Salt & Light in the 21st Century

This week’s passage: Matthew 2:13-23 The Angel Gives Warning The wise men are warned in a dream not to return to Herod (this is Herod the Great) with the news of where they found Christ in Bethlehem, so they went home a different route then they came. Now we see an angel coming to Joseph in a dream (he should be getting used to this by now) warning him that Herod was putting together a search party to find and destroy Jesus. True to form, Joseph doesn’t doubt this information and immediately gets up and departs for Egypt with his family. The family stays in Egypt until the death of Herod. “And he rose and took the child and his mother by night and departed to Egypt and remained there until the death of Herod. This was to fulfill what the Lord had spoken by the prophet, “Out of Egypt I called my son.” (Matthew 2:14-15 ESV) Remember the gifts presented to Jesus by the Magi? What a perfectly timed provision by God so that Mary and Joseph could ...

This week’s passage: Matthew 2:1-12 The Beginning of a Long Journey Matthew, being guided by the Holy Spirit is sharing so much in these 12 short verses that it is hard to unpack it all in one setting. If we are paying attention, we see an example of how the world can influence our view of events, but more on that later. These verses focus on the journey of the wise men (Magi) who were familiar with the prophecy given by Daniel some 900 years prior to the event we are reading now. "And in the days of those kings the God of heaven will set up a kingdom that shall never be destroyed, nor shall the kingdom be left to another people. It shall break in pieces all these kingdoms and bring them to an end, and it shall stand forever," (Daniel 2:44) Perception is Everything We see through the wise men and others in this account that the way we perceive Christ can change our willingness to approach Him. Herod enjoyed ...

This week’s passage: Matthew 1:18-25 The Birth of Jesus Having established the bloodline of Jesus, Matthew shares the story of His conception and birth, laid out in a “let’s get to the point” sort of way. Matthew is writing to a Jewish audience roughly 30 years after the death and resurrection of Jesus. God uses Matthew’s analytical mind throughout this gospel to point out to these men, who know scripture by heart, that Jesus was the fulfillment of the hundreds of prophecies in the Old Testament announcing the coming of Christ, presenting to them the facts that would shine the light boldly on the Messiah! In the world today we often get bored by the facts. The lack of "colorful" language might leave us a bit unimpressed, but did you really read Matthew’s account? A young woman one day finds that she is pregnant even though she knows without a doubt that it is impossible because she had never been with a man. She learns that the man she is ...

This week’s passage: Matthew 1:1-17 Who was Matthew? Matthew was a Jewish man who worked as a tax collector for the roman empire, this most likely made him prosperous monetarily, but would have caused him to be disliked by his community. We learn from Matthew himself that when Jesus called him, he dropped everything and followed. “As Jesus was walking along, he saw a man named Matthew sitting at his tax collector’s booth. “Follow me and be my disciple,” Jesus said to him. So Matthew got up and followed him. (Matthew 9:9 NLT) Wow! Think about that for just a moment, how did he know that Jesus was the Messiah, what did he see in Jesus standing there in front of him? He felt so compelled to be in the presence of Jesus that he never looked back, eventually giving his life for Christ. Jesus is King! There’s no way around it, genealogies are a tough read for most, I mean, come on, all those “that guy begat that guy, then this guy b...

This week's passage Psalm 46:1-11 Be still and know that I am God As women we tend to believe that when problems arise, we need to roll up our sleeves and solve them, placing the responsibility for the success and the happiness of ourselves and our families on our shoulders. The truth is though – sometimes our problems are much bigger than us and we can send ourselves down a path of destruction trying to grasp at any “solution” that comes our way. As believers in Christ, we must remember to seek God first, in all situations, trusting Him to guide us.  Psalm 46:1-10 is a beautiful reminder to us that “God is our refuge and strength, a very present help in trouble.” The Psalm ends with a proclamation of God’s faithful protection of us, that He is with us and that he truly cares for us. “Be still, and know that I am God. I will be exalted among the nations, I will be exalted in the earth! The Lord of hosts is with us; The God of Jacob...