Never Give Up

DEVOTION

THE GOSPEL OF LUKE

NEVER GIVE UP

Luke 11:5-13

5 Then he said to them, "Suppose one of you has a friend, and he goes to him at midnight and says, 'Friend, lend me three loaves of bread, 6 because a friend of mine on a journey has come to me, and I have nothing to set before him.' 7 "Then the one inside answers, 'Don't bother me. The door is already locked, and my children are with me in bed. I can't get up and give you anything.' 8 I tell you, though he will not get up and give him the bread because he is his friend, yet because of the man's boldness he will get up and give him as much as he needs. 9 "So I say to you: Ask and it will be given to you; seek and you will find; knock and the door will be opened to you. 10 For everyone who asks receives; he who seeks finds; and to him who knocks, the door will be opened. 11 "Which of you fathers, if your son asks for a fish, will give him a snake instead? 12 Or if he asks for an egg, will give him a scorpion? 13 If you then, though you are evil, know how to give good gifts to your children, how much more will your Father in heaven give the Holy Spirit to those who ask him!" 

NIV

It seems like a whole lot here, but it is really just one truth that Jesus is teaching his disciples using this illustration of the man pleading for bread from his neighbor whose whole family is fast asleep in bed. The idea that he would not get up because he was a friend, but would get up because of the boldness or persistence of the man. These two words fall a little short of the implied meaning of the Greek word used here, which carries a sense of impudent insistence raising to the point of shamelessness. The importance of this meaning is carried to the point of how we are to ask the Father, being without any sense of pride at all. This is what Jesus is telling them and us. We need to come to the Father asking and asking and asking, not giving up until we receive that which we ask for, which in this teaching of Jesus is the Holy Spirit. Certainly salvation is not implied in any way here, for that is a free gift of God, we merely need to repent and ask for forgiveness and he freely gives us eternal life. But seeking for good gifts, which Matthew uses, is in fact the Holy Spirit and his gifts. Some would use this teaching to seek the father continually for things, things of this world, material goods. But that would taking only a portion of what Jesus said out of context. We cannot exclude his concluding statement, which is in fact the reason for the rest of what he said. The point here is that we should be seeking first the kingdom of God and his righteousness, full out, all in, exclusively, relentlessly, persistently, shamelessly without any reservations. This is how we are to approach our faith in God. Will God respond? Absolutely, he will give us the Holy Spirit who brings his gifts to work in our lives. He will pour him out all over us. He will lead us into all truth, he will guide us, and he will pour out his gifts upon us. Yet how many of us seek him in that way, and in fact accept him and all his does within us? Many seek God for the things, but if we seek him in the way Jesus is teaching about, first for the Spirit and all that comes with him, other teachings tell us that the Father will also supply us with the stuff, the things we need to live here in this human condition. But our focus in not on the bread, the things, it should be on the kingdom, the Spirit who brings the kingdom within us. We need to always be forever seeking the work of the Spirit in our lives, never giving up.