Ten Minute Bible Talks Devotional Bible Study - Is Your Life Built on You? | New Testament | Matthew 18

Episode Date: January 25, 2023

Have you ever felt like you've lost your importance? Are you tired of trying to prove yourself worthy? What gives you value? In today's episode, Jensen discusses Matthew 18 and how to give your life lasting meaning. Your support makes TMBT possible. Ten Minute Bible Talks is a crowd-funded project. Join the TMBTeam to reach more people with the Bible. Give now. Join the TMBT community in reading the entire New Testament in 2023. Get your FREE reading plan here. Like this content? Make sure to leave us a rating and share it with others, so others can find it too. Use #asktmbt to connect with us, ask questions, and suggest topics. We'd love to hear from you! To learn more, visit our website and follow us on Instagram, Facebook, and Twitter@TenMinuteBibleTalks. Don't forget to subscribe to the TMBT Newsletter here. Passages: Matthew 18

Welcome to 10-minute Bible Talks, where we connect the Bible to your life. And the time it takes to get to work. I'm Jensen Holt McNair. About two years ago, I left my career in ministry, and shortly after, I made the decision to stay at home with my son, who at the time would be born in a few months. Now, if you're a stay-at-home mom, you've probably experienced this feeling before. But for everyone else, it's important to know that when you decide to stay at home with a child, it isn't always easy. It's not just the no-sleep, crying, diapers, and endless hours of wondering

how to entertain your child next. All those things are there. But the hardest part of choosing to stay home with my son was the feeling that I had lost out. You see, I had a plan. I had a trajectory I had set my life on, where I would go in my career, how I would accomplish it. I had built a picture of my life and my head that was built entirely on me and my success and accomplice. my goals. And you go from every day working towards this goal, achieving, feeling important, to all of a sudden, working for a demanding boss who doesn't know your name, never says thank you, and will not remember anything you'd do for them in five years. I'll say staying home with your kids has its really, really good moments too. But even with the good, it was hard for me not to be

shocked by the sudden loss of importance in my life. I had left my seat of the table to stay home and sit on the floor with my two-month-old, and I couldn't help but mourn the loss in my life. I watched as others continued to accomplish their goals, make gains in their careers that I had hoped to make, and felt a feeling of worthlessness. And that feeling, it's settled in over my life for a long time. Now, maybe you've experienced something something, similar in your life. Maybe you've had a setback. You've been demoted, lost a job, chosen to stay at home with your kids, and you're facing the feeling that you've lost your importance to the world. That's a hard place to be. It's a dark and lonely place, and I want to say that I've been in that

place too. But I also want to say that for me, those feelings of worthlessness, those feelings of falling behind, not being important. Those feelings were all coming from the fact that I was living my life based on a lie I had long been taught to believe. Now, this lie is a tricky one, because you and I aren't the only ones who believe it. In fact, if you live in the Western world, particularly in America, you live in a world that is built on this lie. This is the lie that your value and worth come from what you do, what you accomplish. See, from a young age, we're asked what we're going to be when we grow up. At my kindergarten graduation, I had to dress up and announce what my career would be when I got older.

It starts as a fun dream, but it turns into a pressure-filled question. Who will I be? What will I accomplish? Where's my life going? How will I make my mark? How will I make my life matter? And in our capitalistic society, that almost always comes down to making a good living for yourself.

In younger generations now, the mindset is slowly shifting from making a lot of money or being successful in a traditional way, to doing what makes you truly fulfilled and eternally happy. We are all still being fed the lie that our value and worth come from what we can produce, whether that be accomplished dreams or hordes of money. And it's all on us, you and me to make our lives matter, to make ourselves great, to bring purpose to our lives.

And so when I found myself no longer on the track I thought I would be on and instead laying my goals to the side to spend my days with a small child, I felt like I had failed. I spent my days alone caring for an infant not accomplishing goals or indulging in self-care or working towards my dreams or making any money, but changing diapers and singing baby beluga. In a world where mothering is undervalued, where people seem to only ask me when I was going to be able to be able to be able to be. to get back on that track. I couldn't help but feel like what I was doing, who I was, was worthless. But the thing that's true about all lies is that there's an alternative. The truth. No matter how many people have bought into this lie, truth still exists. And in Matthew chapter 18, we see a shift in the theme of Jesus' teaching. Matthew 18 begins to show us what community in the kingdom of God looks like. Jesus begins to teach on the way of life that will define their relationships

with one another and the world around them. And this chapter begins by combating the very lie I told myself for so long. Verse one. At that time, the disciples came to Jesus saying, who is the greatest in the kingdom of heaven? So the disciples come before Jesus and they ask him the question that we're all wondering, what makes someone important in the kingdom of God? We know what makes us important in the world around us. We know that the greatest in our world are powerful, successful, influential, fulfilling their dreams and driving limited edition cars. But what about with you, Jesus?

And Jesus answers them in a shocking way. Verse 2. And calling to him a child, he put him in the midst of them saying, Truly, I say to you, unless you turn and become like children, you will never enter the kingdom of heaven. Whoever humples himself like this child is the greatest in the kingdom of heaven. So Jesus calls over a child and says those like this child are the greatest.

