Hill Thread

Matthew 7:13-27
13 “Enter through the narrow gate. For the gate is wide and the road is broad that leads to destruction, and there are many who go through it. 14 How narrow is the gate and difficult the road that leads to life, and few find it.
15 “Beware of false prophets who come to you in sheep’s clothing but inwardly are ravaging wolves. 16 You’ll recognize them by their fruit. Are grapes gathered from thornbushes or figs from thistles? 17 In the same way, every good tree produces good fruit, but a bad tree produces bad fruit. 18 A good tree can’t produce bad fruit; neither can a bad tree produce good fruit. 19 Every tree that doesn’t produce good fruit is cut down and thrown into the fire. 20 So you’ll recognize them by their fruit.
21 “Not everyone who says to Me, ‘Lord, Lord!’ will enter the kingdom of heaven, but only the one who does the will of My Father in heaven. 22 On that day many will say to Me, ‘Lord, Lord, didn’t we prophesy in Your name, drive out demons in Your name, and do many miracles in Your name? ‘ 23 Then I will announce to them, ‘I never knew you! Depart from Me, you lawbreakers! ‘
24 “Therefore, everyone who hears these words of Mine and acts on them will be like a sensible man who built his house on the rock. 25 The rain fell, the rivers rose, and the winds blew and pounded that house. Yet it didn’t collapse, because its foundation was on the rock. 26 But everyone who hears these words of Mine and doesn’t act on them will be like a foolish man who built his house on the sand. 27 The rain fell, the rivers rose, the winds blew and pounded that house, and it collapsed. And its collapse was great!”

Related Text:
Proverbs 14:11-12
Luke 13:22-30
John 10:1-10
Ephesians 2:13-22

-

Just a Thought

When Jesus finished speaking, the crowds were amazed! People came from everywhere to here Him speak, and He continually amazed them. And when you take a look at verses 21 thru 23, those may be some of the most amazing words we read in the New Testament.

According to Jesus, our words are just lip service if we do not live for Him. It’s not about just calling Jesus Lord, it’s about surrender to our Savior. It’s about giving up our life to live for Jesus. It’s about losing ourselves, losing our life, and gaining Jesus.

Matthew 7:1-12
1 “Do not judge, so that you won’t be judged. 2 For with the judgment you use, you will be judged, and with the measure you use, it will be measured to you. 3 Why do you look at the speck in your brother’s eye but don’t notice the log in your own eye? 4 Or how can you say to your brother, ‘Let me take the speck out of your eye,’ and look, there’s a log in your eye? 5 Hypocrite! First take the log out of your eye, and then you will see clearly to take the speck out of your brother’s eye. 6 Don’t give what is holy to dogs or toss your pearls before pigs, or they will trample them with their feet, turn, and tear you to pieces.

Keep Asking, Searching, Knocking

7 “Keep asking, and it will be given to you. Keep searching, and you will find. Keep knocking, and the door will be opened to you. 8 For everyone who asks receives, and the one who searches finds, and to the one who knocks, the door will be opened. 9 What man among you, if his son asks him for bread, will give him a stone? 10 Or if he asks for a fish, will give him a snake? 11 If you then, who are evil, know how to give good gifts to your children, how much more will your Father in heaven give good things to those who ask Him! 12 Therefore, whatever you want others to do for you, do also the same for them-this is the Law and the Prophets.

Jeremiah 29:13
You will seek me and find me when you seek me with all your heart.

Related Text:
John 16:24
Romans 14:1-13
1 Corinthians 5
James 4:1-3
1 John 3:21-22

-

Here Come The Judge
The word hypocrite means to “act out the part of a character in a play”. In ancient times, actors covered their faces with masks representing the characters that they were playing.

Today, a hypocrite is known as one who covers or hides his real self and “acts” like different person, often depending on people or places that the person finds himself surrounded by. Obviously, this person would be referred to as fake.

Anyone can fool an “audience”, but God isn’t fooled. God wrote the ultimate script, He created all of the characters, and He knows everything about the play. He has plans for your life. But we have to be willing to follow His lead, and leave our old life behind. We must remember that when we became followers of Jesus Christ, we no longer live, but Christ lives in us.

God created you just as He wants you to be. If you wear a mask to every place you go, always hiding who you are, ask God for the strength to remove it and be a shining light for Him.

