A Child or else

DEVOTION

THE GOSPEL OF LUKE

A CHILD OR ELSE

Luke 18:15-17

15 People were also bringing babies to Jesus to have him touch them. When the disciples saw this, they rebuked them. 16 But Jesus called the children to him and said, "Let the little children come to me, and do not hinder them, for the kingdom of God belongs to such as these. 17 I tell you the truth, anyone who will not receive the kingdom of God like a little child will never enter it." 

NIV

How adult we are, how adult minded we approach religious living. We think how we have to know all the scripture, know every aspect of what it means to be a “Good Christian”, trying to behave just the right way, guarding our emotions, being intellectual about our faith, but Jesus never told us to be like that. Jesus says here that we need to receive the kingdom of God like a little child and if we don’t we will never enter it. So what does accepting it like a little child look like? We merely have to remember how we were, or our children were on Christmas morning opening those presents. Children are so filled with excitement, with joy, with anticipation of what is inside that box. They are filled with hope that it is exactly what they have been wanting so much, and when they get it open, their faces are all smiles and even a scream of joyfulness as it is just the right thing. We adults, however a little more sedated about opening our presents. Is that how we approach receiving the kingdom of God, sedated? No, we cannot afford to be like adults, we need to be like children and get excited about being born again, enjoying our childhood, enjoying the thrill of the moment. Children have such unwavering faith in their parents, they just know they will give them want they want, at least in most cases. There are some either not so good parents, or way too good of parents, who disciple too harshly and restrict their children from being childlike. But for the most part children simply believe whatever they want, they ask for and in most cases get it. This is how we are to receive the kingdom of God, with simple faith, believing when we ask to be forgiven we get forgiven, when we ask to be born again, we get born again, when we ask to be healed we get healed. Adults complicate all that with too much thinking about how or why we would not get what we ask for, or have too many doubts, which in essence is disbelief. Even the hopes of children can be crushed if they are always disappointed and receive nothing they hoped for. But God is always faithful and he always gives us our hearts desire. Of course the desire should be the kingdom of God, rather than worldly gain. So no need for a second or third childhood, need to simply remain a child in the kingdom of God. 

Sinner

DEVOTION

THE GOSPEL OF LUKE

SINNER

Luke 18:9-14

9 To some who were confident of their own righteousness and looked down on everybody else, Jesus told this parable: 10 "Two men went up to the temple to pray, one a Pharisee and the other a tax collector. 11 The Pharisee stood up and prayed about himself: 'God, I thank you that I am not like other men — robbers, evildoers, adulterers — or even like this tax collector. 12 I fast twice a week and give a tenth of all I get.' 13 "But the tax collector stood at a distance. He would not even look up to heaven, but beat his breast and said, 'God, have mercy on me, a sinner.' 14 "I tell you that this man, rather than the other, went home justified before God. For everyone who exalts himself will be humbled, and he who humbles himself will be exalted." 

NIV

The fact is we have absolutely no righteousness at all. Jesus is speaking directly to those who think they have some form of righteousness, some form of being a “Good Christian”. Whenever we think we have attained any resemblance of righteousness we have become like that Pharisees in the parable. It is not so much that we would stand up in church and pray about how much we do correctly or anything, but it is surely about how we think about ourselves, especially in relationship to those who are not saved. If we start thinking we are better in any way we have indeed become like that Pharisee. In all reality whether that is the reality of earth or heaven we are nothing but a sinner saved by the grace of God. We are justified and sanctified solely by God and there is nothing we can do to earn or enhance that justification or sanctification. It is God who justifies or makes us right before himself. It is his action, Jesus’s death on the cross which makes us holy, or in right standing with God. Yes we have to accept that act of justification in our lives, but that is all we can ever do, all the rest of all God. It is God who sanctifies us or sets us apart for his use. We cannot set ourselves apart nor can we increase our set apartness, for it, once again, is an act of God and not of human ability. Our prayer should always be with the awareness of our sinful nature, rather than our righteous behavior. Jesus makes that abundantly clear in this parable. We also need to make sure we are not falsely humble in order to be exalted. When we pray, and especially with other believers we need not try to either look good or bad, but merely be truthful in our prayer. If we are not careful we could fall into the trap of that Pharisee type pray, using that time to either preach or teach others which in essence is exalting ourselves, making us appear to be so righteous. No, we need to admit our weak estate and relieve forgiveness, grace and mercy from our Lord. Yes, we can ask for anything, we can ask for forgiveness, for his grace and mercy, for his compassion upon us, but he has already done all that, and done it abundantly. We can ask for things to be done on behalf of others, but he has already done that also. The point Jesus is making is we need to see who we really are, and who God really is. When we see ourselves in the light of God, we are but puny sinners, who need his work in our lives. Which one of us dare think we are anything like God, like Jesus by anything we do or say? It is the Spirit who is transforming us into the likeness of Jesus. But even that can be misunderstood, thinking we are actually going to be without any sin at all when we are fully transformed. That complete transformation will not occur until we step into eternity. While we are still in the flesh we are in the process of being transformed. The image of Jesus which we can somewhat become as a result of the indwelling of the Spirit is the image of being able to submit to the will of the Father. Simply put, without God we are lost because we have been, are and will always be a sinner who is saved by the grace of God. 

Constant

DEVOTION

THE GOSPEL OF LUKE

CONSTANT

Luke 18:1-8

18:1 Then Jesus told his disciples a parable to show them that they should always pray and not give up. 2 He said: "In a certain town there was a judge who neither feared God nor cared about men. 3 And there was a widow in that town who kept coming to him with the plea, 'Grant me justice against my adversary.' 4 "For some time he refused. But finally he said to himself, 'Even though I don't fear God or care about men, 5 yet because this widow keeps bothering me, I will see that she gets justice, so that she won't eventually wear me out with her coming!'"  6 And the Lord said, "Listen to what the unjust judge says. 7 And will not God bring about justice for his chosen ones, who cry out to him day and night? Will he keep putting them off? 8 I tell you, he will see that they get justice, and quickly. However, when the Son of Man comes, will he find faith on the earth?" 

