New Testament In a Year

Understanding the Passage

The (absurd) Demand for a Sign

The Pharisees had just accused Jesus of casting out demons through the power of Beelzebub; Before their eyes, a wonderful miracle had just taken place – a demon possessed man who was blind and mute  was able to speak and see after an encounter with Jesus. (Matt 12:22) And yet, having witnessed all these, the Pharisees still told Jesus: “We want to see a miraculous sign from you.”

They were telling Jesus: “Convince us! If you say that you’re God, convince us!”

But wasn’t it absurd? Jesus had just performed a miraculous sign! (the healing of the man). The Pharisees simply wanted to discredit Jesus – if Jesus didn’t perform the miracle, they would say He wasn’t really God; If he performed the miracle, they would just credit it to Beelzebub as they did before.

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Jesus sees through their pretense

So Jesus refuses to give in to their requests. Instead, he rebukes them for their unbelief and lack of faith. To do this, he refers them to the story of Jonah. It was a story that the Pharisees, who were taught in the word, would be familiar with.

Most of us, when we hear the name ‘Jonah’, would remember the image of a large fish that swallowed him (for three days and nights!) and later regurgitated him on land. The story in Jonah was one of a reluctant prophet who ran away from God’s instructions. After his fateful encounter with the fish’s belly, Jonah went to Nineveh as God had instructed.

Flip to the Book of Jonah, and look at what Jonah preached to the people:

“Forty more days and Nineveh will be overturned!”
The Ninevites believed God. They…put on sackcloth

Isn’t it shocking?! All Jonah had to speak was a short statement that Nineveh would be destroyed by God’s wrath, and to people of Nineveh immediately repented of their sins and turned to God. Even though so little was revealed to the people of Nineveh, yet they believed!

Then there’s the story of the Queen of Sheba, who came from a foreign land to ask King Solomon many questions. (1 Kings 10:1-13 for the full story!) King Solomon answered her many questions by his God-given wisdom, to a point where Queen Sheba proclaimed:

Praise be to the Lord your God, who has delighted in you and placed you on the throne of Israel!
(1 Kings 10:9)

Remember, the Queen had come from a distant land – there were no prophets to continually remind the people of God, there were no Holy Scriptures to be read. And yet, the Queen came to believe in God from the little she had heard and received.

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SHAME ON US!

Through the telling of these two stories, Jesus was telling the Pharisees: “Shame on you!” The people of Nineveh and the Queen of Sheba had received so little revelation, yet they had so readily believed. On the contrary, the Pharisees had received so much revelation – they had seen Jesus himself, they had seen the miracles he performed – and yet they did not repent of their unbelief!

Jesus refers to himself when he says that “one greater than Jonah is here” (Matt 12:41) and “one greater than Solomon is here” (Matt 12:42). If people believed the simple revelations that Jonah and Solomon gave, why didn’t they believe Jesus!

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The Sign of Jonah – the final one.

Jesus says in verse 39, that no sign will be given except for “the sign of the prophet Jonah”. Here, he is probably referring to the sign of his own death and resurrection that would occur in time to come. Like Jonah, who spent three nights and days in the belly of a fish, Jesus would spend three nights and days in the grave before emerging as the Risen Savior of the world.

If any sign would convince the Pharisees to believe, it would be the very sign of Jesus’ death and resurrection!

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So what does this mean for us?

We who live in this generation are perhaps even more privileged than the Pharisees. We live in an age after the death and resurrection of Jesus Christ – the tomb is empty! the body of Jesus is gone! We live in an age where many Christians proclaim the testimony of Jesus’ transforming work in their lives (such are the miracles of our modern times!)

and yet, so many of us do not believe.

How often do we pray to God to show us a sign in order to increase the strength of our faith in Him? I’m guilty of this sometimes. But i’ve come to realize that He has already given us the greatest sign – that of his resurrection! Also, his ongoing miraculous work in our lives is proof of his existence (just remember all the previous times he has been faithful to you, those are miracles in themselves!)

Much has been revealed to us, so we ought to believe!

This is especially a message to unbelievers! So much has been revealed, that -in a sense- we are inexcusable for not believing.

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In the end, it’s more than the signs

Even if Jesus had performed the sign for the Pharisees, they would not have believed – because they had gone to Jesus in an attitude of disbelief!

So it is for us: we can ask for as many signs as we want from Jesus, but if we’re not ready to believe, it’s unlikely that He’ll grant us these signs.

