Jesus teaches us to learn how to live and love as God intended for us. We are to keep our eyes on the things that teach us of God’s love. We also are to tell our hands to do acts of love.
With the Holy Spirit in our hearts, we go with Jesus into the kingdom of heaven.
What does stepping into the kingdom of heaven look like or feel like?
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We can find many ways to separate ourselves from God and other people, to gradually lessen love. This is a choice, though it may be subconscious.
We choose what our senses – sight, touch, hearing, taste, and smell - will experience.
Some of these choices are made for us by accidents or other people. Sometimes, the city dump comes to us. Or we are thrown into it.
We then choose how we will respond.
The heart of stone chooses vengeance. The heart of love seeks the guidance of the Holy Spirit.
February 14 Divorce
Matthew 5:31 “Furthermore it has been said, ‘Whoever divorces his wife, let him give her a certificate of divorce.’ 32 But I say to you that whoever divorces his wife for any reason except sexual immorality causes her to commit adultery; and whoever marries a woman who is divorced commits adultery.”
We talked about adultery a few verses ago in verse 27. Jesus told us that thinking about breaking the promise made at our wedding to our wife or husband is as bad as actually breaking the promise.
Here Jesus is talking about divorce. Divorce is when people stop being married and become unmarried people again.
Jesus reminds us that we are not to break promises.
Jesus simply says that promises are serious. We are to love one another as husband and wife when we are married. When one or both people decide not to honor their wedding promise, they divorce.
Divorce is a hard thing for everyone. If your parents divorce, if they lose their love for one another, their love for you and your love for each of them does not change.
How does the connection of love of husband and wife look to you?
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Divorce is hard for adults. Each goes their separate way.
Divorce is hard for a child. They have no separate way, but still live in a house divided – maybe even two separate houses.
Which home is theirs?
Loss of love does not come overnight. When the signals of lost love begin, our natural response, and the best one, is to choose love.
February 15 Promises
Matthew 5:33 "You have also heard that people were told in the past, "Do not break your promise, but do what you have vowed to the Lord to do.' 37Just say "Yes' or "No' - anything else you say comes from the Evil One.”
Do you know what a promise is? Yes, a promise means that what you say is true.
What is the difference between these two statements?
“Mother, I will clean up my room this afternoon.”
“Mother, I promise I will clean up my room this afternoon.”
In the second example, you promise to clean up your room this afternoon. Does that mean that in the first example you did not mean that you will clean up your room this afternoon?”
When you say that you will clean up your room, then you will clean up your room, won’t you? Is there any reason that you have to add, “I promise?”
Jesus says that we are always to tell the truth and to do what we say we will do. When people know that we will do what we say we will do, we do not have to promise.
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Can someone tell you a lie for your own good?
There are many examples of lies being told but justified by the liar (well, isn’t that what I am if I do this?) for the ultimate good.
That we sometimes do not handle the truth well at times is itself true. Is it better to believe a lie?
And if we lie for the good of the other person, where is our own credibility, our own integrity (wholeness)?
Many such lies will be uncovered eventually. Do we become like the boy who cried wolf?
February 16 Being Truthful
Matthew 5:34 But now I tell you: do not use any vow when you make a promise. Do not swear by heaven, for it is God's throne; 35nor by earth, for it is the resting place for his feet; nor by Jerusalem, for it is the city of the great King. 36Do not even swear by your head, because you cannot make a single hair white or black. (When someone asks you a question) 37Just say "Yes' or "No' - anything else you say comes from the Evil One.”
Jesus is talking to some people who believe that you only have to tell the truth if you swear (promise) that you are telling the truth. Then how can you believe anything they say if they do not also say that they promise they are telling the truth?
There is a story about George Washington, the first president of the United States.
When George was six years old, his father gave him a small hatchet for his birthday. George liked the gift and tried it out – on his father’s cherry tree! When his father discovered that the tree was cut down, he became angry. He asked his son if he had done it. George bravely said, “I cannot tell a lie. I cut it down with my new hatchet.” Washington’s father gave his son a hug. He was happy because his son’s honesty was worth more than any tree.
Do you think George thought his father would punish him for chopping down the cherry tree?
Jesus says we must always give a truthful answer. Don’t we want other people to tell the truth when we ask them a question?
