Matthew 21:31 "...
Jesus said to them, “Truly, I say to you, the tax collectors and the prostitutes go into the kingdom of God before you." commentary- Once again we talk about what is fair and what is not. Jesus tells a parable of two sons. One is told to go work in the vineyard and he said no initially and then later changed his mind and went and did as he was told. The second son was told to go work in the vineyard and said he would, but did not.
Even though the first son initially denied his fathers orders, he later changed his mind and did as he was instructed. Isn't this just like those who initially are told by God what to do, and how to live, say no, but then later become obedient to God's word? Even for those of us who have already accepted Christ as our personal Lord and Savior can still be disobedient, but we can a;lways make the choice to go back to doing what God wanted us to.
For those of us who say we will follow God's word and seek to be obedient and then do not, then we have lost our way. We become the second son who says he will obey but then does not.
On a personal note, we sell ourselves out for so many things from sports, to understanding money and investing to gossip columns to food (foodies), but do we sell out for God? Do we really commit daily to Him as we do our routines? God isn't saying don't be dedicated to your work or your family, but He is saying "don't put that before me."
Matthew
17:5 "While he was still speaking, a bright cloud covered them, and a
voice from the cloud said, 'This is my Son, whom I love; with him I am
well pleased. Listen to him!'" commentary- As Jesus was with Peter, James and John, he took them up to a mountain and was transfigured before them. Transfigured indicates a change took place, not just necessarily a physical one. As Peter was still speaking about how good it was for them to see Jesus goes through this transformation (verses 2 and 3) a voice spoke through a bright cloud. The last thing the voice said was "listen to him."
I point out 'listen to him' specifically because many of us today, no matter how much access we have to physical Bibles or digital ones, we do not listen to the words of Jesus. You may have heard or read what Jesus said and did, but did you really comprehend it? Did you really understand it? Did you commit it to your heart? I compare it to background noise. We can be in another room and hear the TV but we aren't paying attention to it. We can be on the phone and hear the radio or iPod playing, but we aren't listening to it. The words and ways of Jesus are not just to be read and admired from afar, but to be treated more than your most precious gem or article of clothing. Jesus is more important to us than our equity, our retirement and our car payments. Listen to him!
I saw a link to an article about the decreasing number of Bible readers even with growing access to it. You can read the article here: http://www.faithstreet.com/onfaith/2015/07/17/whats-technology-doing-to-the-bible/37277
May God bless you as you seek to serve Him