Conversely, even if there’s a lack of such ‘miraculous signs’ in our lives, but if we’re willing to believe in Jesus, he is always ready to receive us. And he is ever pleased with our faith.

Ultimately, it’s not about the signs and revelations; it’s about how willing you are to believe.

For non-believers – ultimately, the signs won’t matter, it’s our attitude.

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Fill your heart with God’s truth

We’ll end off with a short note on the latter part of the passage. When we repent of unbelief, we empty our hearts of unbelief – this is like the “evil spirit [that] comes out of a man” (Matt 12:43). However, having emptied ourselves, we need to fill ourselves with God’s truth and his Holy Spirit (who reminds us of the truth). Otherwise, the unbelief will find its way back into our hearts, and may become even stronger than the first time – like how the evil spirit returns to the house it left (verse 44), finds it clean and put in order, then goes in with seven other spirits more wicked than itself (verse 45).

It’s dangerous to empty ourselves of wrong thoughts and actions, without subsequently filling ourselves with the right things. If we don’t fill ourselves with God (or ask Him to fill us), we’ll only find ourselves returning to our former ways.

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Questions to Pray Over

1) Do you have difficulties believing in God? Instead of asking for signs, ask Him to increase your faith, and open your eyes to the signs that He has already placed into your life – like Jesus’ resurrection.

2) Are you trying to rid yourself of bad thoughts and actions? Pray that God will help to fill you with the right thoughts and actions, and prevent you from going back to your former ways.

3) Pray for God to reveal more of himself to you each day! And make sure you spend time with Him in prayer (:

Understanding the Passage

Words are something that we are all extremely careless with. Lost in a moment of frustration, we may let out a careless vulgarity; Blinded with rage, we may burst out in a flurry of hurtful words toward another person (maybe your parents, or friends…). Sometimes, we really don’t think before we speak, and we regret the things we say later on.

In today’s passage, Jesus says that we will have to ‘give account of [every idle word]‘ (v36) we have spoken when He returns on the day of judgment. Just imagine, we’ll have to give a reason for everything we’ve said before. Every careless word uttered will return to haunt us at the judgment seat of Christ.

Our tongue can be both a blessing and a curse. James writes that ‘out of the same mouth proceed blessing and cursing‘ (James 3:10). Indeed, the same tongue that we use to encourage another person can also be used to criticize and to hurt. Because of this, James also describes the tongue as ‘an unruly evil, full of deadly poison‘ (Jam 3:8). Surely, we must start to realize the great impact which our words have on the people around us, and learn to wield our tongue properly.

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The Root of the Problem

But actually, the root of the problem isn’t exactly our tongues – it’s our hearts. Jesus says that ‘out of the abundance of the heart the mouth speaks’ (Matt 12:34). Just imagine a sink that is running full – as more water flows in, it begins to overflow and the water eventually spills out. Our hearts are like that sink, and the water that flows into the sink is akin to the things we fill our hearts with. Eventually, the things we fill our hearts with will overflow and emerge as the words we speak.

‘A good man [will] bring forth good things’, and ‘an evil man [will] bring forth evil things’ (Matt 12:35). It’s simple and clearcut, if your heart is filled with good things, you will naturally speak good words. If your heart is filled with evil, you will naturally spout evil.

In other words, if we spend each day thinking and meditating on good things – things which are pure, thoughts which are loving, reading God’s word – then we will naturally speak words which are pure and loving and Christlike. But if we fill our minds with violence, with cursing, with swearing, with anger – then our words will reflect the dirty state of our hearts.

So this passage is really an encouragement for us to guard our hearts, for it is the spring from which all other things – our actions and our thoughts – come. As Paul says in Philippians: “whatever things are true…whatever things are pure…whatever things are lovely…, meditate (think) on these things” (Phil 4:8).

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fill your heart with goodness

I guess I’ll end off with a personal example. Last week, I’ve felt really down, dejected, and rather discouraged. My words were peppered with a sense of hopelessness. Whenever I spoke, it was with a limp voice, lacking enthusiasm and joy. It went on for some time – till i realized (as I typed this entry), that it was because I was thinking about all my disappointments and failures in life – thinking back on sad times, thinking about the things I lost and missed. But the moment I started to focus on God again, and the joyful things I could thank Him for, I started to feel the sun rising up again in my heart (:

So, I hope you all will fill your heart with goodness, and speak goodness to all the people around you as well (:

Questions to Pray Over

1) Have I said anything that I’ve regretted? Pray for God’s forgiveness, and take the proper action to apologize to the person.

