Oh No, He Didn't! Oh Yes, He DID!

PASSAGE FOR THE DAY:
Matthew 10 (click the link)


KEY PASSAGE:
Matthew 10:32-39

God usually tells me things three times for me to really hear what He has to say.  So I have used three different Bible versions to showcase verses 32-39.

New King James Version: 

“Therefore whoever confesses Me before men, him I will also confess before My Father who is in heaven. But whoever denies Me before men, him I will also deny before My Father who is in heaven.

“Do not think that I came to bring peace on earth. I did not come to bring peace but a sword. For I have come to ‘set a man against his father, a daughter against her mother, and a daughter-in-law against her mother-in-law’; and ‘a man’s enemies will be those of his own household.’ He who loves father or mother more than Me is not worthy of Me. And he who loves son or daughter more than Me is not worthy of Me. And he who does not take his cross and follow after Me is not worthy of Me. He who finds his life will lose it, and he who loses his life for My sake will find it.”

New Century Version: 

"All those who stand before others and say they believe in me, I will say before my Father in heaven that they belong to me. But all who stand before others and say they do not believe in me, I will say before my Father in heaven that they do not belong to me.

"Don't think that I came to bring peace to the earth. I did not come to bring peace, but a sword. I have come so that

'a son will be against his father,
a daughter will be against her mother,
a daughter-in-law will be against her mother-in-law.
A person's enemies will be members of his own family.' — Micah 7:6

"Those who love their father or mother more than they love me are not worthy to be my followers. Those who love their son or daughter more than they love me are not worthy to be my followers. Whoever is not willing to carry the cross and follow me is not worthy of me. Those who try to hold on to their lives will give up true life. Those who give up their lives for me will hold on to true life."

New International Version:

“Whoever acknowledges me before others, I will also acknowledge before my Father in heaven. But whoever disowns me before others, I will disown before my Father in heaven.

“Do not suppose that I have come to bring peace to the earth. I did not come to bring peace, but a sword. For I have come to turn

“‘a man against his father,
a daughter against her mother,
a daughter-in-law against her mother-in-law —
a man’s enemies will be the members of his own household.’

“Anyone who loves their father or mother more than me is not worthy of me; anyone who loves their son or daughter more than me is not worthy of me. Whoever does not take up their cross and follow me is not worthy of me. Whoever finds their life will lose it, and whoever loses their life for my sake will find it.”

REFLECTIONS:
I thought Tres was crazy to assign me Matthew 10 (sorry Tres)!  But of course after weeks of reading it over, God gave me what I needed.  They both have a sense of humor, I’m afraid.  I landed on verse 37, but added 32-39 for context.

Jesus did not come to bring peace, He came to bring a sword.  We all want the God of love, but God is the God of truth (good, bad and ugly) and sometimes that doesn’t look nearly as neat and tidy or pretty.  In the process of doing this devotional, I realized I am not worthy to follow Him.  Ouch!  I don’t like to say it and I don’t like to believe it, but that doesn’t mean it isn’t true.  So I had to look more closely at the verses in Matthew 10:32-39 and figure out where I went wrong.  I’m a believer and I love Jesus, so how did I get to a place where I’m not worthy to follow Him?

Jesus says in verse 37, “He who loves father or mother more than Me is not worthy of Me.  And he who loves son or daughter more than Me is not worthy of Me.”  Well, I thought I had given up my mother and father for Jesus, but have I really?  To give you a little family background my friends have told me if I were growing up today, I would have been taken away by CPS and put in foster care many times over.  When you take into account my parents history and what they passed down to me from their own brokenness (alcoholism, rejection, abandonment, neglect, abuse—sexual, physical, emotional), what you get is a daughter who grew up a little sideways.

I’m paraphrasing a friend who mentioned what it is like to have foster kids - no matter how hard you work to keep their head straight, they will always be looking at life a little sideways.  I think that’s how it is with me.  I’m healing and have been healed and will continue to heal, but the way I see myself is off kilter and not always the truth.

So getting back to the verse, Jesus says, “Anyone who loves his father or mother more than me is not worthy of me.”  What does that mean and how does it apply to my life?  Well, if I say I give up my family for Jesus and I keep my idols of fear, insecurity, rejection, abandonment, self-hatred, etc. doesn’t that go against what He is trying to communicate to me?  Can you see the similarities in my idols versus what was passed down to me by my parents?  Oh wait!  Did I say idols?  Why yes, yes I did.

