Daily Devotion: Matthew 13

07-29-15
As I was reading this morning I was inspired to write out my devotions and the thoughts that came with them. I've been focused so much on becoming a better businessman, and less focused on my relationship with God than I want to be. I know that He is creating in me disciplines and structure which is good for life, but I can't forget to keep my eyes fixed on Him. Eventually I would like to teach all that I learn, and help inspire others toward God, business, wealth, influence, discipline, and abundance. So in short, I may record my thoughts in this blog to keep them present, for those who may care to read. As with anything, I strive to know God and His truth in all that I do, but I am being shaped and moulded in my relationship, and constantly refined. I try to keep my thoughts in line with truth, but have no doubt that my own intentions can creep in. So please work out all thoughts and theology in your own way with God, and know that truth ultimately comes from Him, and not from my thoughts. 

Matthew 13: The disciples came to Jesus and asked, “Why do you speak to the people in parables?” He replied, “The knowledge of the secrets of the kingdom of heaven has been give to you, but not to them. Whoever has will be given more, and he will have an abundance. Whoever does not have, even what he has will be taken from him. This is why I speak to them in parables: Though seeing they do not see; though hearing, they do not hear or understand. In them is fulfilled the prophecy of Isaiah: “’You will be ever hearing but never understanding; you will be ever seeing but never perceiving. 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.’ But blessed are your eyes because they see, and your ears because they hear. For I tell you the truth, many prophets and righteous men longed to see what you see but did not see it, and to hear what you hear but did not hear it. 

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      What a curious thing that Jesus taught the knowledge of the secrets of the kingdom of heaven to His disciples but not the world. How is it that there are secrets of heaven that are not plain to man? I don’t believe that Jesus was withholding information from the world, as the Gnostics believe. I think instead, the world is blind to truth, so there are secrets not plainly known. By hanging out with Jesus day after day, the disciples learned these truths and secrets. They could be talked too plainly because they understood. But the general public needed stories to help them related.
     Jesus couldn’t just tell them to hear the word of God and go spread the Gospel. They didn’t’ know the Gospel, so instead he told them stories about seed and crops, in ways they would understand. It would help them want to be good sewers and good seed, and good crop. They could relate to that, and the understanding would bring them closer to God. If they could understand the first concept, then they could then begin to learn more, as they would have a picture in their mind about the Kingdom of Heaven.

 “Whoever Has, will be given more, and he will have an abundance. Whoever does not have, even what he has will be taken from him.” Matthew 13:12. What a concept. What an incredible truth. Doesn’t this apply to everything in life? Now Jesus was talking specifically about people understanding the word of God, so let’s not lose sight of that. He’s relating it to understanding and Faith. How a person with faith and understanding of God get’s it, and will draw ever closer to God with each thing in life. They will thrive and grow and learn and take it all in, grasping full truth. But to those without faith, without understanding… the world eventually takes away the little connection they did have with God. They don’t understand the things of the kingdom, so they lose any amount of truth about God they did know. They can be swept this way or that, and eventually no truth will remain as they have no foundation to call it truth.

 A speaker that I greatly admire in this personal development area, Jim Rohn, used to use Bible verses often in his talks. Now I believe very much, that we have to be careful when relating the Bible to money and wealth principles, so as to not lose true sight of the Gospel and twist it’s words to be to our earthly benefit and not our spiritual. But I also know that Jesus spoke in a way that related to the way everything around us works, both spiritually and physically. So when Jesus says, “He who has will be given more, and he will have abundance,” doesn’t this then apply to everything in life? Can’t you think of many concepts where this holds true?

 The man who has money makes more. The man who has crops reaps more. The man with an abundance of anything in life is able to reproduce it far easier that the man who has very little or nothing. So in all we do we should strive for abundance. Didn’t Jesus come to give us the abundant life? Now we don’t amass wealth for ourselves to be greedy, we should amass wealth to be Godly, to give generously, to provide for those in our sphere of influence as we may be able. God is the ultimate provider, not us. But while we are able, and to the best of our abilities, we are called to reflect God’s love and to be about His business. So it should be your duty… if you are called… to be wealthy. To be the best you that you can possibly be. To give the most value to society, and in return that will earn you wealth. Not everyone is called to be wealthy. Some are pastors, and ministers, and missionaries, and they may never amass great fortunes because of the nature of their calling. But they need to be provided for by those who are called to be business men, entrepreneurs, and the like.

