Life Recovery Bible - Flipbook - Page 49
since the world began. And it will never be so
great again. 22 In fact, unless that time of calamity is shortened, not a single person will
survive. But it will be shortened for the sake
of God’s chosen ones.
23
“Then if anyone tells you, ‘Look, here is
the Messiah,’ or ‘There he is,’ don’t believe
it. 24 For false messiahs and false prophets will
rise up and perform great signs and wonders
so as to deceive, if possible, even God’s chosen ones. 25 See, I have warned you about this
ahead of time.
26
“So if someone tells you, ‘Look, the Messiah is out in the desert,’ don’t bother to go
and look. Or, ‘Look, he is hiding here,’ don’t
believe it! 27 For as the lightning flashes in the
east and shines to the west, so it will be when
the Son of Man* comes. 28 Just as the gathering of vultures shows there is a carcass nearby,
so these signs indicate that the end is near.*
29
“Immediately after the anguish of those
days,
the sun will be darkened,
the moon will give no light,
the stars will fall from the sky,
and the powers in the heavens will
be shaken.*
And then at last, the sign that the Son of
Man is coming will appear in the heavens,
and there will be deep mourning among all
the peoples of the earth. And they will see
the Son of Man coming on the clouds of
heaven with power and great glory.* 31 And
he will send out his angels with the mighty
blast of a trumpet, and they will gather his
chosen ones from all over the world*—from
the farthest ends of the earth and heaven.
32
“Now learn a lesson from the fig tree.
When its branches bud and its leaves begin
to sprout, you know that summer is near. 33 In
the same way, when you see all these things,
you can know his return is very near, right
at the door. 34 I tell you the truth, this generation* will not pass from the scene until
all these things take place. 35 Heaven and
earth will disappear, but my words will never
disappear.
36
“However, no one knows the day or hour
when these things will happen, not even the
angels in heaven or the Son himself.* Only
the Father knows.
30
RECOVERY PRINCIPLE DEVOTIONAL
PERFECTIONISM
READ MATTHEW 25:14-30
Perfectionism can paralyze us. Perhaps we
have been shamed for not being exactly
what others wanted us to be. Now the
shadow of unrealistic expectations is cast
over how we see ourselves, creating unrealistic expectations for our progress.
Jesus told the story of a man who
loaned three servants money to invest
for him while he was away. The first two
men invested and doubled the money;
the third hid his money in a hole. The
third servant saw the master through the
eyes of fear. He “came and said, ‘Master,
I knew you were a harsh man, harvesting crops you didn’t plant and gathering
crops you didn’t cultivate. I was afraid I
would lose your money, so I hid it in the
earth. Look, here is your money back.’ But
the master replied, ‘ . . . Why didn’t you
deposit my money into the bank? At least
I could have gotten some interest on it’”
(Matthew 25:24-27).
When we measure ourselves by the
expectations of others or by our own need
to be perfect, we may fall so short that
we may not even try to succeed. All God
asks of us is that we try to do something
with our abilities and resources. When we
allow ourselves the option of just making
modest progress, we will find the courage to progress in recovery. Even the least
improvement is better than not trying at
all or being doomed to complete failure
by our perfectionism. Turn to page 1299,
Luke 6.
4:27 “Son of Man” is a title Jesus used for himself.
2
24:28 Greek Wherever the carcass is, the vultures gather.
24:29 See Isa 13:10; 34:4; Joel 2:10. 24:30 See Dan 7:13.
24:31 Greek from the four winds.
24:34 Or this age, or
this nation.
24:36 Some manuscripts do not include or
the Son himself.
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