NIV

Is there any real need to explore this parable when Jesus states the meaning of it before he tells it? But he also concludes with a “However”. This is the answer to whether we should continue to pray for a need until we get an answer. But with the concluding “However” there a slightly different slant to this meaning. This is not so much that we should pray the same repetitive prayer day in and day out, praying for the same exact need, until it is answered, although he does not say we should not do that either, but the meaning here also has more. We should always be in a constant state of prayer, which according to the Greek meaning implies that we should turn our attention to, turn our mind to a person or thing, to bring near. Prayer is a form of communication between man and God, we turn our attention toward him, to both talk and listen. It makes so much sense that he would have a far more important things to say then we would, so listening would be the best way we could turn our mind toward him. Jesus did tell us here, that we should not give up, especially in those times when life gets a little rough. The adversary is going to try his hardest to make us give up, to lose our faith in God, to start to depend on ourselves for everything instead of God. Certainly the disciples would be faced with far more difficultly in life then we will ever face, many of them having been martyred for their faith in Jesus. Nevertheless we face hardships from time to time and in those times as well as the good times we should always be found in the state of prayer, always being attentive to his voice. Our adversary would like nothing more than to distract us from listening to the voice of God, being in prayer. When Jesus concludes the parable he tells them or rather asks if when he returns will he find us having faith? Will life itself deplete our faith? Will the adversary win the battle for our hearts and minds and thus our soul? Sometimes, depending on his strategy he will not do harm to us, but rather bring about such good times we lose sight of our need for God and our constant state of prayer goes by the wayside. We get so involved in doing life, accumulating some form of wealth, we forget to be attentive to the voice of God. But there are also some who endure hardships, one after another at the hand of our adversary. He hopes that we fold under the pressure of those hardships paying more attention to them, then to the voice of God. We can become so focused on our difficulties that we lose our focus on God. We could become discouraged in our trust and faith in him, turning into our hardships and looking for our own human efforts to relieve us from the pain and suffering. This is why Jesus asks if he will find faith on earth when he returns. We need to always remain attentive toward God, constant in our faith. 

On that day

DEVOTION

THE GOSPEL OF LUKE

ON THAT DAY

Luke 17:30-37

30 "It will be just like this on the day the Son of Man is revealed. 31 On that day no one who is on the roof of his house, with his goods inside, should go down to get them. Likewise, no one in the field should go back for anything. 32 Remember Lot's wife! 33 Whoever tries to keep his life will lose it, and whoever loses his life will preserve it. 34 I tell you, on that night two people will be in one bed; one will be taken and the other left. 35 Two women will be grinding grain together; one will be taken and the other left." 37 "Where, Lord?" they asked. He replied, "Where there is a dead body, there the vultures will gather." 

NIV

There is no question the love for the things of life will be a person’s demise. Lot’s wife was the prime example of wanting those things instead of simply making the escape safely. She sort of serves as one being raptured but looks back in a longing for the life they know. The future is always questionable, especially when it includes death. No one really knows what their future holds. Some work many years, diligently storing up as much money as they can so to have a good future, at least among the things of this world. But in all reality they have no idea what that future will bring. Some, even with all their wealth cannot buy health and suffer greatly with some infirmity. It is somewhat the same for believers. We have all the scripture which declares to us that when we die we will be with the Lord, but no one has actually proof of that, we believe by faith that it is true. The point Jesus is making is that we cannot look back, we cannot be so attached to the world, to things in this world that we do not want to leave them in order to go to him. A day is coming when he returns for us that we will leave everything behind including some of our fellow people. It appears we will leave even people who are very close to us, like the one sharing a bed with us. Is Jesus saying that even among believers some will not go with him, because of their over attachment to the things of this world, or is he merely making a distinction between believers and non-believers? Surely we need certain things of life, and some of us have more things than others, and that may be strictly due to the sovereignty of God and nothing to do with our human efforts. Some may have more because of human effort motivated by the desire for more. This is the dilemma, we all have some stuff, which we need in order to live in this life, homes, cars, clothes, even toys of sorts, computers, boats, campers, cell phones, hobbies, models, golf, soccer, baseball, basketball, or other sporting equipment, plus a whole host of other things that occupy our time. Perhaps the point is not to become obsessed with them, willing to leave them all behind in order to follow Jesus. It still comes down to seeking Jesus, seeking the kingdom of God first and foremost above all else, and if we do that he will add all these things to us while we are still in this life, but once again they are but temporary things which we leave behind someday, on that day. 

Doomsday

DEVOTION

THE GOSPEL OF LUKE

DOOMSDAY

Luke 17:26-29

26 "Just as it was in the days of Noah, so also will it be in the days of the Son of Man. 27 People were eating, drinking, marrying and being given in marriage up to the day Noah entered the ark. Then the flood came and destroyed them all. 28 "It was the same in the days of Lot. People were eating and drinking, buying and selling, planting and building. 29 But the day Lot left Sodom, fire and sulfur rained down from heaven and destroyed them all.

NIV

Jesus reminds his disciples of two times in history when the wrath of God was poured out on all those who refused to listen to his messenger. Noah was God’s appointed messenger all the time he was building the ark. He proclaimed the pending doom that was going to come, if the people did not repent. But of course we know the people simply made fun of Noah and refused his message. The same happened during the time of Lot. Although it is not clearly stated Lot proclaimed the word of God to the people of Sodom, he was a righteous man, who God determined to save from the wrath he was going to pour out on that city. Both these examples Jesus uses to tell his disciples how it will be when he returns for his followers. There are going to be people who could care less about him, refuse any message about him, and simply go about living their lives in any manner they so desire. The warning is still for us today. Although we eat and drink and get married, we buy and sell and plant and build, we who believe also live with the awareness of Jesus in our lives. It does not appear Jesus means for us not to live within the context of daily living, which is to just sit around doing nothing but having church, so to speak. We do need to eat and drink, we do need to buy and sell, conducting some sort of business that is, and some believers may well be farmers or construction people. Our daily lives need to be lived in the human condition but at the same time we cannot be like those who refuse to accept Jesus, and believe only in their own abilities to gain their desires, living just for self-gratification. We need to constantly be in tune with the Holy Spirit, growing in the knowledge and love of God, knowing Jesus is our righteousness and that he is the only way to the Father. If we are not careful though we can get entrapped by the ways of human thinking, even from those who appear to be spiritual. There is one source of truth, the word of God, and we have it available to us. This is our truth, our guide to finding Jesus and eternal life. Let us not be distracted by life, as all those in the past who were destroyed by their distractions instead of being focused on God. There is a doomsday coming for the world. God showed us the safety of the cross with the ark of Noah, and he also showed us our escape route through the example of Lot, sending a messenger to tell him to get out of town. Jesus is our ark, and our escape route from the coming doomsday. 

