Scripture--Luke 19-Luke 21
Observation--Did you ever notice who Jesus rails against in Luke? Was it the "sinner"? Or was it the one who took themselves to be high and mighty? Was it the teachers (20:45-47). Or the Rich (19:45-48 and 21:1-4)? Not that we are to sin, but did you see it wasn't the ones we consider "bad", it was the ones who thought too much of themselves.
Application: As I was reading this section I was multi-tasking and came upon this tweet, "GET TO KNOW SOMEBODY HOMELESS. PUNK. FOREIGN. QUEER. MUSLIM. ATHEIST. PAGAN. MENTALLY ILL. AUTISTIC. COMMUNIST. ADDICTED. DIFFERENT" I often wonder how we expect to tell others about God if everyone we know agrees with us. I have been thinking of how much I pride myself with being open minded unless someone disagrees with me. I wonder if God in these verses wanted me to remember that my own pride is the enemy. Not people who are different. Not people who disagree. That its my job to go out and love, no matter who they are, what they look like, or what they say.
Prayer: Lord of Love. Thank you for loving me when I'm unlovable. Give me your eyes and your heart. Let me love and see as you do. So that I may shine your love and light into this dark world! Amen.
4 comments:
I love the story of Zacchaeus because Jesus loves short people... okay, he loves tall people too but is there a story about that in the Bible? I think much of the reading today emphasizes that Jesus notices people who step out of the normal and extend themselves for God. There is reward (not necessarily material) for those who use their God-given talents for His glory.
All the questions and traps the teachers of the law and the priests try to trip up Jesus with, but he knew how to answer/ or not answer. Do we try to ask too many questions, to figure out crazy details in the laws and rules? Do we take the gift God has given us and hide it so we can give it back without using it? Or do we take what God gave us and use it for His work without asking questions and trying to figure out how and why?
Pride and greed are the winners in the human downfall. It is in humility and generosity, using our blessed gifts for others, that the kingdom of God draws near. We do need to use our gifts and not hide them, Mary; we need to extend them, Lynne; we need to pray that He will use us to be the light and love for others whom we meet on this journey and to forgive us when we miss these opportunities.
Lynne I hope Jesus loves tall people too!! :)
The verse that spoke to me today was 19:11 "they thought the kingdom of God would appear immediately". They were tired of waiting for what they felt was promised them. Impatient much like we are today. Jesus must have been so frustrated at this point! He even wept over Jerusalem. Is He still weeping about us? He told us in 19:10 -- "The Son of man has come to seek and save that which was lost". and 21:36 -- "Watch therefore and pray always". Don't be caught off guard. Be ready when God needs you.
I am reading another book right now called "Moonwalking with Einstein" about a reporter's journey from forgetting where he parks his car to participating in a memory competition. It talks about the "curve of forgetting", and says "from the time you grasp a new piece of information, your memory's hold on it begins to slowly loosen until it lets go altogether". So I am thankful that this study is taking me through passages I have read so many times before, helping me to be patient and remember God's real promise in Jesus.
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