When Jesus spoke, He didn’t waste words. He gave us pictures we could understand. One of the clearest is this one from Matthew 19:24: “It is easier for a camel to go through the eye of a needle than for a rich man to enter the kingdom of God.” That’s a strong image. You can almost see that poor camel trying to squeeze through a s Continue reading
Every now and then, a line of Scripture cuts through the noise of modern life like a freight train rolling through a quiet town at midnight. Matthew 16:25–26 is one of those lines. Jesus doesn’t ease into the subject. He doesn’t warm up the crowd. He just lays it out there:
“Whoever wants to save their life will lose it, but whoever loses their life for me will find it… What good will it be for someone to gain the whole world, yet forfeit their soul?”
Suffering There is no one who isn’t suffering. Buddhism is built on that very idea. Life has friction built into it. My purpose here is to explain that suffering for the sake of righteousness is a very particular kind of suffering, and it tells you something about the way a person is living.
There are plenty of reasons people suffer that don’t mean anything at all. Some suffering is physical. Some is genetic. Some is just the wear and tear of being alive. Those don’t count, because they aren’t caused by behavior. They don’t reveal anything about a person’s character.
When Jesus spoke, He didn’t waste words. He gave us pictures we could understand. One of the clearest is this one from Matthew 19:24: “It is easier for a camel to go through the eye of a needle than for a rich man to enter the kingdom of God.” That’s a strong image. You can almost see that poor camel trying to squeeze through a sewing needle. It’s meant to make us stop and think.
Then Jesus said something else in John 12:25: “If you love your life, you’ll lose it. If you hate your life in this world, you’ll keep it for the life of the coming age.” Now, Jesus wasn’t telling us to walk around angry or bitter. In His language, “hate” didn’t mean the hot emotion we think of today. It meant letting go—refusing to cling to this world as if it’s all we’ve got.
Put these two teachings together and the message becomes clear. To enter God’s kingdom, a person has to see that the world, by itself, can’t give anything that lasts. It can offer comfort, success, applause, and a little excitement, but none of that carries over into eternity. It’s like holding sand in your hand—the tighter you squeeze, the faster it slips away.
Now think about someone who has done well in life. Maybe they’ve built a business, earned respect, or gathered up all the things the world says matter. There’s nothing wrong with hard work or success. But success can make it harder to see the truth Jesus is pointing to. When life has treated you kindly, it’s easy to believe the world is solid and dependable. It’s easy to think, “Well, things are going fine for me. Why question it?”
That’s why Jesus said the rich man has a tougher time. Not because God is against wealth, but because comfort can blind us. When everything is going our way, we don’t feel the need to look deeper. We don’t feel the need to ask what really matters. We don’t feel the need to loosen our grip on this world.
But Jesus is inviting us to do exactly that—to loosen our grip. To see that the world is temporary, and that real life, lasting life, comes from God alone. When we stop clinging to the world, the heart opens. The way becomes wider. And suddenly that camel-and-needle picture doesn’t seem so impossible anymore.
Jesus wasn’t trying to scare us. He was trying to free us. He was saying, “Don’t let this world hold you so tightly that you miss the life I’m offering.” And that’s a message every one of us—young or old, rich or poor—can take to heart.
Wisdom in Samuel PDF
Find a passage in The Bible that describes a certain ongoing activity of the time. Notice how the situation is manifested. Then observe a parallel situation in the modern era. The outcomes will be completely similar.
The scripture below describes an eternal dilemma mankind faces with respect to their governance. Members of society opt out of accepting the opportunity to govern themselves and thus prostrate themselves before an authoritarian leader. The scripture explains the costs and other hardships of such behavior. Still, mankind insists that government make decisions for them, rule them and guide them throughout life.
Samuel 1, describes an ongoing eternal behavior that has always plagued mankind and continues to….
Samuel 1:10-22
10 And Samuel told all the words of The Lord unto the people that asked of him a king.
11 And he said, This will be the manner of the king that shall reign over you: He will take your sons, and appoint them for himself, for his chariots, and to be his horsemen; and some shall run before his chariots.
