The Judas Within Ourselves

I learned and interesting concept this week in Matthew 26:14-16, 24. I had put myself into the story, replacing myself with some of the people. Here I still can't fully understand what Judas was feeling when he betrayed Christ. But when Christ said that it would have been better if he had not been born, I felt anger and sadness. Then it brings about the fact of how often we betray Christ. Christ has done so much for us, yet there are times that even we betray Him. Whether it’s something we did or said or lack thereof. For not standing up for our beliefs and Christ because we’re afraid of getting rejected. There are times when we are more focused on trying to “fit in” and appease to the sights of the world, that we betray Christ in order to do so. Are we more focused on the “coins” that the world has to offer, or are we going to continue to remain with Christ at the Passover and continue to remain by His side no matter what? And in the end, would’ve it been better if we hadn’t been born to be able to betray Him?

Be Rid Of Hypocrisy!

In Matthew 23:4-5, 13-29 Christ gives a very long list of how the scribes and Pharisees are such big hypocrites. Such as giving big burdens and them doing nothing, swearing by only the things that are brought into the temple but not the temple itself, take advantage of the poor, put people down for the small sins that they make even though they are making the greatest sins. These are just some of the examples of what Christ has given us. Yet it’s amazing the lesson that we can learn from even just these. That lesson is that it’s SO easy to be hypocrites! I honestly believe that everyone is a hypocrite in some way. Whether big or small. I know that I have even done this even though I hate it so much. I usually never really do it intentionally and don’t think about the fact that I did til after that fact, but I’m still no exception. I believe that here, Christ is reminding and telling us that we need to work on not being hypocrites, otherwise we receive the greater damnation as He puts it.

He Loves Us!!!

I loved what I learned in Matthew 19:13-14!! It really struck a chord with me on just how much Christ loves each and every one of us. Verse 14 But Jesus said, Suffer [your name], and forbid him/her not to come unto me,: for such is the kingdom of heaven. This is amazing because it is another way of Christ showing just how much He loves us. The Lord never tells us that we can’t come unto and partake in the blessings that he has for us. So why forbid ourselves? We should we hold back from Him and ourselves if He never does? The Lord is far more than willing to show His love to us. His hand is and always will be stretched out to us. We just need to learn to reach out and grab it. With the full faith and trust that He will never let us go. So if He won't ever let us go, then we should never let Him go.

We Need To Remove The Negative/Bad Things From Our Lives

So this week I was reading in Matthew 18 and I came across verses 8-9. I thought that these verses were very interesting considering what it seem that Christ is telling us to do here. He mentions that we need to cut off our hands and feet that offend us and that it's better for us to go in heaven without them than to go to hell with them. Now I’m sure that Christ didn’t mean for us to actually cut our hands and feet off. But I believe that He meant it symbolically. For the symbolism of the feet, I feel like He meant that we need to cut those things out of our lives that we shouldn’t be going to. Such as a party where we know that there’ll be a lot of negative influences. Or places that we don't want to go or shouldn't go but we go because we want to look or seem "cool".  But to avoid going to any of those places that we know that we need to avoid. Same idea with the hand, to avoid doing things that betrays who we are such as masturbation or anything else that would take us from the Savior and pushes Him from our lives. For our eyes, to stop looking at or watching things that we shouldn’t be such as inappropriate shows or anything else that pushes the Spirit away. Like porn or anything else that encourages evil thoughts. As we cut these types of things out of our lives, we’ll be able to return to live with Christ and our Father again.

We Need to Heal Ourselves

So this week I learned something really interesting in my New Testament class. I decided to study the lists that Christ gives us in the scriptures. There was one particular one that I read that stuck out to me. It was Matthew 11:5 It took me a little while to figure out the message that it had that came with the list. “5 The blind receive their sight, and the lame walk, the lepers are cleansed, and the deaf hear, the dead are raised up, and the poor have the gospel preached to them.” At first it didn’t seem like this list had importance in the order or that it had any special or particular meaning. So I kept ready and I came across Matthew 13:15 “15 For this people’s heart is waxed gross, and their ears are dull of hearing, and their eyes they have closed; lest at any time they should see with their eyes, and hear with their ears, and should understand with their heart, and should be converted, and I should heal them.” That list wasn’t talking about just the physical sense but the spiritual sense as well. If the little miracles are not done, if we do not spiritually heal our eyes and ears, then the bigger miracles cannot be made. Without healing ourselves, it makes it impossible for the Lord to heal us and have the gospel fully taught to us by the Spirit. Many people want God to immediately change something in their lives or heal them without them doing any of the work. However, the Lord cannot help us if we don't do our pat and prepare ourselves to receive His help.

Getting Rid of the Bad Fruit in Our Lives

Hey y'all! So I just really wanted to share something that I learned in my New Testament class this week. I was reading in Matthew 3:10 about cutting down the bad fruit in our lives. Bad fruit can be a variety of things. Whether it be people, suggestive music, activities that we do, etc. Basically, anything that we know negatively impacts our lives. Now in this scripture, we are told that we must burn the bad fruit. That doesn't mean that we actually burn things or people, just that we eliminate it from our lives. That is usually easier said then done. But the Atonement that Christ made for us, makes it possible. Christ took all our sins upon Himself, so He knows exactly what we're going through and what it takes to overcome it. It usually starts with a choice. A choice on whether or not you choose to go to a place where there are people or things that you need to cut out of your life. The first time is always the hardest to make that choice. But the more that we depend on Christ to do what we know is right, the easier it becomes over time. So if there was a person that you wanted to get away from or a habit that you want to kick, Christ can and will help you remove those bad fruits from your life. You just have to turn to Him and be willing to accept His help.