Sermon On The Mount | To Overflowing

on what are my eyes fixed

January 3, 2013 By Lara 4 Comments

Yesterday was my first day back into normal routine after two weeks of holiday hustle. And it felt really good. Because as much as I wanted to stay focused on the Lord during the Christmas season, my soul felt divided. It seemed as if I had one foot in the red and green festivities, and the other foot in His throne-room.

Don’t get me wrong. We made some sweet memories and enjoyed family get-togethers. But I felt divided. Because there was just so much. So much to look at and plan and organize and eat. So much to buy and put away and clean. Oh and the cookies! There were so many cookies!

All that to say, I’m excited about fixing my eyes onto Him at the start of this new year.

Last year at this time I set out on a quest (sounds so Narnia-ish) to memorize the Sermon on the Mount — all 107 verses. Forty or so people joined in the journey and…we didn’t finish. *sigh*

As we approached Matthew 7, excitement had died down and many were discouraged at their progress. So we took December “off” to regroup. Because discouragement or burden is not the point of memorizing Scripture.

During our break from structure, one word kept resting in my spirit: Grace. Grace.

We can’t rise early enough or memorize enough Bible verses to hear Him say, “Oh good, now you’ve reached the point of righteousness to save yourself.”

He calls us righteous based upon one criteria and one criteria alone. Faith. When we believe God it is accounted to us as righteousness. (Galatians 3:6) Doing a bunch of supposed holy things or quoting a ton of verses does not make us righteous.

Remembering the “why” behind any spiritual discipline like Scripture memory is key to endurance. And the why to this Sermon on the Mount journey? We as humans are needy for wisdom and truth that comes from outside of our finite understanding.

I will meditate on your precepts
and fix my eyes on your ways.
Psalm 119:15

So I’m back at it — meditating on Jesus’ life-giving, love-evoking words from the Sermon on the Mount. And whether you join us in this specific journey or not, I encourage you to start the year by choosing a passage to memorize — to marinate in. Because His word is life to our thirsty soul.

Fill me, Lord…

How do you personally “fix your eyes” on Him?
What verse or passage could you commit to meditate upon at the start of this new year?

For those jumping back into the Sermon on the Mount with me, I’m taking the rest of this week to review Matthew 5:1-11. Who’s coming with me?

Filed Under: daily filling, his word speaks, Sermon on the Mount

what’s the thing you most desire?

November 19, 2012 By Lara 5 Comments

A friend and I were talking the other night. And as we shared our current struggles and places of frustration, it hit me. We’re most vulnerable to the enemy’s attacks in our greatest desires.

Think about it. The things we desire most — a prodigal to come home, a healthy (trim, stretch-mark-free) body, someone to love and understand us — are the very places that can become our most devastating downfall. And I think it has something to do with the emotion attached to our desires.

We feel desire. The more we want something, the more we feel about that something.

But feelings aren’t always reliable. Feelings aren’t meant to lead us. They’re a gauge — a response to life. We have our happiest feelings when our desires are met. And we have our most depressing feelings when our desires lay on the ground as a crumbled mess.

When the enemy attacks us in our desires, and our feelings can spiral out-of-control, it’s then that we can act impulsively, irrationally, and destructively, leaving a wake of regret. I hate it when that happens.

Be sober-minded; be watchful. Your adversary the devil prowls around like a roaring lion, seeking someone to devour.
1 Peter 5:8

It isn’t rocket science. But thinking of the relationship between desire and vulnerability reminds me to stay on guard, especially in the places of my greatest desire. I want an arsenal of truths filling my mind. Because the enemy is like a roaring lion seeking whom he may devour. And I don’t want to be his Monday meal.

Fill me, Lord…

What are your greatest desires?
How have you experienced this relationship between desire and vulnerability?

After asking a few of you personally, I’ve decided to stop adding weekly verses to the Sermon on the Mount memorizing challenge. Most (ok…all) of us are “behind” and adding verses seems to be adding stress. And that’s not the point of the challenge.

So, from now until the new year I won’t add any new weekly verses. I pray that this is a time of renewal and encouragement for those of us who committed to the journey. And I pray that God presses His words deep on our souls.

Filed Under: daily filling, Sermon on the Mount

irritability isn’t fruit of the Spirit

November 12, 2012 By Lara 11 Comments

We told our kids that it was National Deep-Clean Your Room Day this past weekend. And though they thought we were kidding, they reluctantly pulled out everything from under their beds, vacuumed the baseboards, and threw away a bag full of hoarded, broken plastic items.

I must admit that the end result felt really good to this recovering clean freak, but the process wasn’t that pretty for my spirit. Halfway through the morning I was…irritated. There were piles slung all over the rooms and my little ones didn’t seem to hold my same cleaning standards which…just…irritated me.

So I had to step away, because irritability isn’t fruit of His Spirit.

Looking back, I was Martha. Remember when Martha was “distracted by much serving” while Mary sat at Jesus’ feet. So she irritatedly chided Jesus, “Lord, do you not care that my sister has left me to serve alone? Tell her then to help me.” (Luke 10:40)

Jesus didn’t send Mary to help. Instead He addressed Martha’s heart, “Martha, Martha, you are anxious and troubled about many things, but one thing is necessary. Mary has chosen the good portion, which will not be taken away from her.” (Luke 10:41-42)

Granted my kids weren’t sitting at Jesus’ feet. They were whining and being slow to obey. But, I was distracted with the tasks rather than tending first to hearts.

God convicted me, because irritability doesn’t bless me or anyone else in my path. And as I chose to ask for His perspective, I saw people more than the piles.

Fill me, Lord…

Have you had a recent Martha moment?
How did you get out of it?

I feel like I’ve hit a Chapter 7 wall in memorizing the Sermon on the Mount. So I’m excited about going to a “#WriteTheWord” party tomorrow night. My goal is to write out Jesus’ words, asking Him to minister them deep onto my heart (and memory).

I’m praying for all of you who have been walking (however quickly or slowly) this journey with me. It isn’t about checking it off of our list. It’s about storing up the treasures of His truths in our hearts so that He would affect our daily living. So with that, we press on.

{Week 38}

So whatever you wish that others would do to you, do also to them, for this is the Law and the Prophets.
Matthew 7:12