For a description of the (Y2) reading plan, see the “About” page.
Matt. 23
List the seven woes Jesus pronounces on the religious leaders. Which ones apply to you? Every physical thing that God commanded for His people has a spiritual purpose. The physical represents the spiritual. This is true of circumcision, the Sabbath, fasting, and even baptism. I have mentioned all of these representations in the past. One I have not yet mentioned, however, is tithing. I recently did a brief study lesson on mercy. The study included Matthew 23:23. “Woe to you, teachers of the law and Pharisees, you hypocrites! You give a tenth of your spices – mint, dill and cumin. But you have neglected the more important matters of the law – justice, mercy and faithfulness. You should have practiced the latter, without neglecting the former.”
In tithing, we give back to God a small percentage of what He has given to us. We give it back by passing it on, allowing God to do His work through us. As true as this is for God’s physical provision – money, spices…whatever – it is even more so for God’s spiritual provision. I have never made this connection before. This was actually the point in Jesus’ parable of the unfaithful servant in Matthew 18 from a few days ago. When we give mercy to others, we are tithing out of the great mercy that God has given us. Thus, tithing becomes a representation of our taking on the character of God as we learn to live by His Spirit.
Jer. 13-14
What object lessons does Jeremiah use and what is the meaning of each? God is unlike anything else we know. One of the things that is unique about Him is that we can trust Him completely. Complete trust manifests itself in perfect obedience. This is what I see in Jeremiah regarding the linen belt object lesson.
When somebody tells me to do something, I have a tendency to want to know why. I believe at the heart of this behavior is a desire to judge for myself the justification for the requested action. If I don’t deem it worthy, sensible, right, or whatever, I don’t want to do it. In thinking on it, that may not be an all bad thing when dealing with people, because people can never be fully trusted. Of course, I can’t fully trust myself either, as I am no different than any other person.
With God, however, things are different. If I question a command from God, I am essentially putting more trust in my own opinion than I am in Him. That, my friends, is pride – not good! Instead, I need to be like Jeremiah was here. God did not explain to him the plan and purpose for the linen belt. Rather, He gave one simple instruction at a time, which Jeremiah promptly obeyed. Complete trust, leading to perfect obedience. Would that I could get self out of the way to completely trust my wholly trustworthy God!