This “Application” column goes with the
Remember the part of the Lord’s Prayer that says, “Thine is the kingdom”? It’s tempting to say “mine” instead of “Thine.” Every day I have to choose between the kingdom of God and the chaos of self. Every day I need to ask,
Am I in charge, or is God? Often I find myself trying to run my own little kingdom the “kingdom of Dave.” I know that sounds ridiculous, but it won’t sound any better if you substitute your own name in the phrase.
If I don’t guard against it, the kingdom of Dave will dominate my life. When it’s time to take out the trash and I pretend to be busy so my wife has to do it, there’s a struggle going on between the kingdom of God and the kingdom of Dave. When I want others to listen to me but I don’t want to listen to them, the kingdom of Dave is taking over. When I’m tempted to play to the crowd, that’s not the kingdom of God at work; it’s the kingdom of Dave.
1. What new challenge did you face last week?
2. In what specific way did you live by Jesus’ higher standards over the past week?
Ask three people two readers and one reteller to help. Ask the readers to read
Matthew 6:1-18 one after the other, preferably from different Bible versions.
Ask the third person to summarize the teaching in one minute or less. (After the reteller finishes, others can fill in any parts the person may have missed.)
3. In what ways are a person’s motives important to how they practice their faith?
4. Let’s dig deeper into this passage:
• What is Jesus’ main point in this passage?