Matthew 19 journal

Matthew 19 Journal

Proverb of the day 19:22 What a person desires is unfailing love; better to be poor than a liar. We search for unfailing love in many places: Spouse, career, children, friends, status; but there is only one source of love that never fails; a relationship with God. The second part of the verse intrigues me. To be a source of unfailing love, you have to walk in truth. (What do you think?)

Matthew 19 Divorce and Money

Jesus expresses God’s desire for marriage to be a union that no one separates. He explains that people want to get divorced because their hearts are hardened (It’s interesting that Matthew 18 finishes with a parable about the unmerciful servant and Matthew 19 starts with why people want to get divorced). A successful marriage is the result of two people who are good at forgiving. Although betrayal is probably the deepest wound someone can experience, God does not want a husband and wife to divorce in the case of unfaithfulness. Verse 9 says that someone who divorces his wife, except for sexual immorality, and marries another woman commits adultery. It does not say “It’s okay to divorce your spouse because of unfaithfulness.” You are just exempt from the title adulteress. Does God have the character trait of faithfulness or unfaithfulness? The whole book of Hosea is about how God loves us even though we are unfaithful and allow other gods to replace him. An inspiring story that I heard a few years ago was about a husband who had an affair with his secretary. He moved out and left his wife and two children. She decided not to get a divorce, but to pray for him every day. After two long years, one day he woke up and said “Oh my God, I’m sleeping with my secretary.” He went through a restoration process and came back to his family. Today they have an extremely strong marriage.

So the question is “What makes your heart hard?” Is there a family member that has a bad habit?

The chapter concludes with a story about the rich man. He is definitely task oriented because he asks Jesus how he can earn eternal life by doing something. Jesus challenges his god by asking him to give away his possessions to the poor. He couldn’t do it because he worshipped money. How can I dethrone the god of money and replace it with the God of Life? The god of money is called Mammon in the New Testament. His purpose is to use people to gain more money. God has the opposite view. He wants us to use money to win people into his kingdom. This story is a perfect example. It’s interesting that Proverbs 19 contains so many verses about the positive things that happen when wealth is in the right hand. I pray that God gives me the character and wisdom to do the right thing with wealth.