What Are We Like?

 DEVOTION

THE GOSPEL ACCORDING TO LUKE

WHAT ARE WE LIKE?

Luke 7:31-35

31 "To what, then, can I compare the people of this generation? What are they like? 32 They are like children sitting in the marketplace and calling out to each other: "'We played the flute for you, and you did not dance; we sang a dirge, and you did not cry.' 33 For John the Baptist came neither eating bread nor drinking wine, and you say, 'He has a demon.' 34 The Son of Man came eating and drinking, and you say, 'Here is a glutton and a drunkard, a friend of tax collectors and "sinners." '  35 But wisdom is proved right by all her children." 

NIV

Jesus is speaking about those who rejected God’s purpose for them, in this case, the Pharisees and the experts in the law, for they would not be baptized by John with his baptism of repentance, for they did not want to change the way they thought. Therefore, Jesus is telling them they are like children sitting in the marketplace calling out to each other. That is all they want to call each other the same truth over and over again, never looking to see a reason to change the way they think. There is more here which we may need to deal with later, but what stands out to us is this never wanting to change the way they think about what they see as the truth. Yet, that was not and still is not God’s purpose for them and now for us. Of course, we also know the Pharisees and the experts in the law, added so much more than God originally established for them. He did not tell them how many steps they could take on the Sabbath for example. They made over six hundred laws from the few that God commanded them to obey. This was not God’s purpose for them, as the law he gave them was to prove to them they were going to need a Savior, a Messiah who would rescue them from their sins. What is the takeaway for us from this lesson Jesus was teaching the Pharisees and the experts in the law is that we should always be open to hearing God’s purpose for us and that we cannot get so stuck in the one way that we are always thinking that we refuse to see the truth the Holy Spirit is leading us into. True, we have already changed the way we used to think before we accepted Jesus as our Lord and Savior. Still, we need to keep open to constantly being willing to see truths the Holy Spirit shows us and therefore,  be willing to change our thinking about the truth of God, because we could be so stuck in the one way we look at the word of God, we cannot see the tree inside the forest, or the truth beyond our current thinking. In addition, we have to be very careful about simply calling to ourselves the same old stuff we believe or adding some of our own rules and regulations which God has not insisted upon in his purpose for us. We must be thoughtful when we hear something different than what we thought for years or create some of our own truths. If we simply sit around in the church calling to each other our same thinking over and over again, perhaps we are no better than those Jesus was speaking to. Let us always be open to God’s purpose for us, growing into the likeness of Christ, and following Jesus, and his plan for our lives. We need to ask ourselves, “What are we like?”