Look Up

DEVOTION

THE GOSPEL OF LUKE

LOOK UP

Luke 17:22-25

22 Then he said to his disciples, "The time is coming when you will long to see one of the days of the Son of Man, but you will not see it. 23 Men will tell you, 'There he is!' or 'Here he is!' Do not go running off after them. 24 For the Son of Man in his day will be like the lightning, which flashes and lights up the sky from one end to the other. 25 But first he must suffer many things and be rejected by this generation.

NIV

Jesus is telling his disciples there is a day coming when he is going to no longer be with them in the flesh, and from the time he leaves until he comes back there are going to be all sorts of false reports of someone being him or of his return. There is much more Jesus tells his disciples about his return but we need to parcel it in order the get all the truth. Here we see that Jesus assures them although he is going away, he will return and when he does the whole sky is going light up, flashes and lighting will cover the whole sky, all over the earth. They is not going to be any mistaking his return. The question is whether Jesus is taking about his ultimate return to earth to destroy evil once and for all, or his return in the sky to call the saints. When the rest of what he says especially about two in bed or in the field and one will be taken and one left, we have to conclude this return he is speaking about is to gather the believers in the sky to himself or as we have named it, the rapture. It is not going to be as if the day is just a normal day and all of a sudden all the believers disappear and the rest of the world wonders what happened. The day of the rapture is going to be like no other day mankind has ever seen. Those who do not believe will see the event which will be larger than life. The complete sky is going to be filled with lighting flashes, believers who have already died, they bodies will be coming out of the graves and we who are still alive will begin to float off this planet, much in the same way Jesus ascended into heaven with people staring, watching him disappear into the clouds. It will be a sight which everyone will see, no one will miss it, and they will all know they have been left behind. In some sense that will be sad, for everyone has the opportunity to know and accept Jesus, because God has declared it so. Religion will not save us, church will not save us, and good deeds, even perfection, will not save us, only Jesus can save us. The truth remains, he is coming back for the believers, for those who put their faith in him for salvation. Jesus is also going to say the he who tries to keep his life will lose it, but who loses his life will preserve it. We need to ensure we are not distracted by anything while we are waiting and watching for the sky to be filled with lighting from one end to the other. That is when he will be in the sky calling us to come to him. Although we might enjoy some of the things of this world, they pale in comparison to the day we wait for. We need to ensure we are truly waiting for that day, not getting overly attached to the things, whatever they are, however much or little they are, or perhaps even our pattern of life, our religious life. No, we need to always be keeping our eyes upon the eastern sky, for our redemption draweth nigh, look up.

Within us

DEVOTION

THE GOSPEL OF LUKE

WITHIN US

Luke 17:20-21

20 Once, having been asked by the Pharisees when the kingdom of God would come, Jesus replied, "The kingdom of God does not come with your careful observation, 21 nor will people say, 'Here it is,' or 'There it is,' because the kingdom of God is within you." 

NIV

From the historical accounts that we know so far about the Pharisees it is correct to think because of their knowledge of the scriptures they had, they were expecting the Messiah to show up some time. But they had the idea, perhaps from their own minds, or filters with which they interpreted the Prophets that the Messiah would come with much pomp and ceremony.  They most likely were looking for an entrance much like an earthly king would make as he conquers his enemies city. The life lesson for them and us is within this response of Jesus. There are two ways in which we could see his response to their question about when the kingdom of God would come. First we could see it in the sense that Jesus was telling them he was the kingdom of God, which he was among them, which is how some translations depict that word within. But the Greek word does not imply among, it seems to only mean within or inside. This can only lead us to the truth that the kingdom of God is within our hearts. Jesus comes to rule and reign in our hearts. He does not come with pomp and splendor as an earthy ruler would, such as the President of the United States would. An earthly ruler, a king rules to control the external actions of people, or in some sense strike them with awe, such as the time when one democratic candidate for president moved his acceptance speech from the convention hall to an 80,000 seated football stadium and appeared before a Stage of Greek columns, appearing more like a god who descended from the heavens to speak to the mere mortals. Jesus does not show up that way at all. He comes to us in the most personal way. The Spirit introduces him to us even without any knowledge of the Scriptures. He sets up residence, not in a palace built by men, but in the temple he created, us, our hearts. He influences not merely our external actions or behaviors, but he influence our heart, our minds, how we think, how we believe which then because of the content of our hearts we develop our actions and behaviors to agree with our heart, in which Jesus resides. Yes, the kingdom of God is still coming in the sense that someday we will be in paradise, in the new city of Jerusalem with our Lord for all eternity, but that does not mean the kingdom of God is not here now. It is here, and it is within us. 

Being that one

DEVOTION

THE GOSPEL OF LUKE

BEING THAT ONE

Luke 17:11-19

11 Now on his way to Jerusalem, Jesus traveled along the border between Samaria and Galilee. 12 As he was going into a village, ten men who had leprosy met him. They stood at a distance 13 and called out in a loud voice, "Jesus, Master, have pity on us!" 14 When he saw them, he said, "Go, show yourselves to the priests." And as they went, they were cleansed. 15 One of them, when he saw he was healed, came back, praising God in a loud voice. 16 He threw himself at Jesus' feet and thanked him — and he was a Samaritan. 17 Jesus asked, "Were not all ten cleansed? Where are the other nine? 18 Was no one found to return and give praise to God except this foreigner?"  19 Then he said to him, "Rise and go; your faith has made you well." 

NIV

A story we are most familiar with yet never really applied it to our own lives. There are several comparisons which make for a good life lesson. First of all we could compare sin to leprosy in our time and life. Sin is in fact the worst form of leprosy we could be inflicted with. In those days they were cast out of the village away from family and friends because leprosy was contagious. Sin separates us from God, and sin is also contagious, as we have a tendency to drag others along the path of unrighteousness with us. Sinner cannot be around the righteous because the righteous do not want to get infected by that sin, so we cleave to each other rather than them. Here Jesus heals all of them, and we have to suppose that most were Jews and one was a Samaritan as the text so of indicates so. Here is another lesson in that we could see the nine Jews as the religious people of the today and the foreigner or Samaritan as a wretched sinner. Here is the lesson of who is much forgiven loves much. It would seem that when the hand of Jesus cured them, it was only the one who came to worship him. Now of course the law demanded whe a leper became clean he needed to appear before the priest so he could certify he was clean and return to his family and friends within the community. But yet this man turned and came back to praise God. The others did not, they must have felt something different. Is it not the same today? It seems that those who have been raised in the church have less of a passion for praising God then the one who was an awful sinner and was healed of his sin by the hand of Jesus. We need to remember we were that awful sinner and never were like the other nine. Jesus questions where the nine were. He healed them of their sin, but it seems they have their religion. Sometimes it is easy to be counted among the nine, to get so involved with the nine, we forget we were the one. We need to always be so grateful to God for healing us from our sin, that we never stopped praising him, especially when we gather with the nine. We always need to remember it was by faith we were healed, and it is not anything to continue to live. We are told that the righteous live by faith. We cannot afford to be entrapped by depending on righteous living in order to be considered righteous. Our righteousness, our only form of righteousness is in Jesus, in faith in Jesus. We are that one. We will always be that one who was cleansed by the hand of Jesus. 

