Blessing in Change

 DEVOTION

THE GOSPEL ACCORDING TO LUKE

BLESSINGS IN CHANGE

Luke 19:11-27

11 While they were listening to this, he went on to tell them a parable, because he was near Jerusalem and the people thought that the kingdom of God was going to appear at once. 12 He said: "A man of noble birth went to a distant country to have himself appointed king and then to return. 13 So he called ten of his servants and gave them ten minas. 'Put this money to work,' he said, 'until I come back.' 14 "But his subjects hated him and sent a delegation after him to say, 'We don't want this man to be our king.' 15 "He was made king, however, and returned home. Then he sent for the servants to whom he had given the money, in order to find out what they had gained with it. 16 "The first one came and said, 'Sir, your mina has earned ten more.' 17 "'Well done, my good servant!' his master replied. 'Because you have been trustworthy in a very small matter, take charge of ten cities.' 18 "The second came and said, 'Sir, your mina has earned five more.' 19 "His master answered, 'You take charge of five cities.' 20 "Then another servant came and said, 'Sir, here is your mina; I have kept it laid away in a piece of cloth. 21 I was afraid of you, because you are a hard man. You take out what you did not put in and reap what you did not sow.' 22 "His master replied, 'I will judge you by your own words, you wicked servant! You knew, did you, that I am a hard man, taking out what I did not put in, and reaping what I did not sow? 23 Why then didn't you put my money on deposit, so that when I came back, I could have collected it with interest?' 24 "Then he said to those standing by, 'Take his mina away from him and give it to the one who has ten minas.' 25 "'Sir,' they said, 'he already has ten!' 26 "He replied, 'I tell you that to everyone who has, more will be given, but as for the one who has nothing, even what he has will be taken away. 27 But those enemies of mine who did not want me to be king over them — bring them here and kill them in front of me.'" 

NIV

The first and foremost thing we must remember is that this is a parable; thus, it has nothing to do with money but everything to do with the gospel.  We also should note that some people at that time thought Jesus would be king over Jerusalem by overthrowing the Roman oppressors. We should also remember the Jews hated Jesus and did not want him to be their king, so they killed him, or at least had the Romans do it for them. However, the whole of this parable is regarding the fact that Jesus gave us the gospel, and it is what we do with it that is the point. It is true that some of us humans have more abilities than others, that is just a simple fact. Although God created all mankind equal, some have invested more time and study in the gospel and made more changes in their lives than others have. This is not about who has gained a better position in the body of Christ, or who has gained a higher degree of education in the bible, but who has made the gospel more effective in their own lives. How have we invested the gospel that Jesus gave us within ourselves? From the parable, we can know some have made more changes in their lives than others, and as we use the gospel, the grace of God, which in this case, this grace would be how the divine influence of God, as seen in the gospel, is upon our hearts, and how that influence is reflected in our lives. How much have we changed under the grace of God? What is sad, is there might be some who either grew up in a Christian setting, or accepted Jesus later in life, found salvation, as it were, and never invested their knowledge of the gospel, going any further in their walk with Jesus, more or less, just hiding the gospel in their hearts, never expanding the grace of God within them. We always have to be doing just that, investing, expanding the grace of God within ourselves, and becoming all that God intended us to be. The more we change the more we receive greater blessings just by the sheer changing within us. 

Filled with Enthusiasm

 DEVOTION

THE GOSPEL ACCORDING TO LUKE

FILLED WITH ENTHUSIASM

Luke 19:1-10

19:1 Jesus entered Jericho and was passing through. 2 A man was there by the name of Zacchaeus; he was a chief tax collector and was wealthy. 3 He wanted to see who Jesus was, but being a short man he could not, because of the crowd. 4 So he ran ahead and climbed a sycamore-fig tree to see him, since Jesus was coming that way. 5 When Jesus reached the spot, he looked up and said to him, "Zacchaeus, come down immediately. I must stay at your house today."  6 So he came down at once and welcomed him gladly. 7 All the people saw this and began to mutter, "He has gone to be the guest of a 'sinner.'" 8 But Zacchaeus stood up and said to the Lord, "Look, Lord! Here and now I give half of my possessions to the poor, and if I have cheated anybody out of anything, I will pay back four times the amount." 9 Jesus said to him, "Today salvation has come to this house, because this man, too, is a son of Abraham. 10 For the Son of Man came to seek and to save what was lost." 