2) Have I been filling my heart with good things? If you have been exposing yourself to bad influences, pray that God will help you to reject what is bad, and accept what is good – Guard your heart!

Understanding the Passage

Many Christians lose sleep over this supposed ‘unpardonable sin’ (My brother just came up to me and said he was worried if he or anyone else have committed this sin!)- of course the phrase ‘unpardonable sin’ can be found no where in the Bible, but here Jesus says something that perhaps may strike fear into the hearts of every person:

but anyone who speaks against the Holy Spirit will not be forgiven, either in this age or in the age to come

What is the ‘unpardonable sin’?

Most biblical scholars would point you to a parallel passage in Mark in order to make crystal clear what the ‘unpardonable sin’ was:

“But whoever blasphemes against the Holy Spirit will never be forgiven: he is guilty of an eternal sin”
He said this because they were saying “He has an evil spirit”

Mark 3:29-30

The ‘eternal sin’ is very specifically stated – it was the sin of saying that Jesus had an evil spirit within Him. Remember that Jesus had just cast out a demon from a demon-possessed man, and the teachers of the law had accused him of doing so by the power of Beelzebub. Even though it was the Spirit of God (the Holy Spirit) that was responsible for the miraculous exorcism, the teachers of the law claimed that it was due to the power of Beelzebub. Basically, the teachers of the law were speaking disrespectfully about the Holy Spirit – they were calling the Holy Spirit an evil spirit, which is a great insult.

that was the ‘eternal sin’ – saying that the Holy Spirit was of the devil.

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why is it unforgivable?

But why is this sin unforgivable? Well, let’s think about how we are forgiven in the first place.

God made [Jesus] who had no sin to be sin for us, so that in him we might become the righteousness of God

2 Corinthians 5:21

Well, we are forgiven because of the sacrifice of Jesus on the cross. Jesus was the sacrifice for our sins. And the important thing about Jesus was that he was without sin, he was pure, and he was unblemished – that was the only reason why his sacrifice on the cross could redeem us, because he was absolutely spotless! Had Jesus been a normal sinful person, the sacrifice on the cross would have achieved nothing.

So, our forgiveness and salvation is based on the fact that Jesus was sinless, and He died on the cross for us in a great act of love.

Now, if we say that the Holy Spirit is of the devil, we also imply that Jesus was of the devil (since God is the Holy Trinity, I suppose insulting one would also mean insulting the other two). By saying Jesus is someone on the devil’s side, we are rejecting the fact that he was sinless. By saying that Jesus wasn’t sinless, we are rejecting our only hope for forgiveness and salvation.

Hence, when we say that Jesus/Holy Spirit/God is of the devil, we reject our only way to forgiveness and salvation!

So can you see why blaspheming against the Holy Spirit is an unforgivable sin? (if you still don’t, you can gimme a call (: )

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Have I committed this unpardonable sin?? OH NO!

I think most of us would start feeling a little queasy at this point – oh no! maybe I accidentally said something disrepectful to the Holy Spirit when I was praying, or wrestling with God, or talking to God in frustration!

Maybe maybe…

But you see, the very fact that you worry whether you’ve committed the unpardonable sin is probably proof that you have not committed it!

If you conscience is still functioning, if you’re still willing to pray to Jesus for forgiveness (and hence believe in his sacrifice for you), then you acknowledge that Jesus came from God, and not from the devil. You have not committed the unpardonable sin! The Holy Spirit is still working within you to purify you from every wicked way.

so smile with relief (:

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The Great Great Comforting Truth (:

and people often get so worried about the  ‘unpardonable sin’ that they overlook one part of the verse:

And so I tell you, every sin and blasphemy will be forgiven men, but… (verse 31)

you see? other than the one exception we have dealt with above, Jesus assures us that every other sin will be forgiven – as long as we believe that he was God’s Son, sent to earth to die for the forgiveness of our sins. This really is an comforting truth to all of us out there who may be feeling worried that they are unforgiven.

So take heart my friends, Jesus’ love is greater than any sin you’ve committed – he will forgive every sin as long as you believe (:

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Questions to Pray Over

1) Remember that our forgiveness is only through the death of Jesus on the cross; Say a little prayer to thank God for His wonderful display of love on the cross!

2) Maybe you feel guilty, and not convinced that you’re forgiven by Jesus. Remember this verse, and trust that God has forgiven you. Pray that He’ll help you trust that He has forgiven you!

3) Pray that we’ll always respect God, Jesus and the Holy Spirit for who they are – in our thoughts, actions and words.