Duty

DEVOTION

THE GOSPEL OF LUKE

DUTY

Luke 17:7-10

7 "Suppose one of you had a servant plowing or looking after the sheep. Would he say to the servant when he comes in from the field, 'Come along now and sit down to eat'? 8 Would he not rather say, 'Prepare my supper, get yourself ready and wait on me while I eat and drink; after that you may eat and drink'? 9 Would he thank the servant because he did what he was told to do? 10 So you also, when you have done everything you were told to do, should say, 'We are unworthy servants; we have only done our duty.'" 

NIV

This seems strange to be placed here as it does not appear to be in the context with anything Jesus said before or after this. Why he said it here, or if he did not, but Luke inserted here is a little odd, nevertheless the lesson is worth consideration. Perhaps the disciple were getting a little anxious about Jesus setting up his kingdom, as we know from other scriptures, they may not have gotten the whole of the truth just yet, as he had not died, rose from the grave and ascended yet. But the point Jesus was making is that in all reality Jesus did not come to serve his servants rewards, and in fact they were unprofitable servants to boot. This is the lesson. We are all unworthy, or unprofitable to serve God. Any of our actions, our good deeds do not add one smidgen of glory to God. Although he tells us we are his glory, we do not add to his glory, as we are actually unworthy to do so. If we think we are special in any way, we may be sadly mistaken. We are unworthy servants and anything we do for the kingdom of God is because it has been our duty to do so. Once again we have become man centered instead of God centered when we think of ourselves having a relationship with the almighty creator of everything. It is he who has a relationship with his creation, he is the master and we are the servants who should be serving him, rather than thinking about what kind of reward we are worthy of receiving because we are his creation. Sure, God will give us a blessing, all kinds of spiritual blessings, he gave us the Spirit who first of all convicted us of our need for Jesus, and then he continues to lead us into all the truths of God. Really, what more do we need? As far as any reward, we will receive eternal life, but before we get that, we need to serve our master, not that serving him brings that eternal life, for only faith in Christ will do that, but as we are now his servants we should be doing our duty and waiting on his table serving him, serving the kingdom, doing our duty, whatever that looks like. It may be different for each and every one of us. We all cannot be a pastor, or a missionary, or a teacher, or a janitor in the church, or a board member, if any of those are actually serving the kingdom rather than serving man. What does serving the kingdom look like? We know that it is Gods will that all mankind be saved. So then would are duty be to bring the good news to whoever we come in contact with? Would that be a worthy service? Maybe all service counts as long as we understand we are his servants and whatever we do stills does not bring anything to his majestic glory. Nothing we can do, no matter how great it is can add anything to the glory of God. He is God and we are his unprofitable servants, period, but we are still to do our duty, that is all, it is our duty. 

Believing Faith

DEVOTION

THE GOSPEL OF LUKE

BELIEVING FAITH

Luke 17:5-6

5 The apostles said to the Lord, "Increase our faith!" 6 He replied, "If you have faith as small as a mustard seed, you can say to this mulberry tree, 'Be uprooted and planted in the sea,' and it will obey you.

NIV

It might be possible this response of the apostles is connected to what Jesus just said about forgiving seven times seventy every offense against them, which they thought would be very difficult, if not impossible, unless they had more faith. But it is also possible, as Luke did not record everything in perfect chronological order, this request for more faith was about something else. Matthew records that asked why they could not drive out certain demons which Jesus responses about the faith of a mustard seed. In either case Jesus is making the point about faith. How much faith do we need? Evidently not much in order to do much. Mark also records Jesus talking about having faith without doubt and we can move mountains. It does not require a lot of faith, just unwavering faith, asking and believing that what we ask for will happen. Now we do need to also know that we cannot ask with wrong motives, that we need to be asking in the will of God. But Jesus does not said that, he just says have faith, do not doubt, act on that faith, we can forgive as God forgives or we can do great move trees and mountains simply by commanding them to move. It is far easier to believe or have faith we can forgive then to uproot a tree and plant it in the sea. Yet with all the other teaching of Jesus about causing a tree to wither, or cast a mountain into the sea, or cast out a demon, or anything alone the lines of being a shaker and mover for God, we simply have to use whatever amount of faith we have. We cannot say, we do not have enough faith, for God says he gives every man a measure of faith. Well actually it is in the teaching about not thinking more highly of ourselves then we should but rather think of ourselves with sober judgment in accordance with the measure of faith God has given us. The point is still the same, God has given us a measure of faith. Whatever that measure is, it is enough, perhaps even more that a grain of mustard seed. With the measure of faith God has given us we should be able to do whatever Jesus says we can. He said we can ask anything in his name and he will do it. It does, however require faith without doubt. That is the clincher, without doubt. All too often we have that little grain of doubt. We think he can, but will he? There is that doubt and that kills the faith. Instead of having the simple faith of a child, we fall prey to being religious, depending on our behavior or our knowledge of scripture, or some other form of spirituality thinking that defines us as a believer. We do not need any more faith than the measure God has given us, we only need to believe without doubting. Faith is the opposite of doubt. Faith believes, doubt does not believe. One cancels the other, we have to make sure it is faith that cancels doubt, instead of doubt canceling faith. It is like not being able to serve two master, God and money. We cannot serve faith and doubt, we will either love one or hate the other, and we will be devoted to one and despise the other. We have to serve faith, no matter how much or how little we have. We need to live by faith, not making excuses why God doesn’t do this or that. We have to live by faith period, no excuses, no doubt. 

Forgiveness

DEVOTION

THE GOSPEL OF LUKE

FORGIVENESS

Luke 17:3-4

"If your brother sins, rebuke him, and if he repents, forgive him. 4 If he sins against you seven times in a day, and seven times comes back to you and says, 'I repent,' forgive him." 