NIV

Once again the words of Jesus are always in the center of attention, yet the narrative also has a valve of seeing a truth. First, Zacchaeus was seeking to see Jesus. We do not know the purpose of his heart, but we can conclude, because of his response to having Jesus in his home, giving, and making restitution, that the Spirit was already working in him and that he was seeking to see Jesus. In fact, so much so that he had to climb a tree just to get a view of Jesus as he walked by. Second, we notice the all-knowing divinity of Jesus as he called Zacchaeus by name, a man he had never met before or had any knowledge of, other than he was a man who made an exceptional effort to see Jesus. This makes us think of how we first sought after Jesus and the excitement when He found us, calling out our name, “Come with me, I must stay at your house, ‘in your heart’ today”. We saw the transformation of Zacchaeus from a cheating tax collector to a repentant follower of Jesus. We had that kind of transformation when we found Jesus and allowed him to stay in our hearts. Yet the truth is that Jesus sought after us because we were lost, but praise God we have been found. We always need to maintain that same enthusiasm in our walk with Jesus because our whole life is not in him. Let us never become half-hearted, lukewarm, or tepid in our walk with Jesus, to the point that we almost become lethargic or apathetic. It was not just that one day that salvation came to our heart, but it is every day, all day that Jesus is working within through the power of the Holy Spirit, gifting us, empowering us, to be who we were intended to be, a fully armed enthusiastic soldier of Christ, doing that which we have been called to be and to do. Life in Jesus is all about being filled with enthusiasm.

What Do You Want me to do for you

 DEVOTION

THE GOSPEL ACCORDING TO LUKE

WHAT DO YOU WANT ME TO DO FOR YOU

Luke 18:35-19:1

35 As Jesus approached Jericho, a blind man was sitting by the roadside begging. 36 When he heard the crowd going by, he asked what was happening. 37 They told him, "Jesus of Nazareth is passing by." 38 He called out, "Jesus, Son of David, have mercy on me!" 39 Those who led the way rebuked him and told him to be quiet, but he shouted all the more, "Son of David, have mercy on me!" 40 Jesus stopped and ordered the man to be brought to him. When he came near, Jesus asked him, 41 "What do you want me to do for you?" "Lord, I want to see," he replied. 42 Jesus said to him, "Receive your sight; your faith has healed you."  43 Immediately he received his sight and followed Jesus, praising God. When all the people saw it, they also praised God.

NIV

We could focus on the blind man and how he would not be silenced but was persistent in his plea to Jesus. We could focus on how the crowd tried to silence him, and how that crowd, being those leading the procession would have been disciples of Jesus, believers who did not want anyone bothering their time with Jesus. However, what is important to focus on are the words of Jesus, “What do you want me to do for you?”. Interestingly, the blind man did not spend much effort in a long drawn-out prayer using his most eloquent words and quoting some words from the prophets to express his need. He merely asked, “Lord, I want to see”. Jesus still asks us that question today, “What do you want me to do for you?”. We know Jesus has already done so much for us, shedding his blood so that we were cleansed from our sins because of what Jesus did, the Father no longer counts our sins against us. We also know that Jesus was resurrected so that we can be assured that we will be resurrected and have the peace that Jesus already gave us. We know that He has already prepared a place for us in our Father’s house. But it is this question, “What do you want me to do for you?” is in the present tense which means this question is for us right now. Jesus wants to know what he can do for us today, at this moment. We should not allow anyone to silence us, but just ask what we need, right now, I need this, or I need you to do that for me, right now, “Lord, I need to be healed”. Jesus told the blind he would think about it, asking if the blind man felt he desired to see, or if he was worthy of seeing, or that when I come back by, I would do it, you have to wait a while. No, no, Jesus simply told him, “Receive your sight, your faith has healed you”. When Jesus asks, “What do you want me to do for you?” just ask! He already told us that we can ask him anything and he would do it so to bring glory to the Father, so we simply need to ask him, when we hear him tell us, “What do you want me to do for you?”

Hide or Reveal

 DEVOTION

THE GOSPEL ACCORDING TO LUKE

HIDE OR REVEAL

Luke 18:31-34

31 Jesus took the Twelve aside and told them, "We are going up to Jerusalem, and everything that is written by the prophets about the Son of Man will be fulfilled. 32 He will be handed over to the Gentiles. They will mock him, insult him, spit on him, flog him and kill him. 33 On the third day he will rise again." 34 The disciples did not understand any of this. Its meaning was hidden from them, and they did not know what he was talking about.