Understanding the Passage

Possessed!

It’s not the first time we’ve come across a man who was demon-possessed – previously we saw the legion of demons that pleaded for Jesus to send them into a herd of pigs (remember?). But for the first time, let’s notice something:

a demon-possessed man who was blind and mute

The demon-possessed man was both blind and mute due to the evil spirits which dwelled within him. This was a demon that took away the man’s ability to see or speak! It was the work of the devil, to silence the man and plunge him into a world of darkness.

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Spiritual blindness

Demonic possessions may be more of a rare sight in this time and country, but the work of the devil is still very real. From this passage, we can learn that it is the devil who blinds and silences Christians and non-believers alike.

The devil blinds non-believers and causes them to reject the message of the Gospel. No matter how much preaching they receive, they will never acknowledge the Lordship of Jesus Christ. No matter how much they go to church and listen to sermons, they will never acknowledge their need for Jesus’ forgiveness.

The devil blinds Christians as well – for instance, he causes them to become unaware of their sins. Once unaware, Christians enter the endless downward spiral – they carry on sinning without realising their predicament. What’s worse than sinning is sinning without realizing it or acknowledging it!

And then there’s also spiritual muteness – where we just lose the desire to sing and worship God, or declare His goodness to all those around us. Sometimes we are crippled by fear, and hence unable to spread the word of the Gospel. Other times, we are just so caught up with everything else that we forget to take time to worship God.

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Jesus the Healer

But Jesus has the power to cast out demons, and to overcome the work of the devil. Through the work of Jesus, blind eyes will be opened, and sealed lips will break out in praise.

Maybe in your current circumstances, you feel spiritually blind or mute. Maybe you feel like you’re unable to see the sins that you’ve committed, or that you’ve lost the desire to sing a song of praise to God. I hope that you will say a prayer to God – because Jesus can help you in your circumstances.

for the spiritually blind:
“Dear Lord, open up my eyes to see you, and to see the sins of my heart…help me to realize where I have failed you, and help me to turn away from my wicked ways so that I can serve you better (: “

for the spiritually mute:
“Dear Lord, put a song of praise into my heart, and help me to worship you in spirit and in truth. Please help me to sing to you like I mean it again (: “

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By the Power of Christ, not the devil

So Jesus healed the demon possessed man, but the Pharisees then accused Him of doing so by the power of Beelzebub – the prince of demons. Basically, the Pharisees felt that Jesus could only have authority over demons because he wielded the power of the prince of demons.

But Jesus gave a good argument – that a household divided against itself will not stand (verse 25). Basically, Satan can’t be opposing Himself by casting out demons. Satan can’t drive out Satan – that’s like bad guys driving out bad guys. Instead, it was by the Spirit of God (verse 28) that Jesus did what he did. His power came from God!

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No grey area…

And finally, Jesus closes by setting the line very straight – if we are “not with [Jesus] we are against him” (verse 30). There is no grey area when it comes to the Christian faith – we are either on Jesus’ side or not. There are no half-baked Christians, you’re either completely on fire for God and living for Him, or you’re against Him.

I think we all know whose side we want to be on – so let’s make the choice today to follow Him, to pray for healing from our spiritual blindness and muteness, that we might love Him more (:

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Questions to Pray Over

1) Pray that God will help you to overcome your spiritual blindness or muteness – you can start with the words of the prayer above.

2) Pray that God will help you not to be a half-baked Christian, but to be completely on His side.

Understanding the Passage

Jesus was God’s chosen servant; Isaiah had prophesied of His coming centuries back – and He had finally come. The main bulk of today’s passage is a quotation from Isaiah – it is a prophecy that describes the nature of the Chosen One, His character, and what He would do.

One of the steps to building a relationship with another person is to get to know his character; And I think many of us do not spend enough time thinking about the character of Jesus – who He was, and what He did. If only we spent more time meditating on who Jesus was and what He was like – I’m sure that we’ll grow closer to Him, and grow to become more like Him.

So, let’s take today’s passage as a starting point, and let’s just spend some time thinking about who Jesus was, shall we?

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the Chosen One

Jesus was the servant “whom God [had] chosen” (verse 18) to carry out His work of redemption. Through the death of Jesus, God would once and for all make a way for us to restore our broken relationship with Him (a relationship broken apart by sin).

Jesus was dearly loved by His Father in heaven. God said that Jesus was the one he “delighted” in. When we believe that God loved Jesus – His only Son – then we also will come to believe that God loves each of us, who are his adopted children through our belief in Jesus Christ. We are children of God, and we are also dearly loved by God (:

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Justice Proclaimer!

