(Day 9) Matthew 7-12

In Matthew 7-9 the three overwhelming elements are: Faith, Obedience, and Bearing Fruits. Again, just as in all the other Gospels I have read up to this point, faith in God is essential. Jesus states over and over again that if you ask, you will receive. If you need, it will be provided. If you have faith! He states that the gate to destruction is wide, and many will pass through it. As I stop and think about our society, the overwhelming influence of the media, and the popular beliefs of many I would have to conclude that this is true. As I stated before, too often our faith lies in material or worldly things, not in God. When Jesus says that the gate of life is narrow and few will pass, I can only hope that my Faith, my obedience to God, and my works toward my fellow man will continue to strengthen through out my life.
After reading Matthew 10 the only question I have is, "am I worthy"? I struggle daily with putting God first. I get caught up in that "race". You know the race; to get ahead, to make "enough" money, and to please everybody in my life. What about God? Is there room for Him amongst all of the other "stuff"? Jesus says that every one who acknowledges him before men, He shall also acknowledge before God. But, He makes clear that to all who deny him before men, He will surely deny before God. If I were to die today, would I be acknowledged or denied? I'm afraid of the answer. I really need to make a strong effort to keep the "stuff" in prospective. I will remind my self daily, no, hourly, no wait, how about every minute, to put God first.
Part of putting God first is that bearing fruit thing. Jesus makes clear that he and his disciples spent time with tax collectors, prostitues, leperds, and sinners. These are the people who need help. As He says, the healthy don't need a doctor. How much of our time is spent around the people in our society who are sick? I don't mean sick as in sick, I mean spiritually sick. Surely, we need to take care of and tend to those who are sick and dying. From what I've seen over the past several years, our community does a pretty darn good job of that. But, what about all of the people around us who are lost, lonely, scared, hopeless, or even addicted. By the way, I can apply many of the afore mentioned to myself. These are the people that Jesus and his disciples would surround themselves with. How often do all of us surround ourselves with these people, and believe me, there are many. All I can say is, I have a lot of self improvement to do as a Christian...