Matthew 12:22-37
Matthew 12:22-37 (New Living Translation)
22 Then a demon-possessed man, who was blind and couldn’t speak, was brought to Jesus. He healed the man so that he could both speak and see. 23 The crowd was amazed and asked, “Could it be that Jesus is the Son of David, the Messiah?” 24 But when the Pharisees heard about the miracle, they said, “No wonder he can cast out demons. He gets his power from Satan, the prince of demons.” 25 Jesus knew their thoughts and replied, “Any kingdom divided by civil war is doomed. A town or family splintered by feuding will fall apart. 26 And if Satan is casting out Satan, he is divided and fighting against himself. His own kingdom will not survive. 27 And if I am empowered by Satan, what about your own exorcists? They cast out demons, too, so they will condemn you for what you have said. 28 But if I am casting out demons by the Spirit of God, then the Kingdom of God has arrived among you. 29 For who is powerful enough to enter the house of a
strong man like Satan and plunder his goods? Only someone even stronger—someone who could tie him up and then plunder his house. 30
“Anyone who isn’t with me opposes me, and anyone who isn’t working with me is actually working against me. 31 “So I tell you, every sin and blasphemy can be forgiven—except blasphemy against the Holy Spirit, which will never be forgiven. 32 Anyone who speaks against the Son of Man can be forgiven, but anyone who speaks against the Holy Spirit will never be forgiven, either in this world or in the world to come. 33 “A tree is identified by its fruit. If a tree is good, its fruit will be good. If a tree is bad, its fruit will be bad. 34 You brood of snakes! How could evil men like you speak what is good and right? For whatever is in your heart determines what you say. 35 A good person produces good things from the treasury of a good heart, and an evil person produces evil things from the treasury of an evil heart. 36 And I tell you this, you must give an account on judgment day for every idle word you speak. 37 The words you say will either
acquit you or condemn you.”
Devotional (by Marty Bennett):
When reading this passage, I am drawn to the comparison of the good tree producing good fruit to the good person with a good heart, produces good things. We have a couple of trees in our yard that were badly damaged by the ice storm four years ago. Since then, the trees each year have produced fewer leaves. This situation is mostly because we did not take care of the trees immediately after the storm by removing dead & broken branches. By not addressing the problems these trees are now near death.
Like these damaged trees we are often affected by both internal forces (hate, anger, disease, depression, addiction) and external circumstances (accidents, bad economy, layoffs, abuse). I know until recently, Jen and I did not have a financial plan to manage our money and debt. With fights over money being one of theleading causes of divorce in the US, we knew in our hearts a couple of things: 1) we always will be together and 2) we would not let the love of money ruin our marriage. I write this devotional, interestingly enough, on our 9th wedding anniversary. We made a pledge to keep God (good) in our marriage (our hearts) fromthe very start. With this reminder from the passage, our decision to sit down together so that we were on the same page when it comes to where we spend our money, where we could cut back, and how to pay down our debt, has filled our hearts.
Prayer:
Dear God, thank you for giving us this great example of how with good hearts, we can be the good people you intended us to be. Help us focus on your amazing goodness and let us accept your holy spirit into our hearts to bring us closer to you. We pray, in Jesus’ name. Amen.
22 Then a demon-possessed man, who was blind and couldn’t speak, was brought to Jesus. He healed the man so that he could both speak and see. 23 The crowd was amazed and asked, “Could it be that Jesus is the Son of David, the Messiah?” 24 But when the Pharisees heard about the miracle, they said, “No wonder he can cast out demons. He gets his power from Satan, the prince of demons.” 25 Jesus knew their thoughts and replied, “Any kingdom divided by civil war is doomed. A town or family splintered by feuding will fall apart. 26 And if Satan is casting out Satan, he is divided and fighting against himself. His own kingdom will not survive. 27 And if I am empowered by Satan, what about your own exorcists? They cast out demons, too, so they will condemn you for what you have said. 28 But if I am casting out demons by the Spirit of God, then the Kingdom of God has arrived among you. 29 For who is powerful enough to enter the house of a
strong man like Satan and plunder his goods? Only someone even stronger—someone who could tie him up and then plunder his house. 30
“Anyone who isn’t with me opposes me, and anyone who isn’t working with me is actually working against me. 31 “So I tell you, every sin and blasphemy can be forgiven—except blasphemy against the Holy Spirit, which will never be forgiven. 32 Anyone who speaks against the Son of Man can be forgiven, but anyone who speaks against the Holy Spirit will never be forgiven, either in this world or in the world to come. 33 “A tree is identified by its fruit. If a tree is good, its fruit will be good. If a tree is bad, its fruit will be bad. 34 You brood of snakes! How could evil men like you speak what is good and right? For whatever is in your heart determines what you say. 35 A good person produces good things from the treasury of a good heart, and an evil person produces evil things from the treasury of an evil heart. 36 And I tell you this, you must give an account on judgment day for every idle word you speak. 37 The words you say will either
acquit you or condemn you.”
Devotional (by Marty Bennett):
When reading this passage, I am drawn to the comparison of the good tree producing good fruit to the good person with a good heart, produces good things. We have a couple of trees in our yard that were badly damaged by the ice storm four years ago. Since then, the trees each year have produced fewer leaves. This situation is mostly because we did not take care of the trees immediately after the storm by removing dead & broken branches. By not addressing the problems these trees are now near death.
Like these damaged trees we are often affected by both internal forces (hate, anger, disease, depression, addiction) and external circumstances (accidents, bad economy, layoffs, abuse). I know until recently, Jen and I did not have a financial plan to manage our money and debt. With fights over money being one of theleading causes of divorce in the US, we knew in our hearts a couple of things: 1) we always will be together and 2) we would not let the love of money ruin our marriage. I write this devotional, interestingly enough, on our 9th wedding anniversary. We made a pledge to keep God (good) in our marriage (our hearts) fromthe very start. With this reminder from the passage, our decision to sit down together so that we were on the same page when it comes to where we spend our money, where we could cut back, and how to pay down our debt, has filled our hearts.
Prayer:
Dear God, thank you for giving us this great example of how with good hearts, we can be the good people you intended us to be. Help us focus on your amazing goodness and let us accept your holy spirit into our hearts to bring us closer to you. We pray, in Jesus’ name. Amen.
posted by Mikey | 11:19 AM
0 Comments:
Post a Comment
Subscribe to Post Comments [Atom]
<< Home