This world we live in is perpetuated by injustice! I’m sure you’ve heard the saying that “life is unfair”! Good people suffer, bad people triumph. Sometimes bad people get away with their wrongdoing, while good people get framed. Wars go on and on, and innocent civilians lose their lives as a result of their political leaders’ mistakes.

But Jesus came to make the wrong right. Jesus came to restore justice to a world full of injustice. He came to help those who were oppressed or being abused. He corrected the mistakes of the Pharisees, and he protected those who the Pharisees were hypocritically criticizing. And ultimately, Jesus will come again one day to judge the living and the dead – one day, Jesus will judge every person, and bring every good or bad deed into the light. One day, Jesus was judge fairly, to determine if we shall have eternal life or death. One day, every bad person will receive the due punishment for his wrongdoing.

This should bring us great joy! Even though we face times on earth were things are unfair, one day Jesus will restore justice! So let us not take justice into our own hands (don’t seek revenge when someone wrongs you, but trust that Jesus will deal with that person in a fair manner). Also let us keep our lives in check so that we can stand before Jesus one day.

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The Comforter

I really like this description:

A bruised reed he will not break

The image is one of a bruised reed (a kind of straw-like plant) that is about to break. The reed has been battered and bruised, and is about to collapse. But Jesus won’t break a bruised reed – he will strengthen and comfort the bruised reed.

This bruised reed represents the many people around us who are going through tough times, who feel discouraged, who feel like giving up, who feel weak and unable to go on. Maybe you’re also feeling this way. Well, to all those bruised reeds out there, take heart, because Jesus will strengthen you – He won’t sadistically trample upon you, He will have compassion on you and heal you.

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The Restorer

a smoldering wick he will not snuff out

The image is one of a flickering candle – the flame is about to go out. It’s like a person who’s passion is slowly dying away, a person who’s strength is slowly fading away. To such people, Jesus brings a message of hope! Jesus will not quench the flame of a flickering candle, in fact he will fan the flame and cause it to burn brightly again!

Maybe you’re losing hope in life, maybe you’re losing your passion for God – take heart, Jesus will help to light your flame again!

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And finally – Jesus the Hope of Nations!

In his name the nations will put their hope

Jesus is the source of hope – because He is the redeemer who will bring us forgiveness for our sins. He is not just our hope, but the hope of all who live on this earth – the hope of nations!

A hope to all of us who feel hopeless.

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So think about Him…

So think about Him. Spend some time to ponder about Jesus.
He is the justice proclaimer – He’ll set things right
He is the comforter – He’ll help us through
He is the restorer – He’ll give us strength and passion
He is the hope of nations – He’ll give us something to live for!

spend some time praying today, thinking about Jesus, and marvelling at how good He is.

and even as you do this, also pray that Jesus will help you to be like Him – so that you will also be a comforter to all the bruised reeds around you, so that you can also bring hope to those in need.

amen.

Understanding the Passage

Breaking the Sabbath!

Jesus and his disciples did the unthinkable – they broke one of the most important laws, the law of the Sabbath. For those of you who do not know what this law is all about, allow me to take you back to a time where Moses received the Ten Commandments from God on Mount Sinai. While upon the mountain, this was one of the instructions given to Moses by God:

Remember the Sabbath day by keeping it holy
Six days you shall labor and do all your work,
but the seventh day is a Sabbath to the Lord your God.
On it you shall not do any work…

Exodus 20:8-10a

Basically, the Sabbath was a day where everyone was not supposed to do any work – just like how God rested after six days of creation. But in our passage for today, two really shocking things happened:

[Jesus'] disciples were hungry and began to pick some heads of grain and eat them (verse 1)

Firstly, Jesus’ disciples did work! (haha, I think some of you are beginning to like the idea of a Sabbath when you don’t have to do any homework  ) And the Pharisees were quick to point out their faults – they told Jesus that his disciples were being “unlawful on the Sabbath” (verse 2)

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David’s and the priests’ bread

Immediately, Jesus comes to their defense, and he mentions a similar scenario where (King-to-be) David and his companions were so famished with hunger that they consumed bread that was only meant for the priests. The story comes from 1 Samuel 21:1-6. Basically, David and his friends were running away from King Saul – who was hunting them down to kill them – and they were severely hungry after days of journey. In his concern for his companions, David asked for bread from the priest (Ahimelech was his name, if you’re interested) to feed his companions. But there was no normal bread, so they had to take the consecrated bread.

