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Tag Archives: Parables

Emails to God – What does it mean to be a mustard seed? (Matthew 13:31-35)

03 Feb

31 He told them another parable: “The kingdom of heaven is like a mustard seed, which a man took and planted in his field. 32 Though it is the smallest of all seeds, yet when it grows, it is the largest of garden plants and becomes a tree, so that the birds come and perch in its branches.”

33 He told them still another parable: “The kingdom of heaven is like yeast that a woman took and mixed into about sixty pounds of flour until it worked all through the dough.”

34 Jesus spoke all these things to the crowd in parables; he did not say anything to them without using a parable. 35 So was fulfilled what was spoken through the prophet:

“I will open my mouth in parables,
I will utter things hidden since the creation of the world.”[

Dear God, I think this story needs an example. What does this look like in real life? What does it mean?

One of my favorite Bible stories is of Jesus sitting in the synagogue watching the people come in. He sees different ones dropping money in the offering, but the one he singles our to his disciples is the poor widow who gave sacrificially. The thing I find remarkable about this story is that this widow left the synagogue that day never realizing that Jesus had used her as an example to his disciples, that it would be recorded by one of them, and that I would be reading the story nearly two thousand years later. In fact, that day, when she got back to her home, she was as poor as when she started and there is zero evidence that her lot in life ever changed.

This widow is a mustard seed. She is yeast. Unbeknownst to her, she is a living example of sacrificial giving and being willing to lay her needs aside because of her worship of you. She has been used in countless sermons and Bible studies. The story has been told on television shows and in movies. And she never knew.

Father, I think that sometimes I try to see what my seed and yeast are turning into, but, once again, you have me on a need-to-know basis, and I don’t need to know. You are calling me to be like this widow—faithfully ignorant of the impact my life is having. So help me to turn loose of my need to be noticed, appreciated, and admired. Help me to turn loose of my need to leave a legacy and simply find the joy and peace that comes from faithful service and sacrifice to you.

 
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Posted by on February 3, 2012 in Matthew

 

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Emails to God – Needing an Explanation of the Parable (Matthew 13:18-23)

31 Jan

18 “Listen then to what the parable of the sower means: 19 When anyone hears the message about the kingdom and does not understand it, the evil one comes and snatches away what was sown in their heart. This is the seed sown along the path. 20 The seed falling on rocky ground refers to someone who hears the word and at once receives it with joy. 21 But since they have no root, they last only a short time. When trouble or persecution comes because of the word, they quickly fall away. 22 The seed falling among the thorns refers to someone who hears the word, but the worries of this life and the deceitfulness of wealth choke the word, making it unfruitful. 23 But the seed falling on good soil refers to someone who hears the word and understands it. This is the one who produces a crop, yielding a hundred, sixty or thirty times what was sown.”

Dear God, I find it interesting that in verses 16 and 17 you tell they that they are blessed because the can see and hear, and yet you go on to lay the meaning of the parable out for them anyway. Perhaps they were not as seeing and perceiving as they might have been. It seems to me that the disciples were continuously not seeing and perceiving. They missed your lessons all of the time.

Of course, I miss your lessons too. I don’t always (or even often) understand what is going on around me. Heck, I don’t quite understand what is going on around me right now. I don’t know what you are doing in me and through me as a dad, husband, employee, church attendee, son, brother, or friend. I know that it seems like there is something missing in me in each of these areas, but I just can’t put my finger on it.

Father, right now, I really need your wisdom, vision, insight, and discernment. I really need to understand how to love my wife. I really need to understand how to parent my children. I need to understand how to be a friend to those who need me. I need to understand how to lead the organization where I work. So help me. Since I am currently on vacation with my wife, please help me to be the husband and father she needs me to be. Help me to be the husband and father that you need for me to be for her sake. I can’t tell what that looks like, but I know that right now I am afraid I am missing it somehow.

 
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Posted by on January 31, 2012 in Matthew

 

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Emails to God – Ever Seeing, but Never Perceiving (Matthew 13:10-17)

29 Jan

10 The disciples came to him and asked, “Why do you speak to the people in parables?”

11 He replied, “Because the knowledge of the secrets of the kingdom of heaven has been given to you, but not to them. 12 Whoever has will be given more, and they will have an abundance. Whoever does not have, even what they have will be taken from them. 13 This is why I speak to them in parables:

“Though seeing, they do not see;
though hearing, they do not hear or understand.

14 In them is fulfilled the prophecy of Isaiah:

“‘You will be ever hearing but never understanding;
you will be ever seeing but never perceiving.
15 For this people’s heart has become calloused;
they hardly hear with their ears,
and they have closed their eyes.
Otherwise they might see with their eyes,
hear with their ears,
understand with their hearts
and turn, and I would heal them.’

16 But blessed are your eyes because they see, and your ears because they hear. 17 For truly I tell you, many prophets and righteous people longed to see what you see but did not see it, and to hear what you hear but did not hear it.

Dear God, I wonder what it was about these twelve men that made them different. What made them seeing AND perceiving? What made them able to hear AND understand? (verse 14) Why wouldn’t you want all of us to “see with [our] eyes, hear with [our] ears, understand with [our hearts] and turn, and [be healed]”?

I admit that there are some things that you try to show me that I just don’t understand. It seems like I am one of the people that you do not reveal things to. But then there are other times when I “get it” and can respond to what you are calling me to do. As I sit and think about this, my inability/ability to “see” seems to change depending upon what area of my life I am talking about. I have pretty good clarity at work. I can often see what you are doing and calling me to do there. I have a little less clarity in marriage. I often know how to respond to my wife, but there are times when I am insensitive and don’t have a clue. And I have even less clarity in my parenting. In fact, I was wondering recently if Satan wasn’t really trying to attack our family’s unity and I was missing it.

Father, help me to be seeing AND perceiving. Help me to hear AND understand. I want to glorify and honor you in every area of my life. In addition to that, I want to feel your peace and be a minister of your peace in every area of my life. Help me to bless my wife and children. Help me to bless my family. Help me to bless my friends and coworkers. Help me to bless our patients. And help me to bless those I simply encounter today. Touch the world through me.

 
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Posted by on January 29, 2012 in Matthew

 

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