Month: August 2022

Kitchen Table Devotions

Matthew 18

Day 14

If he refuses to listen to them, tell it to the church; and if he refuses to listen even to the church, let him be to you as a Gentile and a tax collector.                           Matthew 18:17

Bring the love!  This seems like anything but love but it is love.  Here’s the gist of it.  Let a person own what they believe.  Let a person have what they hope for but don’t give up on them.  They are going to be treated like a Gentile & a tax-collector who were people Jesus hung out with in His life.  Gentiles &  tax collectors were lost & left out of God’s kingdom.  That was their choice.  But we don’t love people by letting them believe they know God and His salvation when they don’t.  Love lets a person know they own their belief, but it doesn’t let their belief own us.  Love speaks the truth, but it doesn’t give up on the truth and operates from that truth. 

Kitchen Table

Matthew 18

Day 13

But if he does not listen to you, take one or two more with you, so that BY THE MOUTH OF TWO OR THREE WITNESSES EVERY FACT MAY BE CONFIRMED

 Matthew 18:16

Bring the love and keep bringing it.  Love is the only answer to the issues and problems we face in this life.  God’s love just keeps coming to us.  He never gives up, walks away, or curses us.  Follow Him!  Keep bringing the love.  Go back.  Go back, not to condemn, but to confirm the facts of what has happened and what will happen.  Discernment is difficult from a distance.  Just not talking is not an option.  This love is going to lead us to discuss, discern, and decide how each of us wants to live in or out of God’s love.  But don’t give up; keep bringing the love.

Kitchen Table

Matthew 18

Day 12

If your brother sins, go and show him his fault in private; if he listens to you, you have won your brother.

Matthew 18:15

Bring the love.  It all begins with how we see people.  If people are merely strangers, we might treat them right, but if they are siblings, we will hopefully talk to them right.  Bringing the love begins with how we see others, not what we have to say to them.  God’s love has the power to change our perceptions.  Praise God.  And if we love people, we will show them rather than merely scold them.  How much better is it when we are shown what’s right or wrong rather than scolded for it?  It makes a difference, but it takes a deep love that creates real courage.  Think about that!  Deep love creates real courage.  We must let the love of God show us how to love others.

Kitchen Table Devotions

Matthew 18

Day 11

So it is not the will of your Father who is in heaven that one of these little ones perish.

Matthew 18:12-14

That’s all we need to know; God’s heart is for everyone we know and meet.  He doesn’t want one of these to perish.  Hell is not God’s will, and it should be ours either.  But to want heaven takes a heart from Him.  Everyone, including ourselves, is precious, not perishable.  It’s that motivation that moves our mouths and our muscles to save, not sacrifice.  God is setting us up or preparing us to talk about forgiveness but forgiveness doesn’t work where the heart doesn’t want what God loves.  God loves us so much that He wants us to have and share His love in our lives.

Kitchen Table Devotions

Matthew 18

Day 10

“What do you think? If any man has a hundred sheep, and one of them has gone astray, does he not leave the ninety-nine on the mountains and go and search for the one that is straying? ¹³ If it turns out that he finds it, truly I say to you, he rejoices over it more than over the ninety-nine which have not gone astray. ¹⁴ So it is not the will of your Father who is in heaven that one of these little ones perish.

Matthew 18:12-14

God is not okay with not okay.  He goes looking for any one of us who goes astray leaving the 99 on the mountain of His provision.  When we value others it’s something we do, not just something we say.  We can’t drag a person back into the circle, but we can keep a place at the table, and we can put down our offense to deal with their offense so that no offense will hinder our relationship with God.  Value is seen in effort, not just heard with words.  Let His value of us be seen in our value of others.

Kitchen Table Devotions

Matthew 18

Day 9

“See that you do not despise one of these little ones, for I say to you that their angels in heaven continually see the face of My Father who is in heaven. ¹¹ [ For the Son of Man has come to save that which was lost.]