NIV

Which one of us can cast that first stone? Sure we have an obligation to bring to the attention of our fellow believer that sin which they are committing. But how do we do that without being judgmental? In addition, Jesus has also taught that we should take that log out of our eye before we start looking for that speck in another’s eye. So what does he mean here? In the context here and as it is recorded in other Gospels, Jesus is talking about if a brother does something wrong against us. We are not to go about looking for sins in others, but if a fellow believer either does or says something which is injurious to us, we should inform him as to how that injured us. If then that person understands the error they have made, and asks us to forgive them, we have the obligation to forgive. Our forgiveness should be as God forgives us, forever. It does not matter if that person does it again and repents asking us to forgive them, we need to forgive them. This requires not keeping any record of wrong, which is one of the criteria of love. When we forgive we have to forgive. How would we feel if when we sin against God, he says, well that is one more strike against you, so many strikes and you are out? This is what we do to others when we keep a record of their wrong. Forgiveness means no record, not bringing it back up, period. Love always hopes for the best in that person, love always trusts in that person. Forgiveness is unconditional when asked for. This also applies to when we offend another. We need to be humble enough to ask for forgiveness. Pride will always come before the fall, and so when we offend another believer, especially if they come to us and point out how we offended them, we need to see our offense and ask them to forgive us and we need to be humble in our asking. We should not try to defend either our actions or words of offense, but merely ask humbly for forgiveness. Any excuse would be an attempt to justify our sin. This is all about mutual respect, understanding we are all sinners saved by grace. We should live a life of forgiveness. 

Cause and Effect

DEVOTION

THE GOSPEL OF LUKE

CAUSE AND EFFECT

Luke 17:1-3

17:1 Jesus said to his disciples: "Things that cause people to sin are bound to come, but woe to that person through whom they come. 2 It would be better for him to be thrown into the sea with a millstone tied around his neck than for him to cause one of these little ones to sin. 3 So watch yourselves.

NIV

Temptations are going to come our way and it is doubtful that we are going to be able to resist every one of them. It is the corrupt condition of our humanness that it is inevitable we will fail to live a life completely free of all sin. This is the reason in the first place we need Christ and it is the continuing reason we need to live in Christ. Even with all the power of the Spirit within us, with Christ living in us, or as one author puts it, Christ living as us, we are bound to this flesh at this moment and this flesh is weak and will continue to yield to some of those temptations from time to time. Sure we do not live in the continual state of sin, as we did before accepting Christ as our Savior, but we still have sin in our lives. This is unavoidable as long as we live in the flesh. Jesus makes that clear, but he also makes it very clear that we are in grave danger if for any reason we are the cause of another person’s sin. How would we become the cause of another’s sin? Are they not responsible for their own sin? Yet Jesus says we can and woe to anyone who does bring sin to another so we should watch our selves. So how could we do that? It is possible that in some sense we could persecute another believer in their particular beliefs, or doctrinal position which could cause them harm in their faith or discourage their faith, or service to God. By insisting our interpretation is the only correct one and they are in error, we might cause them to question their beliefs, become discouraged or perhaps angry at us, even developing into hatred toward us, or on the other hand become self-righteous and defensive, actually attacking our faith, our beliefs. We could also act in some way as a seducer. That is teaching false truths causing people to believe what is not true. This would be corrupting the truths of Christ’s and his ordinances. If we did this with such authority that we were in fact seducing others, especially those who are either new in the faith, or weak in their faith, with little understanding of scripture, we would be causing them, in essence, to sin. It is also possible that if we profess our faith out loud, proclaiming we are Christians, but live in such a scandalous way, so to speak, we could be the cause of another’s sin. It is especially true of those of us who have the ear of others. But it is also true of all of us. If we say we are a Christian and then do or say things which are contrary to the way of Christ, we dishonor him first and foremost, but we also give way for others to either judge us, if they are believers, or see us as hypocrites, if they are unbelievers, and in both cases we cause sin to abound in them. The point is we need to be cognizant of our own lives, actions and reactions in our relationships with all other people so as to not be the one which brings the reason for sin. Yet having said that, we will most likely fail at that too, being in the human condition, but nevertheless we should be completely aware of how we are and as careful as we can to avoid being the cause, depending on Christ to live in and through us.   

Rich or Poor

DEVOTION

THE GOSPEL OF LUKE

RICH OR POOR

Luke 16:19-31

19 "There was a rich man who was dressed in purple and fine linen and lived in luxury every day. 20 At his gate was laid a beggar named Lazarus, covered with sores 21 and longing to eat what fell from the rich man's table. Even the dogs came and licked his sores. 22 "The time came when the beggar died and the angels carried him to Abraham's side. The rich man also died and was buried. 23 In hell, where he was in torment, he looked up and saw Abraham far away, with Lazarus by his side. 24 So he called to him, 'Father Abraham, have pity on me and send Lazarus to dip the tip of his finger in water and cool my tongue, because I am in agony in this fire.' 25 "But Abraham replied, 'Son, remember that in your lifetime you received your good things, while Lazarus received bad things, but now he is comforted here and you are in agony. 26 And besides all this, between us and you a great chasm has been fixed, so that those who want to go from here to you cannot, nor can anyone cross over from there to us.' 27 "He answered, 'Then I beg you, father, send Lazarus to my father's house, 28 for I have five brothers. Let him warn them, so that they will not also come to this place of torment.' 29 "Abraham replied, 'They have Moses and the Prophets; let them listen to them.' 30 "'No, father Abraham,' he said, 'but if someone from the dead goes to them, they will repent.' 31 "He said to him, 'If they do not listen to Moses and the Prophets, they will not be convinced even if someone rises from the dead.'" 

