For a description of the (Y2) reading plan, see the “About” page.
Matt. 18
When Jesus told the disciples they must become like little children, what characteristics do you think He had in mind? Why would those be important? I recently did a study that pointed out the social status of children in the culture of Jesus’ day. While young children were loved, they were not seen as adding any value to society because they had nothing to offer. It occurred to me that this is what Jesus meant when He said, “whoever takes the lowly position of this child is the greatest in the kingdom of heaven.” (Matt. 18:4). The little children knew they had nothing to offer. If they were loved, they knew it was not based on their own merit.
As long as we are relying on any effort of our own, we are held back by that effort. We need to be able to humble ourselves to the point of knowing that God values us not because we have any value but because we are His. Only then can God lift us up unfettered and we can revel in the sheer joy of belonging to and being loved by God.
Deut. 17-18
There are many situations in the Mosaic Law where violators were to be put to death. As it states in Deuteronomy 17:12b-13, “You must purge the evil from Israel. All the people will hear and be afraid, and will not be contemptuous again.” Insert any relevant sin for “contemptuous”. So the thought was that people would fear the consequences of sin and steer clear of it. If only that were true!
This just shows me the power of the grip of the desires of the human heart. The lusts of our own flesh overcome all sensibility and reason. We see this from the very beginning. God told Adam and Eve that they would die if they ate the forbidden fruit. They ate it anyway. The Israelites faced death if they broke God’s law. They broke it anyway. God has made it clearly known that if we go our own way, following our own desires, we will die. But neither the threat of physical death nor the understanding of spiritual death is enough to make us choose what is right without fail.
When we really “get” this, it brings us to the humble conclusion of Paul in Romans 7:24. “What a wretched man I am! Who will rescue me from this body that is subject to death?” When we reach this point, however, we can then continue with Paul and say, “Thanks be to God, who delivers me through Jesus Christ our Lord!” (Rom. 7:25a).