NIV

Because we have all the prophets, the gospels, and further writings by Paul, Peter, James, John, and Luke, plus the complete revelation of Jesus that was given to John, we know the whole story. Everything has been revealed to us because the Holy Spirit has led us into all the truth. However, his disciples did not understand because it was hidden from them. We know there are people today who the truth is hidden from them because they do not understand the truth. It is not that the disciples did not want to know the truth. They had been following Jesus for several years, hearing all his teachings, seeing all the miracles, watching him heal hundreds of people, give sight to the blind, speech to the mute, clear leprosy, the lame walk, and they had knowledge of the prophets, yet this truth was hidden, or concealed, covered, which is the direct meaning in the Greek word translated as hidden from them. What this proves to us is the absolute sovereignty of our Lord. He can hide, he can reveal, and it is totally in his hands, or authority to give knowledge or to withhold knowledge. If we think we are the ones who obtain all the knowledge through our efforts, or studies, we think we are deceiving ourselves. It does not matter how many years of study, how many degrees we might hang on our wall, or what position we hold in the body of Christ, the truth is either revealed to us, by the Spirit, or hidden from us by the same Spirit. This also means that it does not matter if we have not spent years of study, gathering degrees, it is the Spirit who reveals or hides the truth. However, Jesus promised that he would send the Spirit who would reveal the truth, so if we accept this baptism in or of the Spirit, allowing him to not just dwell within us, but to have his influence over us, flowing through us, filling us, then we will understand, nothing will be hidden from us, but all truth will be revealed. Let us constantly walk in the Spirit, walking in his revelation of the truth. Still, it is up to God to hide or reveal. 

Running After Jesus

 DEVOTION

THE GOSPEL ACCORDING TO LUKE

RUNNING AFTER JESUS

Luke 18:26-30

26 Those who heard this asked, "Who then can be saved?" 27 Jesus replied, "What is impossible with men is possible with God."  28 Peter said to him, "We have left all we had to follow you!" 29 "I tell you the truth," Jesus said to them, "no one who has left home or wife or brothers or parents or children for the sake of the kingdom of God   30 will fail to receive many times as much in this age and, in the age to come, eternal life." 

NIV

In this age and the age to come covers a lot of time, although the age to come is beyond the time spectrum we are now functioning under. Jesus made it clear, first that what was impossible with men is possible with God, and after Peter said about leaving everything he had behind to follow Jesus, he told this other truth. We think most people of faith believe they will get a reward in heaven. In fact, we have heard some believe because of how much we do here on earth that we will get more jewels in their crown. There is no evidence in scripture of that thinking, and the crown that we will receive is the crown of life is simply metaphorical for eternal life. There isn't going to be any believer walking around heaven with a jeweled crown. A few of the the Psalms of David speak of God crowning us with love and compassion and the other is God will crown the humble with salvation. Let’s just put this foolish crown with jewels away and think about receiving many times as much in this age and the age to come because we left everything behind to follow Jesus. Of course, we may not have left everything behind like Peter or the others did, but we left our old life behind. But what consisted of our old life? We think some believers just feel that was a life of sin, and when we were first saved, they told us our new life was one of no smoking, no drinking, dancing, going to movies, roller rinks, and bowling alleys, along with a lot of other don’ts with a list of the do’s, which were the list of good deeds that is part of our new life in Christ. Times have changed, many of those rules of men have gone by the wayside which only points to the rules of men are not the rules of God for he never changes. What Jesus said has and will continue to come to pass. We have been blessed in so many ways in this life, physical ways, blessings one after another. God has provided us with more than we need, and done it because Jesus promised he would. However, we still struggle with leaving some things behind, well, one thing, and that is the system we live under in this world. If we believe this world is not our home, and our treasures are laid up beyond the blue, the treasure of eternal life, and the angels beckon us from Heaven's open door, then we can’t feel at home in this world anymore, then we need to live in the kingdom of God, and not by the kingdom of this world. Plainly, that means we need to leave beyond the worldview of success, or achieving all our wants and desires with our own efforts, or by our own skills, talents, education, or in general, ourselves.  Jesus said to trust in him and to trust in God. How can we trust in ourselves and in Jesus at the same time? How can we serve two masters? Following Jesus brings more love, joy, peace, and comfort than we could ever want, plus all the things of this world, the pagans run after. Turning to Jesus is turning away from the old system of life. Let us always be running after Jesus. 

Becomes the Possible

 DEVOTION

THE GOSPEL ACCORDING TO LUKE

BECOMES THE POSSIBLE

Luke 18:26-30

26 Those who heard this asked, "Who then can be saved?" 27 Jesus replied, "What is impossible with men is possible with God."  28 Peter said to him, "We have left all we had to follow you!" 29 "I tell you the truth," Jesus said to them, "no one who has left home or wife or brothers or parents or children for the sake of the kingdom of God   30 will fail to receive many times as much in this age and, in the age to come, eternal life." 