But how can insecurity be an idol?  An idol is anything that keeps me from Jesus.  Idolatry is the worship of idols and/or excessive admiration and worship means adoring reverence.  Remember that God said He alone is to be worshipped?  He’s not kidding!

So how is my insecurity an idol?  Well, if I believe the lie more than the truth, I put a higher value on it.  What do we do with valuables?  We protect them.  If I’m busy protecting my insecurity, what will I let be taken in its place?  What I don’t value, which comes down to the truth of God.  Notice how I said I let it be taken.  I even encourage it, if I’m honest.  Because don’t we protect what we value the most at all costs?  Idols can be anything, not just insecurity.  They can be work, relationships, money, fear, addictions (food, pornography, alcohol, drugs, eating disorders, sex), gossip, etc.  If it keeps me in a place where I’m not valuing what God says is true and it keeps me from Jesus, it’s an idol.

If my insecurity takes the place of God, it’s an idol and I need to renounce it.  The way God revealed my insecurity as an idol, is by showing me the truth.  I belong to PRF and to the group of women He has placed in my life (and continues to place in my life) and I am worth the effort of being known and loved.  If those two things are true, then insecurity cannot be true.  Because insecurity is a lack of confidence or assurance.  If I know I belong, then my insecurity can’t last and I get to choose to release the value I have placed on it.  Because if I don’t renounce the lie, I’m basically saying the heritage passed down to me by my parents is more important than Jesus.  And Jesus says in His word that if I do that, I’m not worthy of being His follower.  Oh no, He didn’t!  Oh yes, He DID!  Like I said earlier, it doesn’t mean I like it.  Except, I do!  Deep down I really, really do!  Because if I don’t recognize I’m living in sin, how am I ever going to have life in Him?

If I give up my life and the baggage I carry around in a backpack (because it’s been with me so long I forget it’s there), I find true life in Him.  If I hold onto my life as I know it, I will lose it.  I want to choose life.  I do choose life!  So I have renounced my idols of insecurity, fear, self-hatred, rejection, and abandonment and I choose to believe the truth of God—that I am His beloved!  I am his favorite (by the way, so are you)!  I am the daughter of the Most High King!  I am fearfully and wonderfully made!  And I’m SO worth knowing and loving because He LOVES ME!  I have been healed, am healing and will continue to heal.


POINT OF ACTION:
What have you held onto in your life that Jesus is saying “Let it go and be worthy of following me!”?  What do you value and protect at all costs?  Will you let Jesus in?  Will you speak it out loud with a trusted friend so that God can release the power it has over you?  In Sunday morning Bible study one day, we spoke about knowledge.  Once you have knowledge, you are responsible for it (like it or not). What will you do with your knowledge?  Consider it a crossroads if you will…


PRAYER:
This is my heart and sometimes all I can pray.  It’s called “Take My Life” by Third Day and I’m sharing it with you as it speaks volumes in how gracious God is to us and how faithful He is to redeem us.

How many times have I turned away?

The number is the same as the sand on the shore.

Every time you’ve taken me back.

And now I pray you do it once more.

Please take from me my life,

                when I don’t have the strength

                                to give it away to You, Jesus.

How many times have I turned away?

The number is the same as the stars in the sky.

But every time, you’ve taken me back.

And now I pray you do it tonight.

WHO AM I?

Who am I?  My name is Dorene Froese and I moved to Austin last July in the middle of the heat wave!  Good times!  So you already know I’m a little wild and crazy to do that!  I will be 42 next month (horrified gasp), I’m single with no children (and that makes me a spinster or crypt keeper depending on who you ask)! J  I am not close to my family, but have some friends who are just like sisters in Washington state.  Between the three of them, they have 10.8 kids (the .8 is due in June).  I love geocaching, but haven’t really been since my caching buddy went and got married about 6 years ago (because after breaking my ankle on a hiking trail I don’t do things like that by myself).  As exciting as it is, I can’t get anyone to go with me.  LOL!  I’m an ENFP and my E=89% and my F=86% which means I’m an extrovert who wears my emotions on my face and I use 1000 words to say one!  Oh and according to a fellow extrovert, I’m a puppy at heart!  I would walk around wagging my tail, but that might scare people, so I keep the puppy love inside.  J  I love much and am deeply grateful to Jesus.  Without Him, I truly would be nothing.  I’m so very thankful that to Him I was worth the effort to suffer and die, just so that I would know what agape love looks like.  And I’m learning more and more what it means to be a child and the apple of my Father’s eye.