Daily Encouragement

April 13, 2008 - What is the 'Bad Eye' in Matthew 6:23?

Hope you enjoy this commentary by John Piper.

What is the 'Bad Eye' in Matthew 6:23?

John Piper

A verse in Matthew is somewhat difficult to understand. It seems to dangle in the Sermon on the Mount with little connection to what goes before and after: "The eye is the lamp of the body. So, if your eye is healthy, your whole body will be full of light, 23 but if your eye is bad, your whole body will be full of darkness. If then the light in you is darkness, how great is the darkness!" (Matthew 6:22-23).

Before it: the familiar saying about not laying up treasures on earth: "Do not lay up for yourselves treasures on earth, where moth and rust destroy and where thieves break in and steal, 20 but lay up for yourselves treasures in heaven, where neither moth nor rust destroys and where thieves do not break in and steal. 21 For where your treasure is, there your heart will be also" (Matthew 6:19-21).

After it: the equally familiar saying about not serving God and money: " No one can serve two masters, for either he will hate the one and love the other, or he will be devoted to the one and despise the other. You cannot serve God and money" (Matthew 6:24).

Therefore, the sayings before and after Matthew 6:22-23 deal with treasure or money. In fact, the first would flow really well into the second if we simply left out the intervening verses 22-23. The gist would be "Treasure God in heaven, not money on earth . . . because you can't serve two masters, God and money." So why does Jesus link these two sayings about money and God with a saying about the good eye and the bad eye?

The key is found in Matthew 20:15. Jesus had just told the parable of the workers in the vineyard. Some of them had agreed to work from 6 am to 6 pm for a denarius. Some the master hired at 9 am. Others at noon. Finally some he hired at 5 pm. When the day was done at 6 pm he paid all the workers the same thing--a denarius. In other words, he was lavishly generous to those who worked only one hour, and he paid the agreed amount to those who worked twelve hours.

Those who worked all day "grumbled at the master of the house" (Matthew 20:11). They were angry that those who worked so little were paid so much. Then the master used a phrase about "the bad eye" which is just like the one back in Matthew 6:23. He said, "Am I not allowed to do what I choose with what belongs to me? Or do you begrudge my generosity?" (Matthew 20:15).

Unfortunately that last clause is a total paraphrase, not a translation. "Or do you begrudge my generosity" is a very loose paraphrase of "Or is your eye bad because I am good (- ho ophthalmos sou pon-ros estin hoti eg- agathos eimi?)" The "bad eye" here parallels the "bad eye" in Matthew 6:23.

What does the bad eye refer to in Matthew 20:15? It refers to an eye that cannot see the beauty of grace. It cannot see the brightness of generosity. It cannot see unexpected blessing to others as a precious treasure. It is an eye that is blind to what is truly beautiful and bright and precious and God-like. It is a worldly eye. It sees money and material reward as more to be desired than a beautiful display of free, gracious, God-like generosity.

That is exactly what the bad eye means in chapter six of the Sermon on the Mount. And that meaning gives verses 22-23 a perfect fitness between a saying on true treasure (vv. 19-21) and the necessity of choosing between the mastery of God and the mastery of money (vv. 24).

So the flow of thought would go like this: Don't lay up treasures on earth, but lay up treasures in heaven. Show that your heart is fixed on the value that God is for you in Christ. Make sure that your eye is good not bad. That is, make sure that you see heavenly treasure as infinitely more precious than earthly material treasure. When your eye sees things this way, you are full of light. And if you don't see things this way, even the light you think you see (the glitz and flash and skin and muscle of this world) is all darkness. You are sleepwalking through life. You are serving money as a slave without even knowing it, because it has lulled you to sleep. Far better is to be swayed by the truth--the infinite value of God.

So if you are emotionally drawn more by material things than by Christ, pray that God would give you a good eye and awaken you from the blindness of "the bad eye."

Source: http://sveana.blogspot.com/2007/03/what-is-bad-eye-in-matthew-623.html

April 14, 2008 - Meditate on Philippians 4:13

"I can do all things through Christ who strengthens me." Philippians 4:13 (NKJV)

This verse gives me at least three applications:

1. I can do all things which are within the perfect will of Christ for me.

2. Through Christ I can do "all" things even the most difficult one.

3. Without Christ's strength, I will never be able to do anything for God. Therefore I must depend on Him and not my own ability.

As you serve God please remember the above. Then God's Word has promised that "being confident of this very thing, that He who has begun a good work in you will complete it until the day of Jesus Christ." (Philippians 1:6)

April 15, 2008 - Christian Leaders who give

We need Christian leaders desperately today.

