What You Do Matters

Posted by Rev. Mark Slay

Matthew 13:14-15 - In their case the prophecy of Isaiah is being fulfilled, which says, 'YOU WILL KEEP ON HEARING, BUT WILL NOT UNDERSTAND; YOU WILL KEEP ON SEEING, BUT WILL NOT PERCEIVE; FOR THE HEART OF THIS PEOPLE HAS BECOME DULL, WITH THEIR EARS THEY SCARCELY HEAR, AND THEY HAVE CLOSED THEIR EYES, OTHERWISE THEY WOULD SEE WITH THEIR EYES, HEAR WITH THEIR EARS, AND UNDERSTAND WITH THEIR HEART AND RETURN, AND I WOULD HEAL THEM'

Matthew is quoting Isaiah here and Isaiah is speaking about the Jewish people, but it can also be true for Christians of today. He says, "the heart of this people has become dull" and he's not referring to their physical heart; He's talking about their spirit. What happens very often is your spirit will become insensitive to the things of God.

How do you make your heart sensitive and sharper in the things of God? One way is to humble yourself and admit when you're wrong and then go on and let God help you. But if you harden your heart and hold your position when it is not sensible He can't help you. It's easier to just be a lover. You'll get further with God if you're just a lover.

Matthew 13:31-32 - He presented another parable to them, saying, "The kingdom of heaven is like a mustard seed, which a man took and sowed in his field; and this is smaller than all other seeds, but when it is full grown, it is larger than the garden plants and becomes a tree, so that the BIRDS OF THE AIR come and NEST IN ITS BRANCHES.

Notice this verse says, "so that the birds of the air come and nest in its branches". If you're the kind of person that people do not like to be around then something better change quickly in you or else you won't make it. Christian people should be the kind of people that others want to be around.

Matthew 13:41-42 - The Son of Man will send forth His angels, and they will gather out of His kingdom all stumbling blocks, and those who commit lawlessness, and will throw them into the furnace of fire; in that place there will be weeping and gnashing of teeth.

Notice it says he will take out "stumbling blocks, AND those who commit lawlessness". So you see it does matter what we do. What is lawlessness? Well, Jesus says this, "you shall love the Lord your God with all your heart, mind, soul and strength" and also "you shall love your neighbor as much as you love yourself". So lawlessness is a violation of either of those commandments. We either didn't love God with all our heart and chose something else, or we didn't love people with all our heart and chose something else. Lawlessness can be summarized as anything that goes against what God said.

Matthew 16:24-25 - -Then Jesus said to His disciples, "If anyone wishes to come after Me, he must deny himself, and take up his cross and follow Me. For whoever wishes to save his life will lose it; but whoever loses his life for My sake will find it.

You see people all the time that try and hold on to their lives, their fun, their customs, instead of just handing it over to God. When you hand it over to God, He hands it back 100 fold. Verse 26 says, "For what will it profit a man if he gains the whole world and forfeits his soul? Or what will a man give in exchange for his soul?"

There is nothing in this world that is worth exchanging your soul for.