Dave's Diary

Prayer

Before you read, I invite you to pray this prayer based on 1 John 1:1

Lord Jesus, You are the Word of Life.
You spoke and all creation was formed.
You speak and I come alive!
Speak to me again today, Lord. Amen.

Briefly prepare your heart in silence, and ask the Holy Spirit to awaken your sense of anticipation that God is about to speak to you through His Word.

Reading

Matthew 18:10-11

This is an example of a verse (11) being present in the older translations of the English Bible, but not the more recent. And no, this is not because of some mistake or evil plot. You’ll notice that where the verse is “missing”, a footnote indicates that “some manuscripts add verse 11”. This is a situation where the earliest manuscript copies (i.e the older manuscripts copied closest to the original date of writing) do not have this verse while later (younger) copies do. This indicates that at some point a copyist added a line to the copy, and there it remained. In this particular instant that line added was the sentence found at Luke 19:10 “For the Son of Man came to seek and to save the lost.” The older translations into English did not yet have access to those older (and hence even more trustworthy) manuscripts and so they faithfully included the verse based on the best manuscript evidence available to them. By keeping the verse in a footnote, the newer English translations are being faithful to the best manuscript evidence available now.

With all that cleared up, we can focus on Jesus’ command in verse 10:

¹⁰ ‘See that you do not despise one of these little ones…’

Pride is possibly the most important sin to rid ourselves of as Christians. Pride is that insidious belief that one is somehow inherently better or more important than others in some way. As Christians, it can be tempting to look down on other (particularly younger or newer) Christians as if we are somehow more righteous, more mature, or more advanced than them. It can be even more tempting to look down on those who have not yet come to faith in Christ, as if we are somehow superior to them in our own right.

Bearing yesterday’s devotion in mind, disciples are not only to deal radically with our own sin, we must also specifically rid ourselves of pridefully looking down on those still outside of relationship with Christ or on our brothers and sisters in Christ – even those who appear trapped in some sin of their own.

When Jesus explains why we should avoid pride, He points to the fact that this person on whom we would look down has an angel in heaven always seeing the face of the Father in heaven. This deserves a brief explanation.

Scripture teaches that all angels are “ministering spirits sent to serve those who will inherit salvation.” (Hebrews 1:14). So Jesus is telling us that we cannot despise any not-yet-believer, nor any fellow believer, because God in fact cares so much about them that He not only sent His Son to live and die for them, but He also assigns angelic beings to the task of protecting and guiding them (and us) to inherit salvation. Angels appear to be one way in which the Father draws people to Jesus (see John 6:65). This is a mystery. But Jesus said it, so we believe it.

The relationship we have with God through faith in Christ is a gift of God’s grace. Any maturity or Christlikeness that has developed in us is a gift of God’s grace. So we can never look down on those who appear not to be as “far down the road” of faith as we are. God is at work in them, and we must respect that work. After all, Christ Himself came to “seek and save the lost!” He values them so highly that He gave His life for them! We should value them highly too and never look down on them.

Contemplation

Please take time to ponder what Jesus has commanded us. Turn one or more of these declarations over and over in your mind. Keep them in mind throughout the day and live in step with Your King, Jesus.

As a disciple of Jesus Christ:

• I will work with the Spirit’s help to rid myself of pride.
• I will refuse to look down on anyone else!

Heavenly Father, may my life today be a love-offering to You. Please empower me by Your Spirit to rid myself of pride and to treat others with the value and dingity they deserve as Your beloved. Amen.