The Word of God gives clear examples of what Christian leaders should be in Acts 20. Apostle Paul addressed the leaders of the church at Ephesus with great emotion to encourage them to follow his model of

1. Integrity Acts 20:18f. - speaking and demonstrating the truth in his life.

2. Humility Acts 20:19 - serving like a slave. (ref. Mark 10:44)

3. Openness Acts 20:20, 27- sharing everything.

Paul instructed them to pay close attention to

1. Guard, Nourish (with the Word of God), and care for the people like a shepherd. Acts 20:28, 31

2. Help the weak. Acts 20:35a

3. Give without expecting return. Acts 20:33

It is on this point of giving that we need leaders. Look at the prominent political leaders today. I have not seen any who have given more than 5% of their personal income to charity except to their own political campaign. And they are millionaires or very close to!

Paul reminded us the word of the Lord Jesus outside of the four Gospels, "It is more blessed to give than to receive." Acts 20:35

April 16, 2008 - Turning Yourself In

Hope you are helped by the following devotion by Pastor David Jeremiah.

Turning Yourself In
David Jeremiah
Turning Point

There is no peace when you're on the run. If you're running from God, it's hard to have peace of mind. You can find momentary pleasure, but not inner peace; fleeting diversions, but not eternal joy; short-lived escapades, but not long-term happiness.

Maybe you're tired of being a fugitive from God. You may be at your wits end, but you haven't been sure where to turn.

You can turn your heart toward home. There's no sin God will not forgive when we come to Him in humble contrition; no shame He can't repair; no barrier the power of the cross of Christ can't demolish. Not even our stubborn addictions can withstand the forceful application of the blood of our Lord. He cleanses us from all sin.

But we have to turn to Him in repentance and faith. Returning to Christ is a matter of remembering, repenting, and redoing. Revelation 3:5 says, "Remember therefore from where you have fallen; repent and do the first works." If you've drifted away from God, remember the earlier peace and joy you experienced, repent of your wanderings, and come back to the simple steps of Christian victory.

Surrendering yourself anew to Him requires humility, confessing your sins and seeking reconciliation with those you've been avoiding. It requires godly sorrow, coming to Christ with contrition and earnestness; and determination, for Satan doesn't give up his prey easily. But if you will ask, God will give you the will and the ability to do His good pleasure (Philippians 2:13).

When we return, we experience the joy and freedom that comes when we run into the arms of our loving Father.

It's easy to be in church and sometimes to be involved in the Lord's work, yet to be an inward prodigal. Millions of men and women have been greatly used by God after they returned to Him. In fact, those who repent of the deepest sins most understand God's greatest love and are best able to communicate it.

America's first missionary, Adoniram Judson, ran away from his Christian home in the 1700s. Entering Brown University at age 16, he befriended a deist named Jacob Eames. After reading Voltaire and the French philosophers at Jacob's urging, he told his parents he’d become an atheist.

Lured by tales from the American frontier, Adoniram saddled his horse and headed west. Travel weary, he got a room at an inn. He slept fitfully, hearing painful and desperate groans in the room next door, which made him wonder what his friend Jacob's view of fear, illness, and death was.

The next morning, he asked about the man in the next room. The proprietor said, "I thought maybe you'd heard. He died, sir, toward morning. Very young. Not more than your age. Went to that Brown University out East... His name was Jacob Eames."

The West suddenly lost its allure, and Adoniram turned his horse toward home. He gave his life to Christ and, shortly afterward, devoted himself to missions. On February 6, 1812, Adoniram Judson was commissioned as America's first foreign missionary.

How strange and true are the ways of God! One of the most comforting verses in the Bible is 2 Samuel 14:14: "(God) devises means, so that His banished ones are not expelled from Him."

We can run from God in many areas in our lives, but sooner or later we grow tired of running. We can ignore a thousand altar calls, spurn a hundred invitations to church, resist a dozen friends who are trying to help us. But God devises means to restore us to himself.

He wants us to have peace, for His very name is Peace. He is the Prince of Peace who said, "Peace I leave with you, My peace I give to you; not as the world gives do I give to you. Let not your heart be troubled, neither let it be afraid" (John 14:27).

He's waiting for you to stop running and to start trusting. You can remember, repent, and re-do. Today can be the greatest day of your life if only you'll bow your head, and say, "Lord, I'm coming home."