Can you draw a picture of what telling the truth looks like?
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Jesus says we must be in accordance with truth in our everyday lives, not only what we swear, but in our casual words, as well. Sometimes, the truth is unpleasant - maybe even, “often.”
Perhaps truth is the essence that unifies all of Creation. The apparent randomness of quantum physics and the existence of black holes defy the logic of the physical world. But they are true, at least, to the extent that we understand them.
Perhaps “Truth” lies on a higher plane.
February 17 The Evil One
Matthew 5:37 (When someone asks you a question) “Just say "Yes' or "No' - anything else you say comes from the Evil One.”
These verses about telling the truth, about being honest with other people, tells us there is an “evil one,” someone who is not truthful, someone who lies.
Let’s tell a picture story and imagine an example of these verses.
I knock a glass off of the kitchen table. It falls and breaks on the floor. No one sees the accident or hears the glass break. Someone comes into the kitchen, sees the broken glass on the floor, and asks, “Who did this?”
Something in me says I should act innocent so I can escape blame for the accident.
Another voice in my head says that I should be honest and tell what really happened.
A cartoon might show an angel on one shoulder telling me to be honest and the devil on the other shoulder telling me to lie.
The choice is up to me. If I lie, can I blame the devil because I chose to lie?
How would you answer the question – can you blame the devil for what you do? Why?
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After eating the forbidden fruit in the Garden, Eve blamed the serpent and Adam blamed Eve. He actually blamed God because God created Eve.
How did casting blame for their own choices work for them?
Blaming others for our choices never improves the situation. We may escape consequences for the moment, but the first lie is the beginning of a list that we must defend for the rest of our lives.
As we focus on the example of Jesus, a teller of truth even in the face of death, we see He takes truth seriously.
Jesus preached and lived to show us heaven on earth. Circumstances do not change the character required of a citizen of heaven and a child of God.
February 18 Stop and Remember
Choices
We make choices. We choose to see something with our eyes or to do something with our hands. We choose what to think in our minds.
When we choose to let our eyes and hands and thoughts be guided by the Holy Spirit, we will have the fruit of the Spirit. We will experience love and joy and peace.
When we choose to let our eyes and hands and thoughts go away from the guidance of the Holy Spirit and the examples that Jesus gave us, our lives will not be full of love and joy and peace.
In fact, when we do not have this love and joy and peace, our lives will become very unpleasant. Jesus compares such a life to living in the city dump – not a happy place to live!
Choosing to tell the truth is another important choice. When we are known to always tell the truth, people can trust what we say, But if we sometimes lie, how will they know when we are telling the truth?
When people cannot trust us to tell the truth, we find ourselves in te smelly, dirty city dump again!
Jesus says when we answer someone “yes” or “no”, (remember George Washington and the cherry tree story?), we are to give a truthful answer, even when it seems hard to tell the truth.
How do you want to feel in the place that you live? What does it look like?
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The freedom to choose is both a gift and a responsibility.
Only when we learn to shoulder that responsibility, take it seriously, will we be able to reap the consequences of our choices and enjoy them without remorse.
There is ab “everlasting” effect to the choices we make. This is not only the direct consequences flowing from our choices, but also the effects on our relationships with God and other people.
February 19 An Eye for an Eye
Matthew 5:38 “You have heard that it was said, ‘An eye for an eye and a tooth for a tooth.’”
This was a common belief when Jesus lived, that whatever a person did to you, then you could do the same back to them. If they hit you in the eye, you could hit them in the eye. If they knocked out your tooth, you knocked out one of theirs.
At first, that sounds fair, doesn’t it? If they hit us, we hit them back. If they call us a name, we call them a name.
Do you get the feeling that Jesus is going to tell us something different, that He will say, “But I tell you…” the opposite?
Think about it. If another person does something that is wrong, does that make it right for us to do the same wrong thing?
Does someone else doing the wrong thing make it right for us to do the wrong thing?
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In a lawless society, basic laws are a step in the right direction, as with the Ten Commandments.
If a person kills your cow, and you kill their child in retaliation, you have escalated the injustice. You have done a greater wrong than they have done, and they owe you an additional wrong to make things even. Or they may choose to kill you and your whole family.
A law that sets equal penalty for wrong doing is a step forward from ever increasing levels of wrong doing.