You see, there are exceptions to the law. The law still stands, but there are exceptions! For David, it was unlawful to eat the priests’ bread. But he was doing it out of human necessity, and out of care and concern for his friends – David was being a good Shepherd. God was pleased with that, and God also wanted David to be nourished – and not die of hunger simply for the sake of obeying the law.

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Jesus heals on the Sabbath

Also, Jesus heals a crippled man on the Sabbath – that’s counted as work!

Oh my! If Jesus is God, that means that God seems to be contradicting his own law for the Sabbath – by doing work on the Sabbath!

But from this incident, Jesus shows us something important:

If any of you has a sheep and it falls into a pit on the Sabbath, will you  not take hold of it and lift it out?
…Therefore it is lawful to do good on the Sabbath.

The Sabbath was put in place so that people would set aside a day to remember God, worship God and honor Him. The Pharisees abided to this law strictly – but they forgot the purpose of the Sabbath, to honor God. In their minds, they would have felt that it was unlawful for Jesus to heal on the Sabbath – it was disobeying God’s law.

But then, it wouldn’t make sense right? Healing the crippled man, saving Him, and showing him God’s love was definitely something that honored God! To say that you shouldn’t do good on the Sabbath would be to contradict the purpose of the Sabbath altogether!

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So what can we learn from this?

I think what we must learn is that we shouldn’t obey the rules for obedience sake. We cannot forget the purpose and reason for all the things we do. Consider the following:

1) What’s the purpose why we go to church? — to praise God and know Him better

2) What’s the purpose for our quiet time and praying? — to worship God and know Him better

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3 possible scenarios

Let’s say one Sunday, you have a friend who’s mother just passed away, and he needs comfort and a listening ear. He comes to you asking you to come to his place and accompany him so that he won’t feel lonely.

But you say: “sorry man, i need to go to church to worship God!”

I think that’s like the Pharisees saying its unlawful to heal a man on the Sabbath. Because you don’t realize that comforting a friend also honors God – because you’re showing love to a person in need – and it may actually be more important than you going to church!

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Or maybe you’re busy doing your QT and your mum needs help with her housework. She asks you for assistance,

But you say: “sorry mum, I’m doing my QT now, honoring God, I can’t help you”

Can you see the irony? Honoring our parents is part of honoring God! Helping your mum is part of honoring God too!

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Or maybe you’re really sick, and your body needs rest. But you still force yourself to go to church, because you feel like you must!

Honestly, ask yourself, would God want you to go to church at the expense of your worsening health? I think He would care more for your physical well being as well.

(still, this is only a rare exception, don’t use it as a reason not to go to church haha)

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in conclusion – Jesus is the Lord of everything, including the Sabbath

Ultimately, Jesus says that he is the Lord of the Sabbath – the Sabbath was made to honor Him. This means that there are times where we may need to break the Sabbath rule to do something that would honor God – like healing the crippled man.

For us, it means that sometimes God may want us to put aside something like QT or going to church in order to do something more important that can bring honor to Him. This does not mean that QT and going to church are not important! They are still important, but there are times where we can make exceptions – like when there is someone who is urgently in need!

What’s important is that at all times, we must remember that our purpose is to honor God – and sometimes that requires us to break a few rules, and make a few exceptions

God isn’t an inflexible dictator with a set of rigid rules – he also understands why we make exceptions, as long as we have a good reason to do so. After all, even Jesus made exceptions right?

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Questions to Pray Over

1) Have there been times that there were people in need, but you didn’t help them because of some excuse? Pray that God will help you to meet the needs around you next time – even if it means making some exceptions.

2) Has going to church and doing QT become part of a routine for you? Are you just doing these things for their own sake? Pray that God will help you to rediscover the reason for why you do these things! And apologize if you have forgotten to do these things!

Our Passage For Today

the passage today, is just one simple verse:

At that time Jesus said, I praise you, Father, Lord of heaven and earth, because you have hidden these things from the wise and learned, and revealed them to little children.

there’s another passage in Matthew that really links up to the words spoken by Jesus here, read it prayerfully:

At that time the disciples came to Jesus and asked, Who is the greatest in the kingdom of heaven?

He called a little child and had him stand among them.

And he said: I tell you the truth, unless you change and become like little children, you will never enter the kingdom of heaven.

Therefore, whoever humbles himself like this child is the greatest in the kingdom of heaven.

And whoever welcomes a little child like this in my name welcomes me.

