January 30

John the Baptist would say, “where can we get all the honey to go with these locusts”: Exodus 10:1-12:13

Where’s my paycheck?Matthew 20:1-28

Composed into a song by Steven’s favorite band: Psalm 25:1-15

Learn from the ant:Proverbs 6:6-11

In Genesis we’re about to get into one of the most historic moments in the lives of the Jews. The passover even effects the lingo of us Christians. We sometimes refer to Jesus as “The Lamb of God” by symbolizing His shedding of His blood for our sins with the blood of the lambs that was used to mark the households of the Jews in Egypt.

But the teaching in Matthew stands out. Yet again, Jesus taught that “the last will be first, and the first will be last”. If Jesus thought it’s worth repeating then it’s worth us etching firmly in our minds. We really can’t get too into our social standing amongst our peers. Nor can we get into comparing how God blesses us with how God blesses others. All of us get a good deal from God, regardless of how that compares to the deal others get from God. Also, when we think that we’re standing pretty tall amongst our peers we better watch out, or we’ll be the one knocked down a peg or two.

Then when the mother of the sons of Zebedee asked Jesus to allow her sons (John & James) to sit at either side of Jesus in His kingdom, Jesus’ answer wasn’t form a standpoint of, “Girl, you need to quit thinking about making your boys ranked higher than other folks.” He basically told them that gaining glory over our fellow man requires that we “drink the cup” that Jesus was “about to drink”. Are we willing to give our lives for the sake of our fellow man seeing Jesus? Better yet, are we willing to live our lives for the sake of our fellow man seeing Jesus?

All three of them (Jesus, John, & James) weren’t lying when they said that they can & will drink from Jesus’ cup. James was killed for being a Christian (see Acts 12:1-2). John was put on a prison island (see Revelation 1:9).

All summed up: Don't see wordly glory. Any real glory comes from giving Jesus your all.

Bible geek information: In Matthew, “third hour”, “sixth hour”, & “eleventh hour” refer to the # of hours after sunlight. So “third hour” means about 9 in the morning (with the sun rising at 6 AM).