12 And he will appoint him captains over thousands, and captains over fifties; and will set them to ear his ground, and to reap his harvest, and to make his instruments of war, and instruments of his chariots.
13 And he will take your daughters to be confectionaries, and to be cooks, and to be bakers.
14 And he will take your fields, and your vineyards, and your oliveyards, even the best of them, and give them to his servants.
15 And he will take the tenth of your seed, and of your vineyards, and give to his officers, and to his servants.
16 And he will take your menservants, and your maidservants, and your goodliest young men, and your asses, and put them to his work.
17 He will take the tenth of your sheep: and ye shall be his servants.
18 And ye shall cry out in that day because of your king which ye shall have chosen you; and The Lord will not hear you in that day.
19 Nevertheless the people refused to obey the voice of Samuel; and they said, Nay; but we will have a king over us;
20 That we also may be like all the nations; and that our king may judge us, and go out before us, and fight our battles.
21 And Samuel heard all the words of the people, and he rehearsed them in the ears of the Lord.
22 And the Lord said to Samuel, Hearken unto their voice, and make them a king. And Samuel said unto the men of Israel, Go ye every man unto his city.
Historical Accuracy of Bible PDF
We would all be better off, if it was determined that everything written in the bible happened just as presented. Certainly, the stories themselves convey messages that are true whether the facts in the stories actually occurred or never took place.
Which are more important, facts or principles? Principles never change. Facts don’t change either, but they get disproven and sometimes conflict with each other. Jesus lives among us spiritually, due to our understanding of his principles.
So far, I have never found a principle written down in The Bible that was incorrect or flawed in any form. In my work, principles are what count. Facts are nice to have. I let others debate what actually happened or what was added or embellished
9 “Whoever has ears, let them hear.” Matthew 13:9
This could be deemed as a way of speaking to those listening who would grasp what he had to say automatically, like the adept in the crowd. Certainly it does mean that – but there is more to it.
This scripture indicates that some of the crowd could feel the presence of God in their lives before any words came out of the mouth of Jesus.
There are some who may not have the capacity to receive his message upon first hearing it. Spiritual adeptness was born into some. Only certain among us feel the presence of God within their being. Matthew 11 completes the story.
11He replied, “Because the knowledge of the secrets of the kingdom of heaven has been given to you, but not to them. 12Whoever has will be given more, and they will have an abundance. Whoever does not have, even what they have will be taken from them. 13This is why I speak to them in parables:Matthew 13:3-9.
Do You Think War Will Ever Stop For Humanity PDF
Do you think war will ever stop for humanity?
What Jesus had to say on this topic has proven to be true for at least 2100 years. Personally, I do not disagree.
Matthew 24:6-13
6 You will hear of wars and rumors of wars, but see to it that you are not alarmed. Such things must happen, but the end is still to come. 7 Nation will rise against nation, and kingdom against kingdom.
Jesus understood that the secular world was not going to change. Notice that Jesus did not organize peace movements…. nor did he lobby leadership on behalf of the masses. Jesus changed people so that they could have peace in a wicked world. He offered salvation to all who understand his teachings and pursued the path of righteousness.
Atheists and Their Favorite Miracle PDF
Every atheist has a God – given right not to believe in him.
I think it was Rupert Sheldrake who pointed out that the mode of atheists is to rely on one miracle and insist they can explain the rest. The miracle of atheists is that life began without their being a cause. That is a greater miracle than any religion recognizes.
Personally, atheists don’t offend me in the slightest. The ones I know personally are as moral as any religious sorts. I never challenge others with respect to their beliefs because I am not an authority on God.
Explanations of the Trinity PDF
In my work, I treat the Trinity differently, although still important . 1. God, 2. Extension of God, 3. Extension of God returned home.
The New Testament was compiled politically and each book written had an agenda other than the absolute truth behind it, side by side with the teachings of Jesus.
One of those agendas was that of building the church and certain self – serving agendas. Discussion is always welcome, for I am not an authority on God.