This is primitive justice. We know that Jesus wants to move us toward love of God and the people He created.
And Jesus will tell us – and show us – how to do that.
February 20 Turn the Other Cheek
Matthew 5:38 “You have heard that it was said, ‘An eye for an eye and a tooth for a tooth.’ 39 But I tell you not to resist an evil person. But whoever slaps you on your right cheek, turn the other to him also.”
Yes, Jesus tells us to react to the violence of the other person in a different way doesn’t He?
When the other person acts badly, they expect us to act badly. But what if we don’t do something that is wrong just because they did it?
If they call us a name, we call them a name. If they push us, we will push back. If they hit us, we will hit them. You see, it keeps getting worse when we repay evil with evil.
What if we choose not to fight? What if we choose not to call them bad names or to hit them?
There is a good chance that the fight will stop there.
One wrong doing leads to another. Jesus says, “Stop it! Do not do wrong things.”
What do you think will happen if we do not hit back but are peaceful?
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In the Law of Moses, judges were counseled to give fair judgment. The example of “eye for eye, tooth for tooth” is given in Ex. 21:22-26 (and Lev. 24:20 and Deut. 19:21).
Under the teaching of the Pharisees, this guidance for the judges was extended to all citizens. The role of judge and executioner (so to speak) was given to those who were not in the position to judge.
The Ten Commandments were in the Ark of the Covenant. Covering the Ark was the Mercy Seat. The Pharisees did not teach the significance of this visual aid.
February 21 Winning and Losing
Matthew 5:39 “But I tell you not to resist an evil person. But whoever slaps you on your right cheek, turn the other to him also.”
When a person gets hit, there is a natural feeling to want to hit back, to defend themselves, right? Jesus shows us a better way than fighting back.
When a fight begins, you wonder who will win, don’t you? One person wins, so that means the other person loses.
No one wants to lose, do they?
What if a fight begins, but then no one loses? If neither one loses, that means they both win.
When Jesus was hit (John 18:22-23), He showed self-control, one of the fruit of the Spirit. Jesus simply asked why the guard struck Him since He had done nothing wrong. Anyone watching this scene agrees that Jesus has not done anything wrong to the guard.
The guard does not hit Jesus again. Jesus is still at peace with everyone, even the guard. Peace is another fruit of the Spirit.
We’ll see in the next few verses that Jesus still loves everyone, even those who treat Him badly, like the guard.
This is how everyone wins.
There are times when we must take action to stop serious harm to ourselves or other people. That is a lesson for another day.
Are there people you find hard to love?
**
Jesus is preaching that the cycle of violence must be stopped. Courage is required to withstand such attacks, but peace is the reward. Jesus modeled this during His ministry right through His final hours (John 18:22-23).
Note: even Jesus would acknowledge that we are to protect the weak from harm. Had the Good Samaritan come upon the robbers in the act of beating the Jewish man, he surely would have intervened to protect the man.
Yes, Jesus is our model. We find following His example is hard, but only as hard as it was for Him.
February 22 Yielding
Matthew 5:40 "If anyone wants to sue you and take your shirt, let him have your coat also. 41 Whoever forces you to go one mile, go with him two. 42 Give to him who asks of you, and do not turn away from him who wants to borrow from you.” (NASB)
Jesus gives three quick examples of other people wanting something from us:
- a person is angry at us and demands we pay to satisfy their anger;
- a person wants us to carry their heavy load for a mile;
- a person wants to borrow from us.
In today’s three examples, Jesus is showing us how to act in love using the fruit of the Spirit again.
One of the most famous sayings of Jesus is that you should “treat people the same way you want them to treat you” (Luke 6:31 NASB).
Jesus’ answer in these three examples is to give to people what they need, and more if you are able! No one can give another person everything they want, but perhaps they are able to give what another person needs.
Can you draw a picture of the fruit of the Spirit of love in action?
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Notice that there are four different levels of interaction here: brutal force, legal force, military force, and a request.
We could go into all of the specifics of these last three examples as we did with the first example. We could look at them relative to Jesus’ time and then bring these examples to our time.
Or we could imagine other examples like these four.
But the point is to learn the principle Jesus is teaching and apply it to our own lives now.
How does a person respond with the fruit of the Spirit in each situation?