 NIV

After hearing what Jesus said to the rich young ruler about selling all his possessions and giving them to the poor then come and follow him, and how the ruler felt sad because he had much wealth and could not serve God, because he needed to serve his money. Then Jesus made that statement about how hard it would be for a rich man to enter the kingdom of God. Now his disciples are wondering who can be saved, and they are now thinking about themselves. They might also be thinking about how they will be effective in advancing the kingdom, by witnessing to people who have lots of money, more than they do. What Jesus says is the center point of everything about our lives as believers. Two major points, the first being; “What is impossible with men, is possible with God”. We would think Jesus is referring to salvation, that it is impossible for us to save ourselves, but of course, it is not so with God. However, if we take that and apply it to life in general, we could see that same truth being played out in the lives of believers. Once again, we could try to claw our way to the top, or make all our exquisite human efforts to attain certain qualifications to achieve our goals in life, or we could simply believe God will see to it that we become what he has planned for us to be. That is He is the one who became everything within us, but sending the Spirit to convict us of our sins and need to repent, and come to him, to turn around the way we think, and instead of looking to ourselves, we look to him. Then God continues to work within us, as we were saved by grace,  the unmerited favor of God, and we are living by grace, his divine influence upon our hearts and how that is reflected in our lives. All that we are, all that we have, and all that we do, some of it might be possible for us, but all of it is not only possible with God but is totally completed by God, to perfection. Sure, we have some skills or talents, and some education, with the ability to reason, and comprehend an amount of what we believe are truths. But the Spirit leads us into, not just some, but all truth, so that as we follow Jesus with all our hearts wide open and listening to the voice of the Spirit, who dwells within us, we will become all that God desires us to be, have all that God gifts us, and achieve all that God determines for us, even what appears to us as impossible, becomes the possible. 

Only One Priority

 DEVOTION

THE GOSPEL ACCORDING TO LUKE

ONLY ONE PRIORITY

Luke 18:18-25

18 A certain ruler asked him, "Good teacher, what must I do to inherit eternal life?" 19 "Why do you call me good?" Jesus answered. "No one is good — except God alone. 20 You know the commandments: 'Do not commit adultery, do not murder, do not steal, do not give false testimony, honor your father and mother.'"  21 "All these I have kept since I was a boy," he said. 22 When Jesus heard this, he said to him, "You still lack one thing. Sell everything you have and give to the poor, and you will have treasure in heaven. Then come, follow me."  23 When he heard this, he became very sad, because he was a man of great wealth. 24 Jesus looked at him and said, "How hard it is for the rich to enter the kingdom of God! 25 Indeed, it is easier for a camel to go through the eye of a needle than for a rich man to enter the kingdom of God." 

NIV

We are very familiar with this exchange between Jesus and this rich ruler. However, it is interesting there may be another way to begin this exchange when we examine the Greek text. It might be read as a rich ruler asked Master, what good must I do to inherit eternal life? No other translations have read it that way, which makes us wonder why some of the ancient texts render it as the rich young ruler, saying, “O teacher, what good must I do to inherit eternal life. Yet the response of Jesus does make it clear the ruler called him “Good Teacher” or “Good Master”. In the Gospel of Mark, we find this young ruler came running to Jesus and fell on his knees asking this question. Then we would have to agree that he called Jesus a good teacher because of the response of Jesus. But Jesus makes two points. First, there is no one good except God. Here is where we run into some difficulty because there are scholars that argue this proves Jesus was not a deity, or there is no trinity because he said only God is good, which would not include him for he did not accept the title of “Good Teacher” or being good, because God is the one who is good. Still, we think because this ruler was Jewish, Jesus was using this young ruler’s understanding of God and his commandments. At this point, the Jews did not understand anything about a triune Godhead. Jesus has already taught his disciples that He and the Father are one, so they might think of him as the same as God or the Son of God. Nevertheless, we know without any doubt that Jesus is God and the Father, the Son, and the Holy Spirit are God, one and only one God, and that God is always good, and we are not always good. This is where this question hits home. We cannot do anything good enough to inherit eternal life. We will never be good enough in our lives, or in our following the commands of God, or any rules and regulations that we make up from what we believe the scripture says. What we also know is that Jesus said that we should seek first his kingdom, that should be the number one priority in our lives. We do not think that we can be bold enough to say that once we find the kingdom we can go on trying to follow all the rules instead of living by faith, which is the only way to find the kingdom that gives us eternal life. The final statement of Jesus proves that so clearly, we can only find eternal life in Jesus, and we cannot serve two masters, wealth can be a stumbling block that makes someone like a camel that cannot enter through the eye of a needle or the gate into the kingdom. Jesus did not say a rich man could not enter, but how hard it would be for him to enter because his wealth was his priority in life. Let us always make Jesus not only our first priority but our only priority in life.