Understanding The Passage

Like Little Children

It’s interesting. All around us, our parents tell us to ‘grow up‘, teachers ask us to ‘act our age‘, grown ups tell us to ‘stop acting like children‘ (sounds familiar?); but here, Jesus tells us to “become like little children“.

Well, surely there’s no possible way for us to turn back the clock and become 10-years old again; and surely Jesus isn’t really expecting us to become children again.

What Jesus means is that we have to become LIKE little children again – apparently, there’s something about little children that every one of us needs to learn, otherwise we will never enter the kingdom of heaven (Matt 18:3). So what is it that we need to learn?

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Child-like sense of wonder!

When we were young, the simplest of things amazed us- the stars in the sky, the rainbow that magically appeared after every storm, the rain which poured from heaven. All these things would cause us to gasp in wonder – ‘Wow? How does that happen?’ we would ask.

When we were young, we had our own childhood heroes, people – both fictional and non-fictional – who we looked up to and wanted to become like. Maybe it was your dad, or maybe some superhero on TV. Every one of us has experienced that sense of wonder where we look at a person and think: “Wow! I want to be just like him!”

And we need to rediscover that child-like sense of wonder. When we look to God and to Jesus, we need to feel that sense of amazement and wonder, where we just look at him in reverent silence. We need to take time to marvel at the depth of His love, the endless nature of His mercy, the impossibility of His holiness! (: Take time to say WOW about God!

And we need to look at Him, and say in child-like fashion, that we want to be just like Him; Just like Jesus – loving, without sin and always obedient to God.

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Child-like simple faith

Jesus says that the knowledge of who God is has been hidden from the “wise and the learned” (Matt 11:25), but it has been revealed to little children. Some people try all they can to discover God – they read many books, ask many questions, search all possible sources for the answers – but they never do figure out who God really is. The truth is, God is beyond our understanding, and there is no way we can comprehend Him – even the wise and learned are unable to!

Rather than try to discover God by our own means, we need to pray that He will reveal Himself to us through His word. And child-like faith is important for this to happen.

I guess there’s many things about the Christian faith that we’ll never fully understand. There will also be many times where doubts will cause our faith to be shaken – where we wonder if God’s really there, where we struggle to understand where God is in the midst of our difficulty. But it is in those times that we need to be like a child and continue to hang on to God believing that no matter what, your loving heavenly Father is still there!

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Child-like humility

And finally, Jesus says that we should humble ourselves like children (Matt 18:4). I guess humility ties in a lot with a child-like faith, because we admit that we are unable to comprehend everything about God, so we have to believe by faith.

Humility also means that we need to rely on God for strength – just like a child relies a lot on the parents who love him/her. When a child encounters trouble, he runs to his parents. When we encounter problems in life, we need to humility to admit that we can’t overcome the situation ourselves, and turn to God for His strength and help, knowing that He will be there to help us. (:

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So, yes, be like a child. Pray for that tender, child-like heart that always believes, always trusts, and always depends on God.

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Key Verse

And he said: I tell you the truth, unless you change and become like little children, you will never enter the kingdom of heaven.

Matthew 18:3

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Questions to Pray Over

1) Pray for a child-like sense of wonder – that God will allow you to be amazed at His goodness (:

2) Pray for a child-like faith – that God will help you to believe in Him even in times of doubts and difficulty

3) Pray for child-like humility – to always be dependent on God!

Pray that our hearts will never grow old (:

Understanding the Passage

it’s ok to doubt…

Like the rest of the Jews, John the Baptist had been expecting a great Messiah, someone who would deliver the Israelites from Roman rule. Previously, we saw how John was the person who baptized Jesus (Matthew 3:13-17) – he even heard the voice of God from heaven that confirmed that Jesus was indeed [God's] Son, whom [God] loved (Matthew 3:17). If there was anyone who could believe in Jesus being God’s Son, it would be John the Baptist himself.

But still, John – the great prophet – had doubts. He couldn’t understand something.

Almost every Jew expected the Messiah to be someone who would overthrow the Roman government and restore Israel’s freedom. But up to now, Jesus had done nothing of that sort. John sincerely believed that Jesus was the Son of God, but he didn’t understand why Jesus had not freed Israel from the Romans up to now. That’s why he asks: “Are you the one who was to come, or should we expect someone else?” (verse 3)

I think everyone has doubts about our faith now and then, and this passage shows that there’s nothing wrong with having doubts or questions. Questions and doubts can help to strengthen your faith. On the contrary, not clarifying your doubts will only lead to a faith that will collapse in the end when it comes under fire.

