What man is there among you
who, if his son asks for bread, will give him a stone? —Matthew 7:9
The illustration of prayer
that our Lord used here is one of a good child who is asking for something
good. We talk about prayer as if God hears us regardless of what our
relationship is to Him (see Matthew 5:45). […] Do you have to say to the Lord,
“I have been irritable and cross, but I still want spiritual blessings”? You
cannot receive and will have to do without them until you have the attitude of
a “good child.” […] We refuse to look at the evidence that clearly indicates
where we are wrong. Have I been asking God to give me money for something I
want, while refusing to pay someone what I owe him? Have I been asking God for
liberty while I am withholding it from someone who belongs to me? Have I
refused to forgive someone, and have I been unkind to that person? Have I been
living as God’s child among my relatives and friends? (see Matthew 7:12). I am
a child of God only by being born again, and as His child I am good only as I
“walk in the light” (1 John 1:7). For most of us, prayer simply becomes some
trivial religious expression, a matter of mystical and emotional fellowship
with God. […] There is no use praying unless we are living as children of God.
Then Jesus says, regarding His children, “Everyone who asks receives…” (Matthew
7:8). CHAMBERS
(James 4:2-4) “… You do not have because you do not ask. You ask and do not receive, because you ask with
wrong motives, so that you may spend it on your pleasures. You adulteresses, do
you not know that friendship with the world is hostility toward God? Therefore
whoever wishes to be a friend of the world makes himself an enemy of God.” So often we live our lives the way we want,
patronizing God on Sunday morning, demanding that He prove Himself to us by
bailing us out of jams and satisfying our lust for the things of this world.
Sound harsh? It is the cold truth. How
dare we think that we can barge into the presence of God and demand that He do
what we want. We don’t get to make the
rules of our relationship nor do we get to decide what is best for us.
We need to wake up! When we come into the
presence of the Creator God we must remember that it is only because of Jesus that
we can. It is only because of God’s
grace and mercy that we are His children and can ask even for a crumb of
bread. How dare we approach a holy God
with unclean hearts and dirty hands. (Psalm 24:1-4) “The earth is the Lord’s,
and everything in it, the world, and all who live in it; for he founded it on
the seas and established it on the waters. Who may ascend the mountain of the
Lord? Who may stand in his holy place? The one who has clean hands and a pure
heart, who does not trust in an idol or swear by a false god.” Think about it the next time you look about
and cry out, make certain your heart is right first. CHARLEY
No comments:
Post a Comment