And just a note about judging others. We have a similar plan of action to avoid this trap as what we went over yesterday about praying instead of worrying. Basically, instead of looking at others and judging them, begin to pray for them for the things that you initially wanted to be judgmental about. MOTIVE IS VERY IMPORTANT HERE. We all know that person who prays for peoples mistakes and bad habits just so they can gossip to others about it. Or the person who tells you they are praying for you just so they can make you feel lower than them (like they never struggle with any temptation). Do not be these types of people. Instead, just replace your judgments and harsh thoughts with prayers. Most of the time, the person you are praying for doesn’t even need to know. Done properly, this practice will probably change us more than the person we are lifting up before God.

Matthew 6:25-34
25 “This is why I tell you: Don’t worry about your life, what you will eat or what you will drink; or about your body, what you will wear. Isn’t life more than food and the body more than clothing? 26 Look at the birds of the sky: they don’t sow or reap or gather into barns, yet your heavenly Father feeds them. Aren’t you worth more than they? 27 Can any of you add a single cubit to his height by worrying? 28 And why do you worry about clothes? Learn how the wildflowers of the field grow: they don’t labor or spin thread. 29 Yet I tell you that not even Solomon in all his splendor was adorned like one of these! 30 If that’s how God clothes the grass of the field, which is here today and thrown into the furnace tomorrow, won’t He do much more for you-you of little faith? 31 So don’t worry, saying, ‘What will we eat?’ or ‘What will we drink?’ or ‘What will we wear?’ 32 For the idolaters eagerly seek all these things, and your heavenly Father knows that you need them. 33 But seek first the kingdom of God and His righteousness, and all these things will be provided for you. 34 Therefore don’t worry about tomorrow, because tomorrow will worry about itself. Each day has enough trouble of its own.

Related Text:
Proverbs 12:25
Mark 13:11
Luke 12:11-34
Philippians 4:6-7

-

Whatsa Matta Wit Yous
Matthew 6:34 is a great verse to memorize. It reminds us to give evevrything up to God, focus on His plans for us and don’t worry. “Therefore don’t worry about tomorrow, because tomorrow will worry about itself. Each day has enough trouble of its own.”

Do you want to know the trick to stop worrying? I’ve got it. Are you ready? It’s not a quick fix, it will take a few days, or even weeks depending on how much you worry and how seriously to devote yourself this program. But it works. You just have to remember, when you get to the point where you think it’s not working and you want to give up, THAT’S when you’ve really got to keep at it and try even harder, devoting yourself even more to the program. YOU MUST LEAVE YOUR EXCUSES BEHIND!

Here it is:
1: Take whatever it is you are currently worrying about at any given moment and make a list.
2: Write them all down.
3: Pray about each item on your list.
4: Check off an item each time you pray about it (so you could have something on your list that has like 5 or 10 checks by it).
5: Add to the list when new worries pop up, remembering to pray for the newbies as well.
6: Repeat daily!

If you worry tons, you might have to do this multiple times a day, otherwise your list will be super huge. I suggest writing them down, that way you can add to it if you need to and you can check each individual one off when you pray about it. You can add check marks over and over for every time you pray about it, because the point is to be continually praying. Eventually, when it’s no longer a worry, you can cross it out, or re-write your list and leave that particular worry off.

If you commit yourself to this program, here is what will happen. Over time (short or long time period, again, depending on the amount of worry you do and whether or not you stick to this program), your worries will turn into prayer requests. What I mean is, you will begin to pray about things before you even have a chance to worry about them. Your prayer life will be unstoppable. You will be tapping into God’s strength and peace.

So go get a notebook or a piece of paper and get to it.

Matthew 6:16-18
16 “Whenever you fast, don’t be sad-faced like the hypocrites. For they make their faces unattractive so their fasting is obvious to people. I assure you: They’ve got their reward! 17 But when you fast, put oil on your head, and wash your face, 18 so that you don’t show your fasting to people but to your Father who is in secret. And your Father who sees in secret will reward you.

Mark 2:18-22
18 Now John’s disciples and the Pharisees were fasting. People came and asked Him, “Why do John’s disciples and the Pharisees’ disciples fast, but Your disciples do not fast?”
19 Jesus said to them, “The wedding guests cannot fast while the groom is with them, can they? As long as they have the groom with them, they cannot fast. 20 But the time will come when the groom is taken away from them, and then they will fast in that day. 21 No one sews a patch of unshrunk cloth on an old garment. Otherwise, the new patch pulls away from the old cloth, and a worse tear is made. 22 And no one puts new wine into old wineskins. Otherwise, the wine will burst the skins, and the wine is lost as well as the skins. But new wine is for fresh wineskins.”