But John the Baptist teaches us something important about what to do when we have doubts. When he doubted, John sent his disciples to ask Jesus about his doubts. He still trusted in his heart that Jesus was the Son of God, but he just didn’t understand how Jesus would save Israel.

Whenever we have our own doubts, it’s important that we consult Jesus first – tell God about your doubts through prayer! Ask God for answers. But like John the Baptist, you must always still continue to believe that Jesus is the Son of God, even as you ask your questions. It may be questions like: “why do good people suffer?”, or “how can a loving God send people to hell?”…the questions are endless.

But remember, ask God first – don’t get caught up with relying on books, or asking people, till you forget to ask God Himself.

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Jesus has the answer

the answer that Jesus gave to John’s disciples was a simple one – “report to John what you hear and see” (verse 4). During his time on earth, Jesus had healed the blind, helped the lame to walk, cured those with leprosy…(verse 5). Jesus HAD come to free and save Israel, but in a way that they had not expected!

What Jesus had come to free Israel from was not the Romans; instead, Jesus had come to heal Israel of its sin, to save it from eternal death in hell, and to cure Israel of its spiritual blindness. He was indeed the Messiah, but many Jews like John did not understand Him.

And then comes verse 6:

Blessed is the man who does not fall away on account of me

From his outward appearance, Jesus was a friend of the tax collectors, he feasted with ‘sinners’, he associated with unclean lepers – he wasn’t dressed in royal robes, but was the son of a carpenter. The Jews believed that a Messiah would come in a king-like fashion. But from the external appearance, Jesus was no King.

Yet Jesus says this – he says that blessed are those who continue to believe in Him as their king despite of his external appearance.

Jesus came as a servant king. He didn’t come as a great king to be served, but rather as a servant king to serve those He loved. I think that’s something really wonderful we can thank Him for. Jesus was a king with a difference – the only King in all history who deserves our love because He loved us first!

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John the great Baptist

Jesus then affirms John the Baptist in front of the surrounding crowd. Jesus wanted to let the crowds know that even though John had doubts, he was a great prophet!

John wasn’t a ‘reed swayed by the wind‘ (verse 7), which is easily bent and changed. John was a firm believer in Jesus whose faith was strong and unshakable.

John wasn’t dressed in fine clothes, he was dressed in robes of camel hair (Matthew 3:4). Like Jesus, he had a poor exterior and was a servant to the people, preaching the coming of the kingdom of heaven.

John was a prophet – and he strongly proclaimed that Jesus was coming. He was the ‘messenger‘ who ‘prepared the way‘ for Jesus to come. John laid out the red carpet for Jesus to enter on.

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But still…we are greater than John?

Jesus exalts John, saying that there has not risen anyone greater than John (verse 11). Now that’s quite something – it’s like saying John was the greatest man ever lived, greater than Moses, Elijah, King David…

But then, Jesus follows up with the most astounding words:

yet he who is least in the kingdom of heaven is greater than [John the Baptist].

Get this. Even the least in the kingdom of heaven, is more blessed than John himself. Even a little child who whispers a quiet prayer to accept Jesus enters the kingdom of heaven and becomes even greater than John the Baptist! Even we, who have all accepted Christ, are greater than John the Baptist. Now how can that be?

The reason why we are greater than John is because we have had the privilege to believe in the death and resurrection of Jesus Christ! John was a forerunner of Jesus – he came before Jesus – and he never had a chance to witness the death of Jesus on the cross, and his glorious resurrection. But we who live in this present time have had that privilege to enter the kingdom of heaven through the sacrifice of Jesus! This is a wonderful gift that we must thank God for. (:

How blessed is the man who has had the chance to accept Jesus as his Savior, and who has the chance to be forgiven through the blood of Jesus! How blessed is that man! He is even greater than John the Baptist!

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Key Verse

Blessed is the man who does not fall away on account of me

Matthew 11:6

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Questions to Pray Over

1. Do you have doubts about your relationship with Jesus? Remember to take it to Him in prayer – whilst always believing that He is God!

2. Maybe you doubt Jesus’ ability to help you in your current circumstances and problems – just be honest with Jesus and tell Him that, and pray that He’ll show you His power to help you through.

3. Meditate on the fact that Jesus was a servant king – with not kingly robes, who was humble to the point of death – give thanks to Him for his great love.

4. Give thanks for the gift of believing in Jesus’ death and resurrection through which we are saved!