Matthew 8:18-22

At times Jesus seems so inaccessible. One guy tells him that he will follow Jesus any place that he goes. Jesus reply isn't "Great!" Instead, he says that he has no home. He pretty much tells the guy that it's going to be a tough existence. Then another guy tells him that he wants to bury his father before he follows Jesus. Jesus replies "Let the dead bury their own dead." I don't think that Jesus was trying to come across as mean, or inaccessible, but rather I think he was trying to expose people's weaknesses. The first guy had a security issue. He wanted to know that he would always have something. Jesus tells him that he will end up with nothing, not even a place to call home. The second guy had a dependency issue. He wanted to be able to tie up things with his family before he was ready. Jesus tells him that other things are more important. All of this seems really mean, unless you take into account what Jesus said a few chapter earlier: "Don't worry about tomorrow. Tomorrow will worry about itself." When you look at it like that, all of our insecurities and excuses melt away in the calm reassurance that Jesus has our best interest at heart. JM

Matthew 6:25-34

Man, after holding my daughter and worrying about her because she's sick, how comforting is it to read that I don't have to worry. God has everything in his control. That statement by itself is impressive, but it's not comforting until you combine it with the fact that he is working everything out for my good (Romans 8:28). Pretty incredible combination.
Verse 33 "The thing you should want most is God's kingdom, and doing what God wants." I hope that I can truthfully say that is what I want most. I think it is, but I just have distractions like finances, pride, popularity. I wish I could minimize those distractions and just desire God's kingdom to grow. Change can only happen through prayer.
I think I'd like to work on my prayer life. I'm going to talk to a couple of people to see how I can better organize it and structure it. Not to make it stuffy, because I still want to have a sense of awe and mystery to it, but I want it to be effective. JM