Related Text:
Esther 3-4
Isaiah 58
Jonah 3
Zechariah 7-8
Acts 14:21-23

-

Take It Slow (ha, get it, take it slow . . . about fasting?)
Fasting is going without food or without drink for a period of time. During biblical times, fasting was done for a variety of reasons. Today, the most common description of fasting is related to a spiritual habit or discipline. The discipline is to spend extra time with God and give Him priority over food. People who fast may spend time in prayer during the times when they would normally eat.

Before you try to fast, discuss it with your parents and/or your pastor so that you will be better able to understand the spiritual benefit as well as the health precautions. Whether or not you fast, be reminded that Jesus cares deeply about your motives and the attitude of your mind and heart. He knows your heart, and He knows the real you.

Matthew 6:5-15
5 “Whenever you pray, you must not be like the hypocrites, because they love to pray standing in the synagogues and on the street corners to be seen by people. I assure you: They’ve got their reward! 6 But when you pray, go into your private room, shut your door, and pray to your Father who is in secret. And your Father who sees in secret will reward you. 7 When you pray, don’t babble like the idolaters, since they imagine they’ll be heard for their many words. 8 Don’t be like them, because your Father knows the things you need before you ask Him.
-

The Model Prayer

9 “Therefore, you should pray like this:
Our Father in heaven,
Your name be honored as holy.
10 Your kingdom come.
Your will be done
on earth as it is in heaven.
11 Give us today our daily bread.
12 And forgive us our debts,
as we also have forgiven our debtors.
13 And do not bring us into temptation,
but deliver us from the evil one.
For Yours is the kingdom and the power
and the glory forever. Amen.

14 “For if you forgive people their wrongdoing, your heavenly Father will forgive you as well. 15 But if you don’t forgive people, your Father will not forgive your wrongdoing.”

Related Text:
Psalm 5
Mark 11:22-26
Luke 11:1-13
Luke 18:1-14
James 5:13-20

-

If you don’t know what to say or how to pray, no sweat! Just start by talking to God like you would talk with a friend or family member, or anyone that you really trust and feel secure around. God hears your prayers. He’s not sitting around grading us on how good or how spiritual we sound in our prayers. (If anything, He’s grading our attitudes and the condition of our hearts, not if we use big words. He judges our motives and if we are praying just so we can impress others who hear us.) We always worry because we don’t sound like our pastor at church, or our Sunday school teacher, or our parents. Don’t worry about that stuff, just begin a conversation with God.

When you pour out your heart and your words to God, He knows exactly what you are saying! No matter how confusing you think you are, He knows what you mean.

Verses 12 and 14 and 15 are pretty huge. If we cannot forgive others who wrong us and sin against us, God will not forgive us. Start there if you can’t come up with anything else to pray about. Start with forgiving people in your life that have done something to you. Whatever it is, however big or little it is, forgive them. This new life Jesus has given us, the sacrifice He made for us, is too important for our excuses! As God has forgiven us of our sins, so we MUST forgive others who have wronged us. No one said it will be easy, but it must be done.

WARNING: The more you pray and spill out your heart to God, the more you will want to pray. Before you know it, you’ll be praying all the time!

Matthew 6:1-4
1 “Be careful not to practice your righteousness in front of people, to be seen by them. Otherwise, you will have no reward from your Father in heaven. 2 So whenever you give to the poor, don’t sound a trumpet before you, as the hypocrites do in the synagogues and on the streets, to be applauded by people. I assure you: They’ve got their reward! 3 But when you give to the poor, don’t let your left hand know what your right hand is doing, 4 so that your giving may be in secret. And your Father who sees in secret will reward you.

Matthew 6:19-24
19 “Don’t collect for yourselves treasures on earth, where moth and rust destroy and where thieves break in and steal. 20 But collect for yourselves treasures in heaven, where neither moth nor rust destroys, and where thieves don’t break in and steal. 21 For where your treasure is, there your heart will be also.
22 “The eye is the lamp of the body. If your eye is good, your whole body will be full of light. 23 But if your eye is bad, your whole body will be full of darkness. So if the light within you is darkness-how deep is that darkness!
24 “No one can be a slave of two masters, since either he will hate one and love the other, or be devoted to one and despise the other. You cannot be slaves of God and of money.

