The Tuesday after the Nineteenth Sunday after Trinity Sunday
Posted on October 8, 2024 by under
Scripture: St. Matthew 6:19-23 (NKJV)
6:19 “Do not lay up for yourselves treasures on earth, where moth and rust destroy and where thieves break in and steal; 20 but lay up for yourselves treasures in heaven, where neither moth nor rust destroys and where thieves do not break in and steal. 21 For where your treasure is, there your heart will be also.
22 “The lamp of the body is the eye. If therefore your eye is good, your whole body will be full of light. 23 But if your eye is bad, your whole body will be full of darkness. If therefore the light that is in you is darkness, how great is that darkness!”
Devotion
“So when the woman saw that the tree was good for food, that it was pleasant to the eyes, and a tree desirable to make one wise, she took of its fruit and ate. She also gave to her husband with her, and he ate.” Her eyes were influenced by the words of the serpent, and these same eyes give us insight as to what Eve wanted to see: “good for food… pleasant to the eyes… desirable to make one wise…”
There is no doubt that that particular tree looked good and produced good fruit. God said that everything He created was “good”. Indeed, God said that the whole creation was “very good”. Rather than her vision being influenced by God’s command to not eat this fruit, her vision had become influenced by another word, the word of the serpent. She and Adam ate of the fruit, and the darkness of sin entered the whole creation.
God has given us a treasure, the forgiveness of sins for Jesus’ sake. That treasure has been secured for us by Christ through His suffering, death, resurrection, and ascension to the right hand of the Father. Therefore, God would have our eyes fixed on Jesus, for in Him we see our greatest treasure.
Collect: O Almighty and most Merciful God, of Thy bountiful goodness keep us, we beseech Thee, from all things that may hurt us; that we, being ready, both in body and soul, may cheerfully accomplish those things that Thou wouldest have done; through Jesus Christ, Thy Son, our Lord, Who liveth and reigneth with Thee and the Holy Ghost, ever One God, world without end. Amen.
Scripture taken from the New King James Version®. Copyright © 1982 by Thomas Nelson. Used by permission. All rights reserved.