NIV

We are still on the heels of Jesus having told the Pharisees, who loved money, they cannot serve two masters, either they will love the one and hate the other, they will be devoted to one and despise the other. They cannot serve both God and money. One other observation about that teaching is it sort of flies in the face of some pastors or religious leaders who live in extreme abundance from the purses of others. But here we have Jesus saying about that same thing in regard to the Pharisees and it surely could apply to the Christian life today. The story about the rich man is about those who love money so they can live in abundance, the Pharisees in this case. Lazarus was the least of men, a beggar, dependent on living off the scrapes of the rich, but because he died and went to Abraham's side, we have to think this beggar was a believer in Christ, in this story. Perhaps Jesus was actually referring to himself as the beggar. The point Jesus was making in this story was that while men search wealth in this world they will not be seeking God, even if they think themselves religious as the Pharisees did. The result of the love of money, the pursuit of worldly gain, men will not go to Abraham’s side when they die for they served money instead of God. Jesus goes on and makes the point that once a person is in hell there is no way for them to get to heaven, period. They made their choice, they had Moses and the Prophets and did not pay attention to them, which pointed to the way to Jesus. So even if Jesus dies and comes back to life, these Pharisees will still not believe and find themselves in hell. At least that is his point to them. We should take that lesson to heart as well. Yes, we have accepted Jesus as our lord and Savior, but have we forsaken him or simply pretend to serve him, but in actuality use him to pursue the things of this world? We ask him to bless us with wealth, with the abundant life, with things rather than being at his service. Do we live as if it is all about us, or all about Jesus? If we are man or us centered then perhaps we are not much different than the Pharisees. But if we are as the beggar, knowing our lowly state, or dependent condition on the grace and mercy of our Lord, then we shall see the side of Abraham and once there we shall be there for eternity. So we are back to the point of who shall we serve, God or money? Blessed are the poor in spirit, for they shall inherit the kingdom of God. I choose God. 

Adultery

DEVOTION

THE GOSPEL OF LUKE

ADULTERY

Luke 16:18

18 "Anyone who divorces his wife and marries another woman commits adultery, and the man who marries a divorced woman commits adultery.

NIV

This is not the only place Jesus talks about this issue and he speaks a little more in detail in both the Gospel of Matthew and Mark. We also need to consider what was going on within the Jewish people when Jesus said this. This of course does not dismiss this truth for us today, but it has a little more meaning seeing what life was like then. According to the Law it was permissible for a man to put away his wife if she displeased him in any way. It was without question a man’s right to treat his wife as he saw fit, the woman had no rights whatsoever. The Jews were living by the Law that was given and recorded in Deuteronomy consider divorce and remarriage. Jesus seems to be abolishing that Law yet he has said that he is not doing that. So then what is he saying here? It is for us as well as for those Jews at that time? Certainly our system of divorce and remarriage has a little different concept than they had in that time. For the most part married people divorce with mutual consent. Yet it does seem that the vows of marriage are taken so lightly that at the first or perhaps the second sign of trouble in the relationship divorce is the course of action.  This divorce and remarriage has also infiltrated the church, or the lives of believers. Some denominations only restrict those who wish to be licensed or ordained from ever divorcing a spouse, much less remarrying another. Although Jesus may actually be taking about the divorce degrees man handed their wives if they were displeased with them, he could also be talking about the Jews as a nation and himself. He is the bridegroom that the Jewish people were his own, his bride. But as in another gospel divorce is restricted except in the case of marital unfaithfulness, Jesus might be saying that Israel has been unfaithful to God, they have committed adultery and God could issue them a certificate of divorce and be within his rights, but of course we know he has not done that. But the point is we also are his bride, and we must remain faithful to God. If we carouse around with the world, committing adultery with it, God could divorce us. He could put us away. Yet we should also take this teaching to heart as well. Marriage is for life, whoever marries in the sight of God needs to remain married. Of course we still have situations where we were divorced before we became a believers. That was just another sin which is covered under the blood of Jesus. But what about if we are believers, we have accepted Christ, then it seems we cannot divorce. But then is that not like living under the Law? We can commit other sins and have forgiveness, but this one seems is not forgivable. That cannot be either, as only one sin is unforgivable. So then is Jesus really talking about us and God, and committing adultery with the world? We may never know for sure, but it is essential we remain faithful to him as we are his bride. He will always remain faithful to us. Yet if we are unfaithful, if we have an affair with the world, with another master, desiring to be intimate with another god, such as he just finished teaching, money, or for that matter any other addiction in this world, then we are no longer serving him, and we have committed adultery. It is difficult not to be attached to things, to enjoy the material goods he has given to us, or allowed us to obtain. Sometimes we talk about how he has blessed us with this thing or that job. Yet at the same time we cannot be so attached to them that we forfeit our relationship with him. We do live here, and he does direct our paths, he determines where we should live, what kind of employment we should have, bringing us in contact with the people he desires we share the good news with, but at the same time the path he directs us in, is toward himself. All that we are, all that we have, all that we do is because of our relationship with him, how could we ever cheat on him, getting into an intimate relationship with the world? Could we divorce God so that we could marry the world? That would indeed be adultery.

Forever

DEVOTION

 THE GOSPEL OF LUKE

FOREVER

Luke 16:16-17

16 "The Law and the Prophets were proclaimed until John. Since that time, the good news of the kingdom of God is being preached, and everyone is forcing his way into it. 17 It is easier for heaven and earth to disappear than for the least stroke of a pen to drop out of the Law.

NIV

Jesus is making the point that he is the one which the Law and the Prophets were all about and that man needs to press toward the kingdom now, listen to the good news which started with John preaching about making way for the Lord and then for these past few years the very preaching and teaching of Jesus himself. The time has come for man to see what all the Law and the Prophets were about. Jesus also makes the point that both the seen heaven and earth that man knows now are only temporary, they are going to pass away, but the word of God is eternal. This statement is on the heels of him telling the Pharisees that cannot serve both God and money. He is giving them insight into the fact all this pursuit and passion for the things of the world are only a passion for that which is temporary and they should be forcing their way in to kingdom, they should be rushing toward it, into it instead, for the kingdom is the only thing which is going to last forever and ever. The kingdom is the only thing which is worth value and it alone should be their goal. As far as the Law itself, Jesus fulfilled every aspect of it completely, thus both satisfying God and sanctifying us. Yes, we still have a copy of the Law within the Old Testament and there is still a moral code which we should abide by, but the Law the code, the do’s and don’ts cannot save us, for the fact is we cannot abide by them perfectly, but Jesus did. Therefore being in Christ is the only way in which we can satisfy the Law.  This is the point Jesus was making and that our time here is limited and we should be forcing our way, advancing toward the kingdom, not after that which is going to be destroyed.  Why do we chase after the temporary things of this world if it is just that, temporary? We have heard the good news of the kingdom of God and we should be advancing toward it. True, we have accepted Jesus as our Lord and Savior, but have we mixed our passions for him with passions for the things of the world? We cannot serve two masters, we have to focus on the eternal rather than temporal, the realm of the unseen rather than the realm of the seen.  Yet we might be so concerned about the stuff in this world we get entangled by it, as the Pharisees were in the love of money, while trying to appear religious. We need to stay focused on the good news of the kingdom, the grace and love of God toward us, the eternal aspect of our lives. Sure we still have stuff, but that is the stuff God has provided because we seek him first, above all else because he is the only thing which actually matters, he is eternal and his kingdom will last forever. 