Related Text:
Proverbs 11:24-25
Mark 10:17-31
Luke 6:38
Luke 12:32-34
Acts 20:32-35
2 Corinthians 9:6-15

-

You might Not Finish This
Churches and Christian ministries wouldn’t have to spend their time raising funds if followers of Jesus gave graciously, the way that the Bible lays it out for us. Instead, these organizations could spend their fund-raising time and energy on changing the world. They wouldn’t have to worry about the hurdle of raising money for missions, they would just go because the money would already be there if we all gave with the attitude that God wants us to have. But sadly, there are plenty more takers than givers, and raising money is an issue for Christian organizations all around.

During the Old Testament times, people were required by Law to give a portion of their income (called a tithe) to support God’s work. But in the New Testament, Jesus emphasizes the attitude of the heart more than the amount given. A tithe that is given with a bad attitude or a rotten heart has no meaning for the giver. God wants followers of Jesus to learn to give freely and cheerfully. (see 2 Cor. 9:7)

The old joke in a Sunday morning church service sounds something like this: the preacher warns his congregation that he’s about to give a sermon on giving, but jokingly begs them all to stay in their seats. He jokingly begs because, of course, no one wants to listen to a guy tell them to give away their money.

Let me be bold as I submit this idea: if we all had a correct, godly attitude about tithing and giving, these church sermons about money would be some of the most interesting and impactful in our lives. We would be eager to see what the Holy Spirit would put on our hearts. We would be excited to learn if there was someone or some organization that needed our financial resources and help so that the Good News and love of God would reach untold numbers of people. We would understand that we are participating in the Great Commission by helping fund missionaries, mission trips, and global and local outreach all for the sake of Jesus who gave up His life for us. We wouldn’t be bored or uncomfortable during these types of sermons if our hearts and minds and attitudes were right with God. We would be pumped to hear about new areas to serve God!

I hope we all humble ourselves and figure out before it’s too late that all that we have is given by God; it’s all His anyway. As you give, you will learn that God will take care of you. You can never outgive God.

~ to borrow an idea from Francis Chan, author of the book “Crazy Love”, let me say this: Jesus tells us to love God and love others. He tells us to love our enemies and pray for them. He tells us that we must love others the same as we love ourselves. In light of these truths from Jesus, shouldn’t we spend as much money on others as we do on ourselves? Shouldn’t we spend as much time and energy on helping and reaching out to others as we do on keeping our own lives comfortable?

Jesus never told us to go to church on Sunday mornings. He didn’t ask us to go to Wednesday night activities with our church. God never asked for part of our lives. He never asked us to be obedient only in certain areas. He didn’t ask us to clock in to being a Christian, and clock out when we want to. Jesus requires our whole life, everything! As Christians, as followers of Jesus, He requires that we give Him our complete self. To deny ourselves, to lose our life for Him, to drop everything that we think makes us who we are and follow Him so we can find out how to become who He wants us to be. To lose our life so that in Jesus, we will be saved.  To live for Jesus who died for us. It’s no longer about us. Our old self is gone. It’s about God in us, about Jesus living in us and through us, about total surrender to God’s plans. When we realize this, when our hearts are conformed to God’s, when our attitudes are correctly aligned with Jesus, we will connect with other Christians at church because we want to, not out of obligation. We will learn what it means to serve God, to love God and to love others.  We will serve others because we love them so much. We will tap into the peace and strength and love that comes from knowing Jesus.  We will want to be totally obedient. We will seek to surrender our lives for the sake of Jesus who died for us.

Matthew 5:38-48
38 “You have heard that it was said, An eye for an eye and a tooth for a tooth. 39 But I tell you, don’t resist an evildoer. On the contrary, if anyone slaps you on your right cheek, turn the other to him also. 40 As for the one who wants to sue you and take away your shirt, let him have your coat as well. 41 And if anyone forces you to go one mile, go with him two. 42 Give to the one who asks you, and don’t turn away from the one who wants to borrow from you.
43 “You have heard that it was said, Love your neighbor and hate your enemy. 44 But I tell you, love your enemies and pray for those who persecute you, 45 so that you may be sons of your Father in heaven. For He causes His sun to rise on the evil and the good, and sends rain on the righteous and the unrighteous. 46 For if you love those who love you, what reward will you have? Don’t even the tax collectors do the same? 47 And if you greet only your brothers, what are you doing out of the ordinary? Don’t even the Gentiles do the same? 48 Be perfect, therefore, as your heavenly Father is perfect.

