Interpret Rightly

 DEVOTION

THE GOSPEL ACCORDING TO LUKE

INTERPRET RIGHTLY

Luke 12:54-56

54 He said to the crowd: "When you see a cloud rising in the west, immediately you say, 'It's going to rain,' and it does. 55 And when the south wind blows, you say, 'It's going to be hot,' and it is. 56 Hypocrites! You know how to interpret the appearance of the earth and the sky. How is it that you don't know how to interpret this present time?

NIV

On the surface, we would see this as Jesus speaking to the people about their inability to see that He is the Son of God who came down from Heaven in the form of man and that He is God who is there to pay their price for sin, so they could be saved, or freed from the penalty of sin. Why didn’t they get the truth about Jesus and the present time? How do we bring this truth into our time? Do we know how to interpret our present time? Mankind has advanced their ability to interpret the earth's and sky's appearance, with all sorts of computers to aid their forecasting of what will happen on the earth and in the sky. They can tell us what the temperature will be for the next forty-eight hours, just as an example of their abilities. How are we doing regarding forecasting what God will do on the earth and in the sky, but more importantly, in our lives? Can we know what He will do? We know what He has done in His relationship with His creation. We know that He does not change and therefore we could expect that He deals with us in the same way He has been working in the lives of people throughout all of the history of time, or from creation to now. We can know all about what God is doing and even better than the people Jesus was speaking in the crowd. We have the Spirit dwelling within us who leads us into all truth. He shows us the way to interpret the present time we live in and how God is working for us, in us, and through us. From the time the Spirit first began the work in us, convicting us of our need to change the way we think, repent, and turn to Jesus for our salvation, he has been showing us the way to walk and interpret our times. We are aware of the dark forces of evil in this world. We are aware of the evil forces in the heavenly or spiritual realm. We have been given gifts from the Spirit to be able to discern the forces of evil from the goodness and almighty power of God. We can interpret what will happen someday to the earth and the sky, along with what will happen to us, for God has told us the truth about how we should interpret our present time. However, at the same time, we must always be on the watch against the forces of evil, keeping ourselves clothed in His armor, and constantly keeping our eye on the eastern sky as our redemption draws near. We have been given a way to interpret rightly.