This article was excerpted from Turning Points, Dr. David Jeremiah's devotional magazine. Call Turning Point at 1-800-947-1993 for your complimentary copy of Turning Points.

Source: http://www.crosswalk.com/spirituallife/11573259/

April 17, 2008 - Meditation on Acts 13: 2 and 2: 42

In fulfilling our purpose driven life, I believe that we need to add one more purpose in order to fulfill the other five: worship, fellowship, discipleship, ministry and mission, which we have learned recently from our 40 Days Spiritual Campaign.

I find that specially taught in Acts 2:42, "And they were continually devoting themselves to the apostles' teaching and to fellowship, to the breaking of the bread and to PRAYER." (NASB)

In the context of the passage above, we see most of the purposes exemplified by the first church and they began to fulfill the mission purpose as they were persecuted and had to leave Jerusalem.

I am interested in the special mention of prayer at the end of the verse.

We then find in Acts 13:2, while they were ministering to the Lord and fasting, the Holy Spirit said, "Set apart for Me Barnabas and Saul for the work to which I have called them." (NASB) Prayer there is a particular important function of the church. It is described as "ministering to the Lord" . The Greek word for ministering there is a special word. It denotes a priestly ministry to God like in the Old Testament.

In the New Testament, all Christians are in the priesthood. (I Peter 2:9)

Therefore we are to perform the priestly function collectively of ministering to God as well as ministering to the community. (Roman 15:27)

With the overwhelming emphasis of prayers in the New Testament, we therefore can say that prayers must be a purposeful function of the local church and of each believer.

Are we created by God to pray? Yes. We are given the ability to cry for help at birth. We must then express our dependence on God daily and unceasingly (I Thessalonians 5:17) to live our lives for God's purposes.

Does this make us a weakling? No. We can be empowered by God to do all things through Christ.

Let us take time in ministering to the Lord as a church this week in prayer meeting or cell. It is not easy. But it is the only way I believe to accomplish all other purposes for our lives successfully.

April 18, 2008 - Communicating with God

Meditation on Revelation 5:8, "... the four living creatures and the twenty-four elders fell down before the Lamb. Each one had a harp and they were holding golden bowls full of incense, which are the prayers of the saints." (NIV)

This scene in heaven informs us that the angels and elders store the prayers of the saints and our prayers like incense going up before the throne of God. (cf. Rev 8:3-4) The prayers of Christians will never be in vain. God will answer them in due time.

Moreover, our prayers are so significant that they do not just represent our thanksgiving, request, petition, and supplication to God. Prayer is our COMMUNICATION with God. Our prayers can be our meditation (Psalm 64:1, Psalm 55:17) and pouring out our souls before God (Ps 62:8).

From the beginning, God created man to have fellowship with Him in the Garden. It is more important to have fellowship with God first, then with men. When we have good communication with God, we will begin to have genuine communication with men.

Jesus modeled this life style of talking with the Father by praying all nightlong. (Luke 6:12) Seeing his constant practice of prayers, the disciples asked for his instruction on how to pray. (Luke 11:1)

Thus, we should set our goal in life to have communion with God. As a result, we will get to know Him. In addition, we will be able to live out His will in our lives.

APRIL 19, 2008 - The grand result of spiritual communication

Meditation on Ephesians 1:17-21: "I keep asking that the God of our Lord Jesus Christ, the glorious Father, may give you the Spirit of wisdom and revelation, so that you may know him better, I pray also that the eye of your heart may be enlightened in order that you may know the hope to which he has called you, the riches of his glorious inheritance in the saints, and his incomparably great power for us who believe. That power is like the working of his mighty strength, which he exerted in Christ when he raised him from the dead and seated him at his right hand in the heavenly realms, far above all rule and authority, power and dominion, and every title that can be given, not only in the present age but also in the one to come."

This great prayer by the Apostle Paul should be an urgent prayer by every growing believer. First of all you and I must pray that we can know God better. When we do that God will answer our prayers by communicating back to us through His Scriptures and the Holy Spirit.

It would be good for us to listen to God through our inner ear by waiting upon Him after prayers. His wonderful thought may come upon us.

Secondly we must pray for spiritual understanding to see these three things:

1. The hope that God has called us to. When we see real hope in our lives, we will be excited for what we are doing for the Lord and for our future.

2. The riches of God's glorious inheritance in us. Then we will see the reality of our vast riches in Christ.

3. The incomparable and explosive power we have in Christ. The same power that raised Jesus from the dead is available for us.

More such communication with God will impart and permeate the above knowledge into your lives.

May God help us to pray individually and with our spiritual partners.