by George Runyan | Apr 14, 2015 | Devotional, George Runyan
Matthew 7:5 – You hypocrite, first take the log out of your own eye, and then you will see clearly to take the speck out of your brother’s eye.
It is easy to look on another person and evaluate all that is wrong with them. It is very difficult to look inside one’s self and rightly evaluate our own condition. Hypocrisy is a powerful attitude in religious circles and I dare say some hypocrisy is demonic at its core. The religious hypocrites of Jesus’ day had as their father, not Abraham, but the devil (see John 8:44). Those religious leaders had a huge log in their eyes. In fact, Jesus called them blind (see Matthew 23:16-26). Jesus sent the Holy Spirit to remove the log from our eye. He does this by enabling us to be “crucified with Christ.” Only death can cure the self-centered hypocrisy that lives in all of us. “Nevertheless I live.” I live, because the same Spirit that raised Jesus from the dead dwells in me (see Romans 8:11). Now, that being said, “The life that I now live, I live by the faith of the Son of God” (Galatians 2:20). It is only by Jesus’ faith that I can live free from judging others and His faith operates in me by the power of His Holy Spirit.
Paul said, “Wretched man that I am! Who will set me free from the body of this death?” (Romans 7:24). He goes on to answer his own question by giving thanks. “Thanks be to God through Jesus Christ our Lord!” (Romans 7:25). Yes, the Holy Spirit of God gives the life of Christ to us and enables us to do what was impossible in our own ability and strength. He helps us to remove the log in our own eye and graces us to help others remove the speck in their eye. That speck is really a log to God, but was a speck to us because of the log which blinded our eye. How wonderful it is to have one’s sight recovered and to look on another without judgment and condemnation, but to see through the eyes of Jesus a new person redeemed by Christ’s precious blood.
Today, let the Holy Spirit do surgery and remove all the obstacles that cause you to be hindered in your sight. Ask God to help you see others as Christ does.
by George Runyan | Apr 10, 2015 | Devotional, George Runyan
Matthew 6:25 – For this reason I say to you, do not be worried about your life.
The instructions of Jesus from verse 25 to 32 are to help focus the believers on their relationship with our heavenly Father. They help the believers to be assured that God cares more for them than all of His creation for which He provides. In verse 30, Jesus clarifies that our trust of God is a “faith issue.” All worry is associated with a lack of faith. The Holy Spirit was given to bring us into the “faith of Jesus.” If anyone had a right or opportunity to be worried, it was Paul. “Three times I was beaten with rods, once I was stoned, three times I was shipwrecked, a night and a day I have spent in the deep” (2 Corinthians 11:25). Paul the apostle proclaims to the Galatians his own declaration of faith and rest in the work of Christ. In Galatians 2:20, Paul identified his resting place as being crucified with Christ. He further understood that the life he now lived was a life lived by “the faith of the Son of God.”
Paul knew what it meant to die to his self-life and to live unto Christ. Through the power of the Holy Spirit, Paul was not anxious about anything. He learned to be content in all things according to Philippians 4:11. Whatever his state, he learned contentment. Paul came to know Jesus as his Sabbath Rest. In other words, he knew Jesus as his resting place. Worry and anxiety bowed to the Lord Jesus Christ. The Holy Spirit baptized us into Christ and into His body. He buried us with Jesus in baptism. He raised us up and has seated us in heavenly places with Christ. Why worry? Why be anxious? Our Father knows what we need.
Today, make a fresh commitment to “Trust in the Lord with all your heart and do not lean on your own understanding. In all your ways acknowledge Him, and He will make your paths straight” (Proverbs 3:5-6).
by George Runyan | Apr 9, 2015 | Devotional, George Runyan
Matthew 6:24 – No one can serve two masters; for either he will hate the one and love the other, or he will be devoted to one and despise the other. You cannot serve God and wealth.
A two-headed creature is always a freak. Jesus is not saying that you cannot be rich and serve God. He is saying you cannot “serve” both God and wealth. It is one thing to have possessions and use them for God’s glory, and quite another to allow possessions to have you. Hold loosely to all you own. It is easy to become emotionally tied to one’s possessions, such as a house, a car, toys, etc. A worthwhile evaluation is to determine what it is that you serve. I serve my family, many in the family of God, and friends. But none are my masters, only God is that. I enjoy my hobby, my house, and the car I drive, but none of those things control me. I am not saying that it would be easy, but if required, they all must go in order to serve the Lord’s larger purpose.
In Luke 6:46 Jesus asked this question of His disciples, “Why call Me ‘Lord, Lord’ and do not what I say?” An employer has the right to expect certain actions from an employee in order to accomplish the task. Our Lord and master Jesus Christ also has certain expectations of our lives. If we call Him Lord and sing about His Lordship, worship Him as the all-worthy one, He can expect us to do all that He has commanded. Serving another is a choice of our free will. Each day we are presented with the opportunity of choosing who and what we will serve.
