I am using the daily Bible reading schedule from “The Bible.net” for my daily Bible reading.

Today, I am reading and commenting on Matthew 10-12.

    I had forgotten how packed with things for us to learn the Gospels are. Jesus’ instructions to the Apostles (which means “one sent on a mission”) included “be as shrewd as snakes and as harmless as doves.” Following this is truly a challenge. Jesus us not to be gullible, but not to be cunning and sly. We should be aware of the tricks and deceits which people will use against us, but not use them ourselves. Another part of His instructions to them was to tell them not to worry about what they would say when called to account. If we allow Him, God will speak through us. In a way this is related to the previous instruction. Yes, we should study and prepare for what people will ask us, but we should not try to have a slick, packaged answer.

    Numerous false religions have been created which have secret teachings, some of these claim to be following Jesus. However, Jesus makes it quite clear here that He is not teaching anything which can only be told to the initiated: “What I whisper in your ear, shout from the housetops for all to hear!” It could not be made more clear to me that while unbelievers will misunderstand many of Jesus’ teachings that is no reason for us to be secretive about them. Which leads into the next part I want to highlight. Jesus warns us that His teachings will not lead to unity and peace. If we love our parents, spouses, children, or, even, unity more than we love Jesus, we are not worthy of Him. If we want to serve God we must be willing to sacrifice our relationship with any of them to do so. Of course, anyone who truly loves us will not begrudge us our service to God.

    When John the Baptist’s disciples came to Jesus to ask Him if He was indeed the Messiah, Jesus did not answer them directly. Jesus’ answer was, “Judge me by the results of what I do and say.” That is the way to judge any person or organization which claims to serve God. Are people being healed physically, mentally, and spiritually? If the answer is “Yes” then they are serving God. If the answer is “No”, get as far away from them as you can.
    Related to that is Jesus’ teaching about the Sabbath. This teaching applies to all of God’s Laws and regulations. Their purpose is to make us better people and to provide guidelines to living a loving, healthy life. If they fail to do so, or, even worse, if they cause hurt and pain, then you have failed to understand them and are applying them incorrectly. When the Pharisees confronted Jesus because their interpretation of the Sabbath said it was wrong to pick and eat grain as you walked along and that it was wrong to heal on the Sabbath, He told them, “You missed the point.” Jesus was not setting aside God’s Law to keep the Sabbath Holy. He told us that the Pharisees interpretation of what that meant was wrong. We must never mistake our interpretation of God’s rules for God’s rules.