Don’t be like them. Your Father knows what you need before you ask him. (Mat 6:8, GW)
Many have questioned the meaning of the statement your Father knows the things you have need of before you ask Him. “Then why should we pray?” they ask. Prayer is not man’s attempt to change the will of God. God’s method of changing our will is to bring it into conformity with His will. More than changing things, prayer changes people. Prayer is not conquering God’s reluctance to answer, but laying hold of His willingness to help! Prayer, in the life of the true believer, is an act of total confidence and assurance in the plan and purpose of God.
Christ seldom gathered His disciples alone to receive His words. Here in Mat 6, Jesus did not choose for His audience those only who knew the way of life. It was His work to reach the multitudes who were in ignorance and error. He gave His lessons of truth where they could reach the darkened understanding. He Himself was the Truth, standing with girded loins and hands ever outstretched to bless, and in words of warning, entreaty, and encouragement, seeking to uplift all who would come unto Him. {DA 298.1}
JESUS: Befriends the Sinner in Us
Now that we have been put right with God through faith, we have peace with God through our Lord Jesus Christ. He has brought us by faith into this experience of God’s grace, in which we now live. And so we boast of the hope we have of sharing God’s glory! We also boast of our troubles, because we know that trouble produces endurance, endurance brings God’s approval, and his approval creates hope. This hope does not disappoint us, for God has poured out his love into our hearts by means of the Holy Spirit, who is God’s gift to us. For when we were still helpless, Christ died for the wicked at the time that God chose. (Rom 5:1-6, GNB)
The hope that believers have of their future glory with God will not disappoint them by being unfulfilled. They will not be put to shame or humiliated because of their hope. The reason the believer can be so confident is that the love of God has been poured out.
“Them that are afar off are made near by the blood of Christ.” (Eph 2:13)
There are no exceptions. The love of God has been poured out. For the gays, for the adulterers, for the liars, for the thieves, the Catholics, the Protestants, and everyone in between, and especially for the self-righteous professors of Christendom who act as though they are better than “all those others.”
The moment a person receives Jesus, trusts in Him, that person receives the Holy Spirit (Rom 8:9), who constantly encourages them in their hope in God. (see also John 1:12)
There is no one you could name who needs to miss out on this hope.
While We Were Yet Sinners
Christ was treated as we deserve, that we might be treated as He deserves. He was condemned for our sins, in which He had no share, that we might be justified by His righteousness, in which we had no share. He suffered the death which was ours, that we might receive the life which was His. “With His stripes we are healed.” {DA 25.2}
In the year 1874, William Gladstone was competing in the election for prime minister of the United Kingdom. Well known among his contemporaries for being a highly capable man by virtue of his sharp wit, expansive knowledge, and decorated track record, Gladstone was a formidable candidate for the role. Yet it was his opponent, Benjamin Disraeli, who seemed to have the endearing edge. What made Disraeli more attractive to some was his widely known and celebrated ability to help people see their own value. While Gladstone had no problem helping people see how important important he was as an accomplished man, Disraeli helped people see how important they were.
One evening, a woman named Jennie Jerome, famously known as the mother of Sir Winston Churchill, had an opportunity to converse with each of the candidates at a dinner party. When asked by a reporter about the experience and her impression of each of the candidates, she replied, “When I left the dining room after sitting next to Gladstone, I thought he was the cleverest man in England. But when I sat next to Disraeli, I left feeling that I was the cleverest woman.” [Sauls, Scott. A Gentle Answer (pp. 3-4). Thomas Nelson. Kindle Edition].
In His ministry, Jesus often turned his attention to those accustomed to being ignored, mistreated, discarded, and despised by the general public.
If you were sick, poor, sexually damaged, or paralyzed by guilt and shame, for just a few examples, Jesus would move toward you and tell you what nobody else would:
YOU MATTER. YOU ARE LOVED.
One of the most remarkable things about Jesus is his affection for and gentleness toward not the righteous, but towards sinners; not the healthy, but the sick; not those who have their act together, but those who are falling apart; not those who are clean, but those who are damaged and dirty. “This man welcomes sinners,” the scribes and Pharisees charged, “and eats with them” (Luke 15:2 NIV). [Sauls, Scott. A Gentle Answer (p. 5). Thomas Nelson. Kindle Edition].
I Only Know I’m Loved
’When I say, “I am a Christian”
I’m not shouting, “I’ve been saved!”
I’m whispering, “I get lost sometimes
That’s why I chose this way”
When I say, “I am a Christian”
I don’t speak with human pride
I’m confessing that I stumble –
needing God to be my guide
When I say, “I am a Christian”
I’m not trying to be strong
I’m professing that I’m weak
and pray for strength to carry on
When I say, “I am a Christian”
I’m not bragging of success
I’m admitting that I’ve failed
and cannot ever pay the debt
When I say, “I am a Christian”
I don’t think I know it all
I submit to my confusion
asking humbly to be taught
When I say, “I am a Christian”
I’m not claiming to be perfect
My flaws are far too visible
but God believes I’m worth it
When I say, “I am a Christian”
I still feel the sting of pain
I have my share of heartache
which is why I seek God’s name
When I say, “I am a Christian”
I do not wish to judge
I have no authority
I only know I’m loved’
by Carol Wimmer 1988
Some Find Disappointment In Jesus
Christ disappointed the hope of worldly greatness. In the Sermon on the Mount He sought to undo the work that had been wrought by false education, and to give His hearers a right conception of His kingdom and of His own character. Yet He did not make a direct attack on the errors of the people. He saw the misery of the world on account of sin, yet He did not present before them a vivid delineation of their wretchedness. He taught them of something infinitely better than they had known. Without combating their ideas of the kingdom of God, He told them the conditions of entrance therein, leaving them to draw their own conclusions as to its nature. The truths He taught are no less important to us than to the multitude that followed Him. We no less than they need to learn the foundation principles of the kingdom of God. {DA 299.3}
Christ’s first words to the people on the mount were words of blessing. Happy are they, He said, who recognize their spiritual poverty, and feel their need of redemption. The gospel is to be preached to the poor. Not to the spiritually proud, those who claim to be rich and in need of nothing, is it revealed, but to those who are humble and contrite. One fountain only has been opened for sin, a fountain for the poor in spirit. {DA 299.4}
The proud heart strives to earn salvation; but both our title to heaven and our fitness for it are found in the righteousness of Christ. The Lord can do nothing toward the recovery of man until, convinced of his own weakness, and stripped of all self-sufficiency, he yields himself to the control of God. Then he can receive the gift that God is waiting to bestow. From the soul that feels his need, nothing is withheld. He has unrestricted access to Him in whom all fullness dwells. “For thus saith the high and lofty One that inhabiteth eternity, whose name is Holy; I dwell in the high and holy place, with him also that is of a contrite and humble spirit, to revive the spirit of the humble, and to revive the heart of the contrite ones.” Isa 57:15. {DA 300.1}