Jesus was given the opportunity to choose also. In Matthew 4, we find the story recorded of Jesus being led into temptation. The evil one gave Him opportunity to choose what had been given into Satan’s control. Jesus knew by the Word of God, that all these things had been promised to Him in due time. He chose to resist the offer of the enemy for immediate gratification and rather chose to wait for His heavenly Father to give all things to Him.
Today, would you choose to surrender all things to the control of Jesus? Would you wait on God for His timing rather than taking things into your own hands? Let Him be the master by serving His timing and His provisions for His glory. Holy Spirit, I give to you the reigns of my life. Take perfect control!
by George Runyan | Apr 8, 2015 | Devotional, George Runyan
Matthew 6:22 – The eye is the lamp of the body; so then if your eye is clear, your whole body will be full of light.
According to a well-known saying, “the eye is the window of the soul”. When I speak with a person, I look them in the eyes. By doing this, it seems I make a better connection with them. As I listen to what they are saying, I am better able to respond when I communicate back with them. If the issues of honesty are involved, by looking a person in the eyes you have a better chance of discerning truth from untruth. In the counseling ministry, eye-to-eye contact is vital to imparting truths that can help set people free. In the deliverance ministry, eye-to-eye contact is vital to casting out demonic entities.
The physical eye, of course, is connected to the brain and affects the emotions and the will. Jesus goes on to say, “If your eye is bad, your whole body will be full of darkness” (Matthew 6:23a). How can the eye be bad in the moral sense? When you put together the mind, emotions and will, you essentially have what the Bible speaks of as the “heart,” the innermost region of a person. The physical eye is controlled by what is found in the heart. When the heart chooses to take in darkness it causes the eye to become bad. When the heart is pure, it chooses to take in light and rejects the darkness.
Jesus goes on to say that, “If then the light that is in you is darkness, how great is that darkness” (Matthew 6:23b). What is Jesus saying? The Bible declares that some will call good evil and evil good. “Woe to those who call evil good, and good evil; who substitute darkness for light and light for darkness” (Isaiah 5:20). There are those who know what is right and true, but still promote darkness in what they say. Many religious leaders in Jesus’ day knew what the scriptures taught, but still added to the Scriptures and put heavy burdens on the people. It is in the “mixture” of religion that light becomes a greater darkness.
Day by day, surrender your eyes to the Lord. Job said, “I have made a covenant with my eyes” (Job 31:1). Ask the Holy Spirit to protect your eyes and thus your soul from darkness and to fill you with light.
by George Runyan | Apr 7, 2015 | Devotional, George Runyan
Matthew 6:19-21 – Do not lay up for yourselves treasures upon earth, where moth and rust destroy, and where thieves break in and steal. But lay up for yourselves treasures in heaven, where neither moth nor rust destroys, and where thieves do not break in or steal; for where your treasure is, there will your heart be also.
The Holy Spirit has come to connect us to heaven. Most of the time, the human goal is survival, to hopefully achieve amassing as much money as possible for security in this life. Multitudes around the world are oppressed and not able to realize that human desire. On the other hand, there are those in this life that have amassed great fortune and have no issues with security as it relates to substance. The Holy Spirit wants to help turn our attention toward a greater treasure than the wealth of this world. Whether one is poor or wealthy, the true treasure is in the storehouse of heaven. The fundamental issue is choosing from where one derives their security.
The development of relationship with the Holy Spirit causes us to grow in our confidence in God’s Word and all His promises. I am grateful for how my heavenly Father has blessed me. I realize though, that in the same way my possessions have come they can also all disappear. It is an absolute of God’s Word that temporal things will vanish. The Scripture declares, “But by His word the present heavens and earth are being reserved for fire” (2 Peter 3:7).
One of the great treasures in life is found in relationship with family and friends. Many have acquaintances, but fewer people have real friendships. Lasting relationship comes from the work of the Holy Spirit who restores us to the Godhead through the redemptive work of Christ. Jesus, the Christ, is the “Pearl of great price” spoken of in Matthew 13:46. He is the true treasure! Let us seek the Lord for His grace to let go of anything that we might be holding on to as a wealth other than the Lord. It is fine to have possessions. In fact the Word of God promises material blessings in this life. It is not okay for those possessions to possess us in any way that runs interference with our relationship with the true treasure, the Lord Jesus Christ. The Holy Spirit is present to help us “fix our eyes on Jesus, the author and perfecter of our faith” (Hebrews 12:2).
Ask the Holy Spirit to give you grace to store up treasures in heaven and to be freed from bondage to the possessions of this life “for where your treasure is, there your heart will be also” (Matthew 6:21). Father, I ask you to give me a heart after your will and a right viewpoint about possessions.