Reality of God

DEVOTION

THE GOSPEL OF LUKE

REALITY OF GOD

Luke 16:13-15

13 "No servant can serve two masters. Either he will hate the one and love the other, or he will be devoted to the one and despise the other. You cannot serve both God and Money."  14 The Pharisees, who loved money, heard all this and were sneering at Jesus. 15 He said to them, "You are the ones who justify yourselves in the eyes of men, but God knows your hearts. What is highly valued among men is detestable in God's sight.

NIV

Although we have already consider this serving two masters as it was the concluding statement to a much longer teaching of Jesus, we need to include it here in order to deal with his response to the Pharisees who loved money and were sneering at Jesus. He tells them they justify themselves before men, but God knows their hearts. He also includes the fact that what is regarded as valuable among men is detestable in the sight of God. This is a lesson we need to take to heart as well. First off we cannot love money, as if we do then we do not and cannot love God. But there is another truth which Jesus makes about these Pharisees which can also apply to us. This justification before men is a simple fact and perhaps it applies to those who love money. They claim certain scriptures that would justify their accumulation of wealth, particularly the one about ants who gather for the winter. But this justification is not limited to the gathering of wealth. We try our hardest to justify many of our behaviors or actions before men. If we desire something in a human way, we might simply justify our desires by telling others God told us to do this, or buy that. Some would claim that they can claim whatever they name, using that verse in Mark’s gospel as their justification. The point is we should not ever be trying to justify ourselves before other men, but only be concerned as to how we appear in the sight of God. God knows our heart. He knows the struggles we have with certain sins. He knows our weaknesses and he knows our strengths, if we have any that is. He knows exactly how and when we fail him. We cannot justify any of our actions or behaviors to him, but he has already justified himself to us through the life, death, resurrection and ascension of Jesus. We are already justified in the sight of God if we are in Christ and therefore there is no need to justify ourselves before men. That even applies to why we believe. We do not need to justify our faith before men, God knows our heart and that is all that counts. Yet this lesson is also about what we value as men. In the case of the Pharisees it was money. In the case of some Christians it is money as well. It seems rather odd that there are Christian investment counselors. That is almost an oxymoron. Even if we are investing in faith based businesses, or businesses that are owned by believers, the point of the investment is to gain a profit, investing to increase our wealth, which is in that sense having the desire or love for more money. If the point is to invest in faith based businesses for their benefit than why wouldn’t we just give them money expecting nothing in return? But by saying we invest in only believer owned businesses could be seen as justifying ourselves before men. No, it comes down to being concerned as to how we are seen in the sight of God. Nothing else matters in life. Being in Christ, trusting in Jesus is the only way to live. Knowing we are already justified should have a profound effect on our lives. What is a reality in the realm of God should be a reality in the realm of man. We need to live in the reality of God.  

Serving Who

DEVOTION

THE GOSPEL OF LUKE

SERVING WHO

Luke 16:1-13

16:1 Jesus told his disciples: "There was a rich man whose manager was accused of wasting his possessions. 2 So he called him in and asked him, 'What is this I hear about you? Give an account of your management, because you cannot be manager any longer.' 3 "The manager said to himself, 'What shall I do now? My master is taking away my job. I'm not strong enough to dig, and I'm ashamed to beg— 4 I know what I'll do so that, when I lose my job here, people will welcome me into their houses.' 5 "So he called in each one of his master's debtors. He asked the first, 'How much do you owe my master?' 6 "'Eight hundred gallons of olive oil,' he replied. "The manager told him, 'Take your bill, sit down quickly, and make it four hundred.' 7 "Then he asked the second, 'And how much do you owe?' "'A thousand bushels of wheat,' he replied. "He told him, 'Take your bill and make it eight hundred.' 8 "The master commended the dishonest manager because he had acted shrewdly. For the people of this world are more shrewd in dealing with their own kind than are the people of the light. 9 I tell you, use worldly wealth to gain friends for yourselves, so that when it is gone, you will be welcomed into eternal dwellings. 10 "Whoever can be trusted with very little can also be trusted with much, and whoever is dishonest with very little will also be dishonest with much. 11 So if you have not been trustworthy in handling worldly wealth, who will trust you with true riches? 12 And if you have not been trustworthy with someone else's property, who will give you property of your own? 13 "No servant can serve two masters. Either he will hate the one and love the other, or he will be devoted to the one and despise the other. You cannot serve both God and Money." 

NIV

Here we have another large amount of the words of Jesus, but we cannot take any small portion alone for they would be out of context and we would not have the insight into why he said what he did. Although some might want to establish some doctrine from a few of his words taking then out of the context of the whole, it would be dishonest to do that. So what was the point that Jesus was making? It would make sense the point is his final statement about not being able to serve both God and Money. So what does all that story about the shrewd servant have to do with serving two masters? It would seem Jesus is making some comparison between the people of the world and the people of light. The worldly people strive for wealth. These people are in fact devoted to the world. They live for the world only, they are careful only to obtain material goods and provide for their temporal necessitates. This of course does not mean they are especially wicked people, but only that they are anxious about worldly things. It appears Jesus is saying they are more prudent, cunning and anxious about their particular life, or business, profession, occupation, source of income then what the children of light do to promote the kingdom of God. Jesus continues about this idea that the world strives for wealth we are to strive for the kingdom. This using the worlds wealth to make friends is not to be done as the unjust servant did, that would simply be wrong. What Jesus was saying was we should use our money for the benefit of making friends, the poor, the needy or even he could have meant God. That is we should not be using our wealth to secure a worldly position, being of influence in the world, having people fawn over us because of our wealth, but that we should use it to advance the kingdom. If we were as diligent about using our resources to advance the kingdom of God as the worldly are about advancing themselves in the world, the kingdom would be growing faster. Have we become so entangled in the ways of the world that we have forsaken the ways of the kingdom? Are we trying to serve God and ourselves at the same time? Are we as anxious about the kingdom as we are about the world? We cannot live in both realms. We cannot pursue God and pursue wealth.  It might appear Jesus is saying that in order to enter the kingdom of God we have to do the good deeds of using our wealth to gain friends, but he is not talking about how the servant used ill-gotten gains, but how we should be a giving people. Again it is about what are our priorities? Do we focus on worldly gain, our physical needs, or on God? Yes we need things too, but Jesus has already told us to seek the kingdom first and he will add all the things. Good deeds, giving money to the poor, or to God does not give us salvation, but it is the result of salvation. Our love for money has been replaced by our love for God. At least that is the way it should be. It still comes down to his last statement here, we cannot serve both money and God. We have to choose one or the other. Choose this day who we will serve, as for me and my house, we will serve the Lord. 

