Matthew 21:15-16<\/p>\n\n\n\n
\u201cBut when the chief priests and scribes saw the wonderful things that He did, and the children crying out in the temple and saying, Hossana\u2026they were indignant and said to Him, \u2018Do You hear what these are saying?\u2019\u2026\u201d<\/em><\/p>\n\n\n\n It\u2019s ok to be \u201cout-praised\u201d when the new star arrives in your midst, and we shouldn\u2019t feel bad about it. It\u2019s not easy to be the center of attraction, and then someone else comes and steals your show. I know what it feels like, and it\u2019s not easy at all, but we must get ready for it because it will surely happen. You will be \u201cout-praised\u201d because someone better than you will appear on the scene and others will see in him or her, what you don\u2019t have. This is normal. This is life.<\/p>\n\n\n\n The chief priests and scribes struggled with it. It was too painful to bear. They knew that Jesus was doing some incredible stuff that they couldn\u2019t do, and they knew that the people were flocking to Jesus because of these things, but they just couldn\u2019t accept it. Envy and jealousy is slow cancer that kills her patient a million times over. Although the Scribes and Pharisees finally murdered Jesus physically out of this envy, Jesus rose again; while they, on the other hand, continued in their slow and painful repeated dying. Accept you will be \u201cout-praised.\u201d Accept that someone better than you will soon surface. Prepare for it. The only way to save yourself from the death pangs of envy is to join in celebrating the new star in your midst.<\/p>\n\n\n\n \u201cFather, I am who I am, and I can only shine by the light You give. Help me accept that there are others You will send into my community who will outshine me because of the light You give them. Help me celebrate and not envy such people. In Jesus name. Amen.\u201d<\/em><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":" Matthew 21:15-16 \u201cBut when the chief priests and scribes saw the wonderful things that He did, and the children crying out in the temple and saying, Hossana\u2026they were indignant and said to Him, \u2018Do You hear what these are saying?\u2019\u2026\u201d It\u2019s ok to be \u201cout-praised\u201d when the new star arrives in your midst, and we […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":7384,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_et_pb_use_builder":"off","_et_pb_old_content":"","_et_gb_content_width":"","om_disable_all_campaigns":false,"_monsterinsights_skip_tracking":false,"_uf_show_specific_survey":0,"_uf_disable_surveys":false,"_jetpack_newsletter_access":"","_jetpack_dont_email_post_to_subs":false,"_jetpack_newsletter_tier_id":0,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paywalled_content":false,"_jetpack_feature_clip_id":0,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paid_content":false,"footnotes":"","jetpack_post_was_ever_published":false},"categories":[1,23],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-4236","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-blog","category-reflections-from-matthew"],"aioseo_notices":[],"aioseo_head":"\n\t\t\n\t\n\t\n\t\n\t\n\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t