He doesn't call successful businessman or a Pharisee, a spiritual leader, or a Roman with great military power. He calls a child, a child who is most likely accomplished nothing, who is entirely dependent on their parents, for their every need. And that's who he calls the greatest in the kingdom of heaven. Someone who is like a child, trusting, vulnerable, dependent, humbled. For those of you who have ever felt the sting of feeling worthless, who have ever felt suffocated under the weight of trying to prove yourself, to make yourself happy and fulfilled,

to accomplish your greatest dreams, this is good news. This is freeing news. See, Jesus is looking you and I, I in the face and saying to be the greatest in my kingdom, you don't have to go out and prove yourself worthy. You don't have to accomplish or stay on the right track. In fact, in order to be the greatest, you have to stop believing the lie that your worth is tied to action and instead, trust me. See, the greatest in God's kingdom humbly recognize that they cannot bring lasting value to their

lives. They know that they depend on their Heavenly Father for the food they eat and the bed they rest their head on at night. They know that any intelligence or success is a gift from the Lord. They are vulnerable because they have nothing to prove. They are dependent because they know they cannot provide. They trust that their Heavenly Father alone cares for them and gives them their worth. They are the greatest because Jesus calls them and they listen. their worth comes from Jesus alone. Jesus knew the power of the lie that to be great was to be powerful, successful, accomplished. And he continues by warning the disciples of the importance of knowing, living, and believing in this truth rather than a lie.

Verse 5. Whoever receives one such child in my name receives me. But whoever causes one of these little ones who believe in me to sin, it would be better for him. to have a great millstone fastened around his neck and to be drowned in the depth of the sea. See, there are serious consequences not only when we live out this lie, but when we teach others and lead them into the trap of believing this lie as well. See, the things we believe and the way we live our lives tell a story about how we see the world. If Christians are just as caught up in the lie that our value comes from what we do, then how can we expect the truth to ever come to

light? By living into this lie, we lead ourselves and those around us into a life weighed down by pressure and despair when we ultimately failed to produce what we thought we needed to, to matter. Instead, Jesus is calling us to a life of humility. A life lived knowing that our worth and value come from him and him alone. Instead of scrambling and struggling and racing to accomplish our own goals, we instead can live a life slowly trusting God, vulnerably sharing our struggles in our communities, and depending on Christ for what we need. Now, this doesn't mean we all stop trying to accomplish anything, quit our jobs, and go live in a commune together. Now, instead, it means that wherever the Lord has put us. We know we were put there for a purpose. Even if it doesn't look great or valuable to the world,

it means that when things go really wrong or really right in what we are doing, our value and worth doesn't change. We have always been and will always be children of God. And nothing in our daily lives can change that. It means that when our dreams and goals seem far off and we're stuck doing difficult and mundane tasks that we must depend on the Lord for the strength and wisdom to carry on knowing that every aspect of our lives matter to God. There's a book called Every Moment Holy. A friend gave it to me when I had my son, and it helped open my eyes to the truth that Jesus teaches in Scripture. See, this book provides liturgies to pray over everyday moments that we encounter, and it has one for changing diapers that

that I think gets at this truth so well. We're going to read it now. So take this unremarkable act of necessary service, O Christ, and in your economy, let it be multiplied into that greater outworking of worship and of faith, a true investment in the incremental advance of your kingdom across generations. Open my eyes that I might see this act for what it is from the fixed vantage of eternity. O Lord, how the changing of a diaper might sit upstream of the changing of a heart. How the changing of a heart might sit upstream of the changing of the world.

Amen. Seeing my life within the fixed vantage of eternity, within the larger story God is writing, within the kingdom of God, not my own kingdom, greatly changed the way I saw myself and my purpose in this time of life. See, changing diapers doesn't accomplish much in the world. the world's economy. But in the economy of Christ, in the kingdom of God, well, it has eternal value. Seeing my life within the scope of God's kingdom changed everything. Sacrificing my time and goals to serve my son, to do mundane tasks to teach him about service and compassion, to trust in a

God for my worth and to depend on him for strength and compassion and patience. Well, that was a valuable use of my life. I am no more or less worthy in my accomplishments today than I was when I was in full-time ministry. The little kingdom I was building took a big hit, and it left me in despair. But God's kingdom was never shaken by my life's twists and turns. See, Jesus is welcoming you into that freedom, too. The kingdom of God offers you the freedom to depend on Jesus for your value and worth. It opens the door and offers a definition of greatness that takes the burden of proof off of your shoulders. Like a child, we can humbly come before the Lord, knowing it is Him who gives us worth, him who gives us life, and him who will carry us through this life, making a meaningful difference

for His kingdom. May we live like children, believing in the truth of the kingdom of God, and vulnerably trusting in Jesus for everything we. need. Before you forget, sign up for the 10-minute Bible Talks newsletter. Hit the link in the show notes and you'll get an email every Wednesday that will help encourage you in the middle of the work week and bring you deeper in your walk with Jesus. Thanks for listening.