Upright

DEVOTION

THE GOSPEL OF LUKE

UPRIGHT

Luke 1:5-7

5 In the time of Herod king of Judea there was a priest named Zechariah, who belonged to the priestly division of Abijah; his wife Elizabeth was also a descendant of Aaron. 6 Both of them were upright in the sight of God, observing all the Lord's commandments and regulations blamelessly. 7 But they had no children, because Elizabeth was barren; and they were both well along in years.

NIV

Luke begins his well investigated orderly account starting with how and why John the Baptist was born. His parents Zechariah and Elizabeth were both descendants of Aaron. But going back one generation they were the descendants of Amram who was the father of Moses, Aaron and Miriam, three of the most illustrious characters in the whole Jewish history. Amram’s wife was a descendent of Levi although from the account in Exodus we also see she was his aunt. Yet the point here is that John the Baptist was to come from a very special line of descendants. A family of royal priesthood. As we will see he had a very special calling, but for now we should focus on his parents. We are told of their character both in civil and in faith. They were both upright in the sight of God. No one could cast any blame on them in the church or in their civil life. This is our life lesson. First, do we live blameless or upright before the Lord? Of course we live in Christ who is blameless and therefore we are, but they did not have Christ yet, so how were they considered upright in the sight of God? We see they observed all the Lord’s commandments and regulations blamelessly. Were they without sin? That is doubtful, in fact it was impossible. But they did have an attitude and desire to exercise their duties to God, to their neighbors and to themselves walk hand in hand. They lived their faith the best they could, knowing the eyes of the lord were upon them. This is our lesson. We should live in such a manner as they did. Granted we do not come from a priestly heritage, but we are a part of a priestly family, a holy nation, belonging to the family of God. We have the right to be called sons of God, or children of God, or co-heirs with Christ. Should we not live upright before God, making our spirit life, our community life and our personal life walk hand in hand? Surely we cannot live completely without sin, but we can live as we believe. God choose them for a special offspring, and each of us has also been chosen to bring special offspring into the kingdom of God, both from our own bodies and from the world of darkness. All of this is a part of walking upright before the Lord, following his commands. Will we ever be free of sin? It is unlikely but we can still walk upright before our Lord, doing what he has called us to do.