Matthew 18:10-11

God looks at us, not down on us.  He is the ultimate father who loves his children, all of them.  There are no favorites with God, just favor for each.  Beware of the deadly decision to despise another.  That’s when trouble comes.  When people don’t meet our standards or show interest in their own success, we look down before we speak up and say things God wouldn’t say.  Who are we to speak like that when God has placed His angels with them?  His angels always see the face of God for His children.  Quit looking at the face of people and see the face of God for them.  He wants everyone to be saved.

Kitchen Table Devotions

Matthew 18

Day 8

“See that you do not despise one of these little ones, for I say to you that their angels in heaven continually see the face of My Father who is in heaven. ¹¹ [ For the Son of Man has come to save that which was lost.]

Matthew 18:10-11

Everyone we meet is worthy of respect just because God made them; they are children of God.  We can’t think little of others when God thinks a lot of us all.  Each and every one of us have angels sent by God to minister to us according to His word and angels can’t do what God doesn’t say.  And herein lies the problem, we think little of others and not enough about God and His work in all of our lives.  All this is what leads to offense and unforgiveness.  However, no matter what anyone else says or does, God loves us, values us, and has sent His angels to minister His word in our lives.  Don’t let what man despises rather than what God delights determine your day.

Kitchen Table Devotions

Matthew 18

Day 7

If your eye causes you to stumble, pluck it out and throw it from you. It is better for you to enter life with one eye, than to have two eyes and be cast into the  fiery hell.

Matthew 18:9

Hurt is better than Hell.  This all seems so drastic but so is hell.  God deals with sin by giving man what man wants.  If we want a future without God, then God will give it to us.  We get to decide our future; it’s in our hands.  Hell is not God’s will for anyone.  So, dealing with sin in our lives is up to us.  Hurt is better than Hell!  And hell isn’t just a destination we go to but a daily reality we bring into our lives.  The first step to healing is humility and the first step to humility is honesty.  Be honest about sin and its struggles.  It’s better to deal with those issues here and now.  It can hurt and we may experience hunger for that lusting thing but hurt is better than hell.  It only hurts in the flesh, not the spirit and if our spirit is well, our skin will be too.  Heaven is so great that one eye can prove better than two for living life with a fixed and freed spirit.

Kitchen Table Devotions

Matthew 18

Day 6

If your hand or your foot causes you to stumble, cut it off and throw it from you; it is better for you to enter life crippled or lame, than to have two hands or two feet and be cast into the eternal fire.                     Matthew 18:8

Don’t be afraid to deal with the offensive part of your life.  Don’t be afraid to look at it, name it and cut it off.  That offensive thing is like a thorn or an open wound, and if you don’t deal with it, it’s going to get infected, stink and become offensive to the people around you.  Have you thought that maybe the greatest put-off to others is the thing you’ve been putting off yourself?  When we get like that are offensive to ourselves and those around us.  Now come the excuses for why we don’t like people and don’t like the church.  That offense lingers in our minds offending our spirit and undermining our confidence.  Call it out and cut it off in the name of Jesus.  That offensive thing is tripping us up and bringing us down.  Jesus said that there is a better way to live and there is because He made a way to live better, it’s called forgiveness.

Kitchen Table Devotions

Matthew 18

Day 6

And whoever receives one such child in My name receives Me;  but whoever causes one of these little ones who believe in Me to stumble, it would be better for him to have a heavy millstone hung around his neck, and to be drowned in the depth of the sea.                               Matthew 18:5-6

We have to read ahead and know that this whole situation is leading to the subject of offense.  We stumble when we are offended.  It just happens.  This is why the sin of offense is so offensive and serious.  Stumbling hurts and hurts harm the heart.  Stumbling (being offended) can leave us more self-centered than Son-centered and that leaves us off center.  So, don’t live your life by excuses (the fruit of offenses), and don’t leave excuses for others to live by either.  Remember this, forgiveness is the key to every other door in heaven and forgiveness kills the power of offense.