I.B.S. #46

Matthew 5:19

- "Anyone who breaks one of the least of these commandments and teaches others to do the same will be called least in the kingdom of heaven, but whoever practices and teaches these commands will be called great in the kingdom of heaven."

All of my life, or at least as far back as I can remember, my father has always reminded my brother and I to "Be part of the solution and not the problem." If there is one thing I really regret doing, it's not just sinning, but also encouraging others to do so as well. I guess I kind of felt that if I was only one doing these bad things, then I look even worse than everyone, so I figured I would take down as many other kids as I could with me. Which of course is so wrong, and as we see here, Jesus tells us that if we break these commands and then teach others to do the same, we will be the called the least in the kingdom. It was especially sad to watch these people I brought into sin because after I turned away from those sins, they continued to go in that way. He then says in this verse that whoever practices and teaches the commands are great. I think it goes without saying, being a Christian or not, we all want to be considered great in heaven. Man is aways striving to be great in everything that they do, so it only seems fitting that we should want to be one of the greats in heaven. Just like in any sport or any activity, if we practice at it, we will become great at it.

I need to practice these commandments that Christ has given us to become great in heaven.