Saturday, January 17

Genesis 35:1-36:43

Matthew 12:1-21

Psalm 15:1-5

Proverbs 3:21-26


When reading today’s passage from Matthew, it’s hard to imagine some people having a problem with Jesus healing someone on the Sabbath day. They couldn’t simply be impressed with Jesus healing someone. You’d think normal people would go, “Wow! Cool! That dude from Nazareth just healed a man’s hand! Maybe he can get rid of my athlete's foot!” Instead, the Pharisees reached in their back pocked, pulled out their organizer, and checked the date to make sure it was the wrong day of the week. :)

But we do the same thing today. We try so hard to make Jesus conform to what we want Him to be, or what we expect Him to be. I guess that’s why we have so many churches & so many denominations. Which, by the way, is why Matt is wanting all of us to read the Bible. When some of you boys were in my Sunday School class, you were taught what I thought was right & wrong, what I thought was most important, & how we should apply it to our lives. Yet, if you’re reading the whole Bible this year you’ll have a better handle on Jesus as He really is, not what someone else wants you to think He is.

Jesus doesn’t have to conform to us or our expectations. We have to conform to Jesus. It’s easier to do that if we know who He is & what He’s like.