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Posts Tagged ‘Matthew 07’

Asking, not demanding

Posted in Prayer, Relationships, tagged on June 23, 2010| Leave a Comment »

“Ask, and it shall be given you; seek, and ye shall find; knock, and it shall be opened unto you:” – Matthew 7:7 (KJV)

We naturally think this is Jesus’ directive for prayer. The context, however, is personal, human, relationships – specifically family; brothers, sons. Only then does Jesus indicate how much better the Father responds.

God wants our relationships to others conducted the same way as our relationship with Him; asking, seeking, knocking – not demanding, hunting, and pushing.

I am seeing how demanding obedience, insisting on my own way, and condemning non compliance is NOT the relationship God has with me or anyone else. Life and growth comes where and when there is respect, requests, and the freedom to say/receive “no” without condemnation.

– fritz

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>New Take on Pearls and Swine

Posted in Dallas Willard, Pearls, Pigs, Quotes, tagged on June 22, 2010| Leave a Comment »

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“…neither cast ye your pearls before swine, lest they trample them under their feet, and turn again and rend you.” – Matthew 7:6 (KJV)1

We sometimes get things so backwards, with our arrogance and propensity for self justification. Look at the Pearls and Swine directive from a better perspective

Jesus is not suggesting that certain classes of people are to be viewed as pigs or dogs … Anyone who has ever had serious responsibilities of caring for animals will understand immediately … The problem with pearls for pigs is not that the pigs are not worthy. It is not worthiness that is in question here at all, but helpfulness. Pigs cannot digest pearls.2

Jesus isn’t offering an insult to those who don’t accept our “pearls” of wisdom, he is chiding us who push things on others that they can’t use!

[T]he point is not the waste of the “pearl” but that the person given the pearl is not helped…Our children or others do not know what else to do with us pearl pushers. And even though they love us–as parent or friend, for example–they simply cannot take any more of our “pushy irrelevance,” as they see it, or possibly our stubborn blindness.2

– fritz

1 – Matthew 7:6
2 – The Divine Conspiracy by Dallas Willard, published by HarperCollins, copyright 1998, page 229
Related Post: An Armload of Zucchini

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