Matthew 7:11 - If you then, being evil, know how to give good gifts to your children...

If you, then, though you are evil, know how to give good gifts to your children, how much more will your Father in heaven give good gifts to those who ask him!

In this passage Jesus is teaching his disciples to ask. Their concept of God may have been a Creator who is so grand that He is unapproachable. If this was the case, Jesus was turning that image upside down. Jesus was teaching that God the Father is not only good, but also desirous to give good gifts to his children. Not his slaves - His kids! This can be a major shift of thinking for people. To see God as distant and deaf gives us greater autonomy; but to see God as a Father wanting to bless his children challenges that autonomy. We now are responsible for asking, seeking and knocking. God wants us to come to Him.

Today's commentary by:
Dave Whitehead, Senior Pastor, Grace NYC

What do you think? Discussion at: http://facebook.com/DailyBibleVerse

Isaiah 40:3-5 - prepare the way for the LORD

A voice of one calling: "In the desert prepare the way for the LORD; make straight in the wilderness a highway for our God. Every valley shall be raised up, every mountain and hill made low; the rough ground shall become level, the rugged places a plain. And the glory of the LORD will be revealed, and all mankind together will see it. For the mouth of the LORD has spoken."

This famous passage of Scripture is connected with the coming of John the Baptist 730 years later. Notice the imagery: A king is coming who will level the surroundings so that he has a highway to travel on.

This passage beautifully describes the way that God comes into our lives. He takes the high places of our pride and brings them down. He takes the low places of our self-pity and brings them up. Neither is the road our king will travel on. When the glory of the Lord is revealed He transforms our fallen nature so dramatically that those around us see the fruit of that miracle. This is the promise of the coming King.

Today's commentary by:
Dave Whitehead, Senior Pastor, Grace NYC

What do you think? Discussion at: http://facebook.com/DailyBibleVerse