Read Matthew to Live Your Life, Read John to Save Your Soul

It is a sad fact that most of us forget about God when life is good, when things are all going well. When we are successful, smart, hardworking, friendly, wealthy, popular, etc., we often become proud, and believe that all of that is of our own doing. We forget that all of that is a gift of God. God warned us about this in Deuteronomy 8:11-20,
11 “Beware that you do not forget the LORD your God by not keeping His commandments, His judgments, and His statutes which I command you today, 12 lest—when you have eaten and are full, and have built beautiful houses and dwell in them; 13 and when your herds and your flocks multiply, and your silver and your gold are multiplied, and all that you have is multiplied; 14 when your heart is lifted up, and you forget the LORD your God … 17 then you say in your heart, ‘My power and the might of my hand have gained me this wealth.’
18 “And you shall remember the LORD your God, for it is He who gives you power to get wealth, that He may establish His covenant which He swore to your fathers, as it is this day. 19 Then it shall be, if you by any means forget the LORD your God, and follow other gods, and serve them and worship them, I testify against you this day that you shall surely perish. 20 As the nations which the LORD destroys before you, so you shall perish, because you would not be obedient to the voice of the LORD your God.
If you forget that all your wealth is a blessing from God, and if you think that it is all because of your strength, fortitude, intellect and hard work, or your good looks and charming personality, then you are in big trouble. In fact, God said that “…so you shall perish because you would not be obedient to the voice of the Lord your God.” In these situations, it often takes a crisis to bring us back to God, to wake us up. Yes, I was being chastened, and the pain, literal pain, was not going to end until I realized the error of my ways, repented, and returned to God.
What exactly was the error of my ways? After all, I was not a bad guy, I was a good guy. The error of my ways was that I was not obeying the first and greatest commandment. When asked “What is the greatest commandment?” Jesus answered, “You shall love the LORD your God with all your heart, with all your soul, and with all your mind.’ 38 This is the first and great commandment.” No, I was not doing that. I was not putting God first in my life, and that is what He wants and expects from us. My point is, if you are being chastened by God, the suffering absolutely will not end until you give up all your pride, lay everything at God’s feet, and surrender your life to Him. That is the only way. So in my desperation, I turned (returned) to the Lord.
I had felt like Job, so I read the book of Job, and yes, my circumstances were pretty much just like his. The difference is that he was more righteous than I, and he had shown much more faith than I through all his trials. Job had lost everything too; health, home, livestock, possessions, kids, etcetera, and yet he had stayed strong in his faith in God. Job is known for his patience, but it was actually his steadfast and enduring faith in God that pulled him through his trials. In the end he was stronger for it, and the Lord blessed him double.

During his trials, Job worshiped God, and said, “The LORD gave, and the LORD has taken away; Blessed be the name of the LORD.” So even though God had allowed all these tragedies to befall him, he was still blessing the name of the Lord. Job also said, “Though He slay me, yet will I trust Him.” I knew that this is what I needed to do. I had just been feeling sorry for myself and trying to carry on, when what I should have been doing all along was turning to God, as Job did. So, I began to follow Job’s example.

I spent a lot of time in prayer, in reading my Bible and going to church. I read some very good things.

For example, I read James 1:2-5;

2 My brethren, count it all joy when you fall into various trials, 3 knowing that the testing of your faith produces patience. 4 But let patience have its perfect work, that you may be perfect and complete, lacking nothing. 5 If any of you lacks wisdom, let him ask of God, who gives to all liberally and without reproach, and it will be given to him.

Count it all joy? Really? You’ve got to be joking? No, he wasn’t joking, he was right! Similarly, when the Apostle Paul was suffering, he called on God three times to relieve him and Paul wrote in 2 Corinthians 12:9, God said, “My grace is sufficient for you, for My strength is made perfect in weakness.” So I was reminded that God’s grace is sufficient for me, and I started to realize that God had allowed all of this to happen to me, in order that I would come back to Him, forcing me to rely on Him and His Grace, to strengthen my faith in Him, that I may live my life according to His will and that He may bless me.

As I was having this epiphany, I remembered something that my Mom had said to me when I was a teenager. She said “Read Matthew to live your life, read John to save your soul”. That turned out to be the best advice I ever got!

I read them, three times each, with a highlighter. Mom was right! In the book of Matthew, Jesus really does tell us how to live our lives, and in the book of John, He tells us how to save our souls. I had read or heard all of these scriptures before, but it was much more powerful to read them straight through, in their entirety, and in this context. As I started talking to other people, sharing this with them, I was amazed to find that so few people knew what Jesus said. I talked to people in bars, in restaurants, in hotels, at work, at church, among friends, etc. Many had vague or even made up ideas of what He said, but most people simply didn’t know. Even many church people didn’t seem to know or didn’t remember what Jesus had said. I felt that God was telling me to write this book, to tell everyone what Jesus said about those two subjects; how to live your life, and how to save your soul. I have organized it by topic, sort of ‘Here’s what Jesus said about this, here’s what Jesus said about that, etc.’ He gave us a “How To” guide. His message is clear and concise, and doesn’t need a lot of interpretation. He says what He means, and means what He says. It is pure Truth!