 So strive for abundance in all you do, and let God be the one who shows you what to do with that abundance. Now let’s look at the second part. “Whoever does not have, even what he has will be taken from him.” 
Wow, what a statement. What a statement this is. Whoever does not have, even what he has will be taken from him. How hard it is to process this statement, because maybe it hits a little too close to home at times. The thing is, once you find yourself on a downward spiral, you continue to lose more and more of yourself. A man once said, if you aren’t growing, you’re dying. Isn’t that right. You see, if you aren’t growing, if you aren’t getting better, if you aren’t gaining more (of whatever), you’re losing. You’re going down. In faith, in love, in hope, in wealth. Those who have little, often lose what they have. It takes a great deal of effort to break out of having little. Little money, little faith, little hope. How many people do you know who have little hope or little faith? Isn’t it so terribly hard to help them out of that? But that’s what they need. You see, when you have little you need to work incredibly hard to increase. You need God. You need friends to help. You need mentors and teachers and leaders. And then, by grace, you may increase instead of lose what you have. But if you stop growing, stop participating, stop trying, stop learning… You will lose.

 I’ve seen this in my own faith at times, in great and small ways. If I’m stagnant, not learning, not being taught, not teaching… I lose. I start to lose the faith that I do have. I start to lose sight of truths I’ve known and experienced my whole life. How fickle is the human heart, the human experience. How quickly we can lose sight of things we’ve been taught and have seen are true with our own eyes and own experience. My friends… Increase. Seek abundance. Seek Godliness. Be a hearer of the word and a doer of the word. Be a better family man, a better friend, a better business man, a better person. Seek abundance in your relationships. Seek abundance in your knowledge of all things that interest you. Seek abundance in finances so that you may be a blessing. And most importantly, seek abundance in you relationship with God, because that abundance will keep all others in check, in their proper place, in their proper perspective. And your Godliness, your influence, your abundance will grow. The one who received the seed that fell on good soil is the man who hears the word and understands it. He produces a crop, yielding a hundred, sixty, or thirty times what was sown.

 Now one last part of this message: Jesus says in his explanation of the Parable of the Sower, “The one who received the seed that fell among the thorns is the man who hears the word, but the worries of this life and the deceitfulness of wealth choke it, making it unfruitful.” 
 Let’s pause for a minute, and wonder why Jesus, the Master Teacher, warns us about the deceitfulness of wealth. We’re talking about money, and abundance, and personal development. Money isn’t everything, now isn’t that true. But it sure is important in the way this world runs, and without it there are a lot of cares of the world. But heck, even with it, if we don’t have the right perspective, there are still a lot of cares of the world that can choke us.

 Don’t be deceived that the pursuit of wealth is your biggest answer to all of your problems. It will help to have money, yes. It will solve many issues for you. But if you only give yourself to it’s pursuit, and not to the pursuit of God, then you will be left more empty, more desperate, and more destitute than before. You can do great things with money, and you can also do terrible things. Maybe the worst is that you can find ways to distract yourself from your sorrows that you thought would be solved by having money. You can cloud your judgement, attempt to cover up your worries and your empty heart, but it won’t suffice. So don’t be choked by the deceitfulness of wealth. It’s not money that is the root of all evil. Money is just a unit of freedom and ability. Money is a piece of paper that is traded for your contribution to society. But the love of money is the root of all evil. If you love money more than you love God, you are headed for a train wreck. Keep your relationship between God, yourself, and money, in it’s proper place and you should be just fine.

 Jesus goes on to say how, “The one who received the seed theat fell on good soil is the man who hears the word and understands it. He produces a crop, yielding a hundred, sixty, and thirty times what was sown.” Now in strictly physical terms, this shows that wealth itself is not bad, when put in proper context and relationship to man and God. Should the farmer not seek to produce the best crop he can? Should he not sew as much as he is able? No, he should sew well, and reap even better, to the best of his ability. But if he is greedy, and hoards his wealth, and loves his wealth, it may be taken from him and he may find himself and empty, hollow shell that has wasted his blessings, wasted his life, and pursued the wrong type of abundance.