Matthew Nineteen

Jesus tells us that God created an organic union between male and female. When a couple gets married, they become one. The Pharisees continue with their deviance and try to trip up Jesus. They asked Him if divorce is legal for any reason, to which He replied that God created marriage and no one should desecrate it by cutting it apart. The Pharisees rebutted with the passage where Moses gives the instructions for divorce papers and procedures.

Then Jesus said this amazing statement, "Moses provided for divorce as a concession to your hard heartedness, but it is not a part of God's original plan."

This is still the case today. Most divorces take place because one or both partners are being hard hearted. One definition of this is, "incapable of being moved to tenderness." Doesn't that describe the root cause of most, if not all, divorces?

One day children were brought to Jesus in hopes that He would lay hands on them and pray over them. The disciples told them to go away. Jesus intervened and told the disciples to allow the children to come to Him. The kingdom of God is made up of those who want to be near Jesus.

On another day, a man stopped Jesus and asked what he good thing he needed to do to have eternal life. Jesus' response is interesting. He points the definition of "good" back to God, as God is the only One who is good. Some people believe that if they are a "good person" they will be able to get into heaven, or experience some kind of peace after they die. The thing about that statement is they are the ones defining what good is. Jesus reminds us that we don't define good, God does. So, if we want to enter life with God, we do what He tells us.

Jesus goes on to tell the man about keeping God's law (the Ten Commandments as we know them), to which the man replies that he has kept all those. Then Jesus told him to sell all he as, give it to the poor, and follow Jesus. That wasn't what he wanted to hear and he walked away sad and disappointed. Why?

He was holding on tight to a lot of things, and he couldn't bear to let them go.

Oh my. Sadly, I am not much different. There are things I hold on to tightly, that I can't bear to let go. This doesn't mean only earthly possessions - it could be relationships, status, location, or anything else you can't imagine living without.

Jesus said it is easier for a camel to go through the eye of a needle than for the rich to enter God's kingdom.

This poses a huge question: Who has any chance at all?"

And the answer that outshines all other answers: No chance at all if you think you can pull it off yourself. Every chance in the world if you trust God to do it."

Ephesians 2:8, "For by grace you have been saved through faith; and this is not of yourselves, it is the gift of God."

God gave us His gift of Grace as a tiny baby at Christmas. That is Who we celebrate.