February 23 Win-Win
Matthew 5:40 "If anyone wants to sue you and take your shirt, let him have your coat also. 41 Whoever forces you to go one mile, go with him two. 42 Give to him who asks of you, and do not turn away from him who wants to borrow from you.” (NASB)
We read a couple of days ago that when someone hits me, I am to turn the other cheek and let the person hit me again.
When I am hit, it looks like the other person is winning and I am losing.
When I do not hit back, it looks like there is not a fight.
If there is not a fight, it sounds like both people are winners!
The other examples that Jesus gives are to show us other ways to create more winners.
When we treat others the same way that we want to be treated, we are following Jesus’ example. As more people follow His example, we have more and more winners.
Can you think of a way for another person and you to both be winners?
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Everyone wants to be a winner, to come out of the contest on top.
This implies there must be a loser, a person on the bottom.
As long as we participate in win-lose activities, we will be creating a few winners on top and a mass of losers on the bottom. The ones in between are as much “losers” as the people at the bottom when compared with the very top.
More than 99% of us settle for being “losers” as long as we keep playing the game this way.
Think about that….
February 24 Love Your Enemy
Matthew 5:43 “You have heard that it was said, ‘You shall love your neighbor and hate your enemy.’ 44 But I say to you, love your enemies, bless those who curse you, do good to those who hate you, and pray for those who spitefully use you and persecute you,….”
God loves you. God loves me. God loves each one of us because He is the one who created us.
Sometimes people speak bad words of God or even deliberately act badly toward Him. He still loves them. They are not having joyful lives, and God understands that. He wants to show them a happier way to live.
When Jesus was crucified, He forgave those who crucified Him. He showed the same love His Father showed, love even for His enemies.
When someone is unkind to us, we find it hard to love them. But we follow Jesus’ example. We help them to know they are loved as God’s children, if we can.
Sometimes we have to stay away from them for our own safety, but that does not mean we don’t pray for them to find a more joyful way to live.
You do not have to name anyone, but is there someone for whom you want to pray?
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There is no place in the Old Testament that says we are to hate our enemies. This false statement is an addition of the interpreters to God’s word.
In fact, there are numerous places that say the opposite:
Ex. 23:4-5 4 “If you meet your enemy’s ox or his donkey going astray, you shall surely bring it back to him again….”
Prov. 25:21 If your enemy is hungry, give him bread to eat;
And if he is thirsty, give him water to drink;
And more, such as Job 31:29-30, Prov. 24:17, Oba. 1:12, etc.
Being aware of the attitude of others toward us is not to change our attitude toward them.
February 25 A Child of the Father
Matthew 5:44 “But I say to you, love your enemies, bless those who curse you, do good to those who hate you, and pray for those who spitefully use you and persecute you, 45 that you may be sons of your Father in heaven; for He makes His sun rise on the evil and on the good, and sends rain on the just and on the unjust.”
Jesus wants us to be in the kingdom of heaven with Him and with God even while awe are on earth. When we follow the example of Jesus, the Holy Spirit is in us and we are connected with Jesus.
Jesus reminds us that God loves everyone, even those who act unkind and do not seem loveable.
Because God loves each of us, He gives each of us another sunrise. The sun comes up, and we start a whole new day. The sun is for both those who do good and for those who do not do good. If it rains, the rain comes for those who do good and for those who do not do good.
God loves us even when He wishes that we would change. He gives us a new day.
Each new day is an opportunity to choose love. This is why we all get new days.
When you wake in the morning, what is a good thing to do first?
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Each of us wants to be special. We may see earning this status of “special” as being the richest, the smartest, the most powerful, or some other superlative.
What if we each knew that we were God’s favorite?
This is love. Love is not diminished for each existing child by adding one more child to the family. Love is not diminished when one misbehaves. Love is not increased when one excels.
You, also, are God’s favorite child, even as you are.
February 26 Loving All
Matthew 5:46 “For if you love those who love you, what reward have you? Do not even the tax collectors do the same? 47 And if you greet your brethren only, what do you do more than others? Do not even the tax collectors do so?”
Jesus often tells us something important using different words to make sure we understand. We know the lesson is important when He does this.
He tells the people listening to Him that they should even love the tax collectors.
The Romans had men who collected taxes from the people. The taxes were necessary for Rome to have an army, to build grand buildings, and also to make the Romans in charge wealthy.
