Mar 20 2008
Thursday, March 20, 2008
Reading for today: Genesis 22:11-14, Matthew 27: 1-26
“Then he threw down the pieces of silver in the temple and departed, and went and hanged himself.” Matthew 27:5
Judas traded his relationship and love of Jesus Christ our Lord for a worldly thing: money. After he realized what a horrible, deceptive thing he did, he hung himself out of remorse. This can happen to us in everyday life. We exchange our love of God for things of this world, but we don’t have to let our remorse destroy us! We can repent and ask for forgiveness because of what Jesus Christ did for us.
Written by: Rebecca & Jacob ~ 2nd & 6th Grades
James 4:6 states “God resists the proud, but gives grace to the humble.”
The Bible lists pride among four things that the Lord hates:
pride gets lumped together with arrogance, the evil way, and the perverse
mouth (Prov. 8:13). In another passage, pride finds a place among
seven things that are an abomination to God: “A proud look, a lying
tongue, hands that shed innocent blood, a heart that devises wicked plans,
feet that are swift in running to evil, a false witness who speaks lies,
and one who sows discord among brethren” (Prov. 6:17–19).
God puts pride in the same category with murder!
Why does God hate pride so much? Because it is the one sin that
keeps us from allowing God to use us for His purposes. When we do things our way, we are in no position to do things
God’s way. Pride makes us useless in the kingdom of God. We fall prey to
pride when we forget that God does not exist for us, but we exist for Him.
The Lord refuses to share His glory with anyone. When we seek to take His
glory for ourselves—saying, in effect, “Look at what I have accomplished!
Look at me! Look at who I am!”—we deny that everything we accomplish is because God enables and empowers us to accomplish it. Any good in us
is from Him. Anything noteworthy that we become, we
become because He wills it. We have no goodness apart from God’s goodness
given to us.
Most people know some version of Proverbs 16:18: “Pride goes before
destruction, and a haughty spirit before a fall.” While not all
destructions are caused by pride, pride always ends in destruction—and
usually, we lose the very thing we feel most proud about having achieved,
earned, owned, or accomplished.
GOD’S PROMISES–MONEY
“Do not weary yourself to gain wealth, cease from your consideration of it. When you set your eyes on it, it is gone. For wealth certainly makes itself wings like an eagle that flies toward the heavens.”
Proverbs 23:4-5
“Better is the little of the righteous than the abundance of many wicked.”
Psalms 37:16
“Listen, my beloved brethren: did not God choose the poor of this world to be rich in faith and heirs of the kingdom which He promised to those who love Him?”
James 2:5
“One hand full of rest is better than two fists full of labor and striving after wind.”
Ecclesiastes 4:6
“Do not rob the poor because he is poor, or crush the afflicted at the gate.”
Proverbs 22:22
“Instruct those who are rich in this present world not to be conceited or to fix their hope on the uncertainty of riches, but on God, who richly supplies us with all things to enjoy. Instruct them to do good, to be rich in good works, to be generous and ready to share, storing up for themselves the treasure of a good foundation for the future, so that they may take hold of that which is life indeed.”
1 Timothy 6:17-19
“But you shall remember the LORD your God, for it is He who is giving you power to make wealth, that He may confirm His covenant which He swore to your fathers, as it is this day.”
Deuteronomy 8:1
“He who trusts in his riches will fall, but the righteous will flourish like the green leaf.”
Proverbs 11:28
“A faithful man will abound with blessings, but he who makes haste to be rich will not go unpunished.”
Proverbs 28:20
“Riches do not profit in the day of wrath, but righteousness delivers from death.”
Proverbs 11:4
“My eye will show no pity nor will I spare. I will repay you according to your ways, while your abominations are in your midst; then you will know that I, the LORD, do the smiting.”
Ezekiel 7:9
“There is one who pretends to be rich, but has nothing; another pretends to be poor, but has great wealth.”
Proverbs 13:7
“He who loves money will not be satisfied with money, nor he who loves abundance with its income.”
Ecclesiastes 5:10
“He who oppresses the poor to make more for himself or who gives to the rich, will only come to poverty.”
Proverbs 22:16
“A man with an evil eye hastens after wealth and does not know that want will come upon him.”
Proverbs 28:22
“The rich and the poor have a common bond, the LORD is the maker of them all.”
Proverbs 22:2
“He delivers the afflicted in their affliction, and opens their ear in time of oppression.”
Job 36:15
“Better is a little with the fear of the LORD than great treasure and turmoil with it.”
Proverbs 15:16
“Better is the poor who walks in his integrity than he who is crooked though he be rich.”
Proverbs 28:6
“How blessed is he who considers the helpless; the LORD will deliver him in a day of trouble.”
Psalm 41:1