Coming Home

DEVOTION

THE GOSPEL OF LUKE

COMING HOME

Luke 15:11-32

11 Jesus continued: "There was a man who had two sons. 12 The younger one said to his father, 'Father, give me my share of the estate.' So he divided his property between them. 13 "Not long after that, the younger son got together all he had, set off for a distant country and there squandered his wealth in wild living. 14 After he had spent everything, there was a severe famine in that whole country, and he began to be in need. 15 So he went and hired himself out to a citizen of that country, who sent him to his fields to feed pigs. 16 He longed to fill his stomach with the pods that the pigs were eating, but no one gave him anything. 17 "When he came to his senses, he said, 'How many of my father's hired men have food to spare, and here I am starving to death! 18 I will set out and go back to my father and say to him: Father, I have sinned against heaven and against you. 19 I am no longer worthy to be called your son; make me like one of your hired men.' 20 So he got up and went to his father. "But while he was still a long way off, his father saw him and was filled with compassion for him; he ran to his son, threw his arms around him and kissed him. 21 "The son said to him, 'Father, I have sinned against heaven and against you. I am no longer worthy to be called your son.' 22 "But the father said to his servants, 'Quick! Bring the best robe and put it on him. Put a ring on his finger and sandals on his feet. 23 Bring the fattened calf and kill it. Let's have a feast and celebrate. 24 For this son of mine was dead and is alive again; he was lost and is found.' So they began to celebrate. 25 "Meanwhile, the older son was in the field. When he came near the house, he heard music and dancing. 26 So he called one of the servants and asked him what was going on. 27'Your brother has come,' he replied, 'and your father has killed the fattened calf because he has him back safe and sound.' 28 "The older brother became angry and refused to go in. So his father went out and pleaded with him. 29 But he answered his father, 'Look! All these years I've been slaving for you and never disobeyed your orders. Yet you never gave me even a young goat so I could celebrate with my friends. 30 But when this son of yours who has squandered your property with prostitutes comes home, you kill the fattened calf for him!' 31 "'My son,' the father said, 'you are always with me, and everything I have is yours. 32 But we had to celebrate and be glad, because this brother of yours was dead and is alive again; he was lost and is found.'" 

NIV

A long story about the prodigal son which we just cannot break up yet it holds once again a truth that Jesus has said before in different ways. He has been teaching about how Heaven rejoices when a sinner repents, and this is the same lesson. The father, of course is the Father and the older son are those who have remained faithful to him and the younger son can be a variety of people. He could represent the Jews who have wandered from what God had for them for the sake of the manmade rules of the Pharisees. They had it all but took the best God had for them and squandered it. This son could also represent us. When we accepted Jesus as our Lord and Savior we received our inheritance, all that God has. Have we run off into the world to spend our inheritance on prostitutes? Because it is all prophetic in nature we cannot know for certain who the great prostitute in John’s revelation is. She is explained as the great city that rules over kings and nations. In some sense this could be religion. Some have conjectured it to be Rome, or the Catholic Church, but it is more likely the whole of church, or religion, or denominationalism within Christianity. They may well have taken Jesus, their inheritance, and squandered him in the world. This son also represents each and every individual person. God gave us our inheritance when he gave us Jesus. While some still are living the wild life, we, realizing we have nothing, have returned home humble before God, simply asking to be a servant in his field. But he rejoices that we have returned to him, and celebrates beyond measure. He puts the finest robe on us and gathers us for a feast. He clothes us with Jesus, with the Spirit and we will be at the wedding banquet table of the Lamb. We, like all mankind are his sons and daughters and for the most part took our inheritance and ran away into the world to spend it all. But when we repent the Father celebrates. We also could relate to the older son in a sense. Those who have been raised in denominational living, thinking they are right with God, doing all the right things all their lives, being saved from birth, evidently, or perhaps at a very early age, might get upset over a new believer getting such a celebration made over him by God. We have to accept the fact God celebrates when a sinner comes home and he gives a great feast in this sinners honor. We need to celebrate as well. But the main point, the purpose of this story is to show us ourselves and how we wandered from the Father and carried on with the world, whether that is as a sinner or as a religion based Christian, now come home and once again be his son, clothed in the riches of heaven. Praise God we have come home. 

Rejoicing

DEVOTION

THE GOSPEL OF LUKE

REJOICING

Luke 15:8-10

8 "Or suppose a woman has ten silver coins and loses one. Does she not light a lamp, sweep the house and search carefully until she finds it? 9 And when she finds it, she calls her friends and neighbors together and says, 'Rejoice with me; I have found my lost coin.' 10 In the same way, I tell you, there is rejoicing in the presence of the angels of God over one sinner who repents." 

NIV

Jesus is continuing to tell parables about how it is when a new believer comes to the saving knowledge of him and repents, becoming saved, born again, and a new creature in Christ. As we have already seen how we being Christ looks like and this is another example of when someone accepts him and how all of heaven rejoices over this new believer. But we should also know that heaven was rejoicing or should we rather say that heaven is still rejoicing because we repented. Jesus never gave a time frame for the end of their rejoicing when we repented. Perhaps all the angels of God are still rejoicing over us because we repented. Did all the angels of God rejoice just when we repented and then when on about their business forgetting about us and rejoicing over someone else who repented and then one to another and another. Or do they continue to rejoice over all of us all the time. This would also imply that God is rejoicing over us. This should if nothing else have some kind of profound influence on how we live. If we were always aware that all the angels of God as well as God himself were rejoicing because we repented it would seem we would live accordingly. But what does living accordingly look like? Would we also be full of joy? Would we be full of the glory of God? After all he says we are his glory. Would we live with praise in our hearts and on our lips all the time? Would we be rejoicing along with all of God’s angels? Or do we get bogged down under the weight of this life, burdened with so many concerns about our own situations, our own circumstances that we forget about all the angels of God rejoicing over us? Do we live as though God and his angels have forgotten about us and gone on to someone else? It would seem that is not the case, and God and all his angels continue to rejoice over us, and so let us lift our heads and hearts and walk in the presence of their rejoicing.