Week 7: Ambition

Ambition can be good or bad. What are we ambitious for? We see people ambitious to do a lot of things in our world, but what they’re ambitious for are not always such good things. But when Jesus captures our hearts as his people, he also captures our ambition—and harnesses it for service to him and for the building up of his kingdom. Godly, true ambition—that’s what Jesus wants to teach us today. Because he has done everything well.

Week 6: Wealth

The gift of wealth, perhaps more than any other, can become a snare to our salvation. We either treasure too much what we have, or covet too much what we don’t have. Jesus shows us that this is not so much a wealth issue, but a First Commandment issue. It’s a failure to love God above all things. But God’s love for us is so great that even this sin is overcome by his grace in Jesus.

Week 5: Marriage

We live in a world where the institution of marriage is under attack from many fronts. What God once included under the pronouncement “very good” is now viewed by so many as not so good at all. Who hasn’t been impacted in one way or another by a broken marriage? The world has plenty of ammunition to use in its attacks on this institution—and their arguments against it can sound compelling. But this relationship between husband and wife, which God established in the very beginning and which is patterned after Jesus’ relationship with us, is just as good now as it was then.

Week 4: Envy

Envy is not just an issue that is dealt with in the secular realm, but in the sacred realm too. The gifts of God to his Church are so rich and varied that the devil uses that very generosity to stir up jealousy and envy. Jesus instead wants us to rejoice that the many gifts God gives serve to further the goal of his kingdom—that Christ is preached. Today, Jesus comes to us through his Word in the example of the Apostle Paul, and helps us when we are tempted to be envious, and when we are hurt by the envy of others.

Week 3: Greatness

With Jesus’ words about his impending passion still hanging in the air, his disciples can talk only about which of them is the greatest. Didn’t they get it? Do we? In our world, there are so many different ways we measure greatness. But most of them are simply not in line with God’s Word. What does greatness mean to us, and what should it mean to us as God’s people? Today, Jesus tells us and shows us the path to true greatness in his Kingdom.

Week 2: Suffering

Does suffering shock us or surprise us? Jesus (and Peter too) says it shouldn’t. He endured it, so will we. This is life under the cross, life lived in his footsteps. But Jesus has the word to sustain the weary, those who are worn out by the suffering that is part and parcel of a believer’s life in a sinful world. Jesus has done everything well, even when it comes to suffering—both in his perfect suffering for our sake, and in what he teaches us through our own suffering.

Week 1: Needs

“He has done everything well.” We hear that phrase in our gospel reading as we see Jesus address the special needs of a certain man with the special care that only he can provide. And we see Jesus do that for us, too—not only in situations where we’re dealing with health issues or worries or fears, but with so many situations in our lives. Jesus comes to us with his wisdom and his love, and he takes what’s difficult for us and makes it better. He takes what’s confusing and makes it clear. Because he has done everything well.