1 John 4:7-8
7 Dear friends, let us love one another, because love is from God, and everyone who loves has been born of God and knows God. 8 The one who does not love does not know God, because God is love.

Related Text:
Genesis 12:1-3
Leviticus 24:17-20
Luke 6:27-37
Romans 12:14-18

-

Well?
In Jesus’ famous Sermon on th Mount, Jesus enhances the Old Testament Law that the people were familiar with. He challenged people to take the Law one step farther: and these were no baby steps, they were giant leaps!

Jesus does this 6 times during Matthew 5. Here are two examples in addition to the 2 in today’s scripture. (That makes 4; go read Matthew 5 and see if you can find the other to times He pushes us to take it farther.)

Old Law #1: Do not murder, you will be judged. (v. 21)
New Law #1: Jesus says if you are angry, you are in danger of judgement. (v.) 22

Old Law #2: Do not commit adultery (v. 27)
New Law #2: But Jesus says whoever lusts has already committed adultery in his heart (v. 28)

Jesus is concerned with your heart, and any actions that don’t display the proper motives of the heart are empty actions.

Matthew 5:27-32
27 “You have heard that it was said, Do not commit adultery. 28 But I tell you, everyone who looks at a woman to lust for her has already committed adultery with her in his heart. 29 If your right eye causes you to sin, gouge it out and throw it away. For it is better that you lose one of the parts of your body than for your whole body to be thrown into hell. 30 And if your right hand causes you to sin, cut it off and throw it away. For it is better that you lose one of the parts of your body than for your whole body to go into hell!
31 “It was also said, Whoever divorces his wife must give her a written notice of divorce. 32 But I tell you, everyone who divorces his wife, except in a case of sexual immorality, causes her to commit adultery. And whoever marries a divorced woman commits adultery.

1 Thessalonians 4:3-8
3 For this is God’s will, your sanctification: that you abstain from sexual immorality, 4 so that each of you knows how to possess his own vessel in sanctification and honor, 5 not with lustful desires, like the Gentiles who don’t know God. 6 This means one must not transgress against and defraud his brother in this matter, because the Lord is an avenger of all these offenses, as we also previously told and warned you. 7 For God has not called us to impurity, but to sanctification. 8 Therefore, the person who rejects this does not reject man, but God, who also gives you His Holy Spirit.

Related Text:
Deuteronomy 24:1-4
Proverbs 5
Malachi 2:10-16
Matthew 19:3-12
1 Corinthians 7

-

What do you think?
The Old Testament was originally written in the Hebrew language. The Hebrew word to describe “sex outside of the marriage relationship” is Zanah. This word is used 99 times in the entire Old Testament. In the New Testament, that same word is translated into the Greek word Porneia, which is the root word for pornography.

The Bible has a lot to say about sex. Whether it’s in Hebrew, Greek, or translated into English for you and me, the message stays the same. God created sex for a man and a woman to have within a marriage relationship.

This might be one of the most difficult places to stay obedient to God. Sex is everywhere in our society. We cannot escape it’s images, it’s innuendos, it’s popularity in tv and movies. Sexuality reaches out and influences our clothes, our fashion, our hairstyles, our schools, our workplace; it’s everywhere.

Don’t be mistaken. This isn’t a rant about how sex is bad. Sex is great, but God commands us to keep it inside our marriage. Each of us must decide to obey this. We must seek God’s strength when we feel like we can’t be obedient.

Matthew 5:21-26 – Murder Begins in the Heart

21 “You have heard that it was said to our ancestors, Do not murder , and whoever murders will be subject to judgment. 22 But I tell you, everyone who is angry with his brother will be subject to judgment. And whoever says to his brother, ‘Fool!’ will be subject to the Sanhedrin. But whoever says, ‘You moron!’ will be subject to hellfire. 23 So if you are offering your gift on the altar, and there you remember that your brother has something against you, 24 leave your gift there in front of the altar. First go and be reconciled with your brother, and then come and offer your gift. 25 Reach a settlement quickly with your adversary while you’re on the way with him, or your adversary will hand you over to the judge, the judge to the officer, and you will be thrown into prison. 26 I assure you: You will never get out of there until you have paid the last penny!

1 John 2:9-11
9 The one who says he is in the light but hates his brother is in the darkness until now. 10 The one who loves his brother remains in the light, and there is no cause for stumbling in him. 11 But the one who hates his brother is in the darkness, walks in the darkness, and doesn’t know where he’s going, because the darkness has blinded his eyes.