The people of Israel hated the Romans for forcing them to pay money for things that did not help them or their families.
When Jesus is saying the people should love EVEN the tax collectors, He is telling them something they would never have thought to do.
But when we think about God loving even the Romans of that time, and loving even the men who crucified Jesus, we see a big example of loving those who hate you.
What does this king of love look like?
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Each of us have people with authority over us: a variety of government officials at different levels, workplace superiors, teachers, etc. Not all of them use their position wisely, and we may find ourselves at odds with them. We may even find ourselves resentful of things they do that are in the overall best interest.
Not everyone will like us, nor will it be possible to like everyone. This does not mean that we cannot pray for their initiation into the court of brotherly love and into acceptance of the title of a child of God.
We pray for the unity of the Spirit, knowing the possibility of the fruit of the Spirit arrives with each sunrise, a gift to each of us that is not withheld from anyone.
February 27 Being Perfect
Matthew 5:48 “Therefore you shall be perfect, just as your Father in heaven is perfect.”
You have probably heard it aid that nobody is perfect. No one does everything absolutely right every time.
That is not the kind of perfect Jesus is talking about.
Think of a pretty rose bush. There are lots of pretty red roses and green leaves. It looks perfect!
When that rose bush was just a little piece of stem transplanted from another rose bush, it was perfect then, also. Even though it was only a little stem, that is all it could have been at that time.
Later, you saw branches and leaves growing from this stem. Even though there were no flowers, the bush was perfect. Even though it was only branches and leaves, that is all it could have been at that time.
And then you saw flower buds, but no flowers yet. Even though there were no flowers, the bush was perfect. Even though it was only buds, that is all it could have been at that time.
Finally, there are the pretty roses. The bush is perfect because it is all it can be at this time.
Soon the petals will fall and the flower will disappear. The bush still will be perfect because it is all it can be at this time.
And you are perfect at this moment in time when you are being all that you can be as you grow in years and learning and faith.
What does a picture of perfect look like?
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The analogy of the rose is important. There are stages of growth, each one perfect, culminating in being the best of what we are able to become.
Whether a rose bush, a bird, or a human being, there is great potential for becoming what we are intended to become.
The limitation is that life can aspire only to its own potential. A human cannot become a rose bush, or a bird, or God.
We are perfect when we manifest His character just as the rose bush and the bird manifest God’s character.
Each of us fulfills our purpose in the Garden.
February 28 More Perfect
Matthew 5:48 “Therefore you shall be perfect, just as your Father in heaven is perfect.”
The story of the rose bush may have helped us to understand about being perfect. There are still people who misunderstand Jesus’ talk in this verse about being perfect because they cannot imagine anyone being “perfect.”
So let’s look at it another way.
In the Gospel of Luke, Jesus says, “Therefore be merciful, just as your Father also is merciful” (Luke 6:36).
It sounds like Jesus is telling us to be as merciful as God. But I do not think we can match God’s mercy, His kindness and forgiveness.
What we can do is to be as merciful, as kind and forgiving, as we know how to be. We will learn how to do this better as we grow in understanding of God and His love.
How does it feel when you learn to do something better?
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Made in God’s image, we were made with His character.
The created is by nature always less than the Creator. We do aspire to be all that He intended because fulfillment of His purpose is what leads to our happiness, our blessedness.
We will practice having mercy until it comes into full bloom like the rose, the best that we can be at being merciful.
February 29 Stop and Remember
Jesus teaches us that getting even with someone for doing something wrong to us does not make it right for us to do something wrong to them.
As a matter of fact, Jesus goes says the opposite: we are to love our enemies.
Every new day is an opportunity to start a new life, to become the child of God that God wants each of us to be.
We cannot make another person choose to do good things. And doing the same bad thing back to them is definitely not going to make them want to do better!
All we can do is to show them by our own actions what God’s love looks like.
What does God’s love look like to you?
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Returning kindness for kindness works very well, but returning evil for evil leads to no good place.
Our kindness returned may need to be tempered with the reality of the situation. This does not mean it is to be withheld, but measured out safely and appropriately.
We choose our response to every question and to every act. A truthful response – one consistent with Jesus’ example and the leading of the Holy Spirit – always is based on love.