Related Text:
Exodus 20:13
Proverbs 8:12-13
Matthew 5:38-48
Luke 6:22-36

-

So let’s all be practical. We’ll finish reading this scripture, eventually log out of facebook and step away from the computer, and step out into our lives. We’ll interact with our friends/family, coworkers and general acquaintances. We’ll meet people who are rude, people who we don’t get along with, people we can’t stand, and people who don’t like us for whatever reason. There will be people we do get along with and people we but heads with.

So what do we do?

We pray for the people we can’t stand. We pray for the people who are so dead set against us for whatever reason. We pray for those people who have driven us crazy for so long that we can’t even remember why they drive us crazy. We pray for them, and we also pray that God will change our attitude toward them.

When you are finished reading this, I encourage you to try to identify a couple of your “enemies” that you might cross paths with today, tomorrow, or when you go back to wok next week. Be humble before God and let go of your pride, identify those people you don’t get along with (the reason doesn’t even really matter at this point), pray for them, pray for their hurts, and pray that God will give you the strength to change your attitude toward them so you can show them God’s love. Love them.

Matthew 5:17-20
17 “Don’t assume that I came to destroy the Law or the Prophets. I did not come to destroy but to fulfill. 18 For I assure you: Until heaven and earth pass away, not the smallest letter a or one stroke of a letter will pass from the law until all things are accomplished. 19 Therefore, whoever breaks one of the least of these commandments and teaches people to do so will be called least in the kingdom of heaven. But whoever practices and teaches these commandments will be called great in the kingdom of heaven. 20 For I tell you, unless your righteousness surpasses that of the scribes and Pharisees, you will never enter the kingdom of heaven.

Romans 8:1-4
1 Therefore, no condemnation now exists for those in Christ Jesus, 2 because the Spirit’s law of life in Christ Jesus has set you free from the law of sin and of death. 3 What the law could not do since it was limited by the flesh, God did. He condemned sin in the flesh by sending His own Son in flesh like ours under sin’s domain, and as a sin offering, 4 in order that the law’s requirement would be accomplished in us who do not walk according to the flesh but according to the Spirit.

Related Text:
Psalm 119:161-176
Matthew 22:34-40
Romans 3:21-31
Romans 7-8

-

Smoke and Mirrors?
The Pharisees were a very respected and influential group of religious leaders. They were know for strict commitment to following the Hebrew Law exactly as it was written.

They focused so much on displaying the correct behavior that they missed it when their Scriptures revealed that Jesus was the Messiah. They started out with good intentions, but they became blind to what Jesus was doing and deaf to the truth He was proclaiming. Jesus cared more about a person’s inward condition; He focused on your heart, your mind, your attitude, and your motives. The Pharisees were focused more on the behavior of a person and their outward appearance. (Just a quick note, but super huge. When God truly changes your heart and everything on the inside, that will naturally affect a change in your outward appearance! You won’t be going through the motions, you will be living by faith.)

Jesus constantly battled the Pharisees over their external appearance vs. their inward motives and attitudes. He even called them “painted tombs” because they looked good on the outside (by doing the right actions), but they were dead on the inside (because their hearts were in the wrong place).

When Jesus has changed you on the inside, when your heart has been molded like His, when He has changed the way you think and see the world around you, you will be different on the outside too! You’ll sound different, act different, care about things like never before.

I challenge you to read Luke 14:25-35. It talks about what it is going to cost you to be a follower of Jesus. Most of us probably didn’t have to give up much to become a Christian. I’m sure some of you have a very impactful story about your choice to follow Jesus, and I don’t want to belittle that in the least. But for the most of us, we probably didn’t get thrown out of the house when we became a Christian, or we didn’t get ostracized from our community, or get thrown into prison because of our beliefs. We weren’t beaten and hospitalized as a deterrent to stop being a Christian. We don’t experience much of this type persecution.

But sometimes, not having to really give up something to follow Christ has the tendency to allow us to become complacent in our spiritual lives. Eventually, we start going through the motions and forget about the change that God has made in our hearts and minds; in our inside. We skim over passages like Luke 14:25-35. They make us uncomfortable. I encourage you and ask God to encourage me to live exactly like 2 Corinthians 5:15 says, to no longer live for ourselves, but live for Jesus who died for us.

Read those tough passages in scripture that challenge you to give up everything that makes you comfortable so that you can follow Jesus anywhere. Pray that God will give you ideas on how to impact the world around you for Him. Ask Him for help, don’t just go through life as a painted tomb.