MARCH 21 READINGS…LUKE 12
I want to apologize for not letting everyone know that I was out of town, on the Rim, last week without internet, so I was unable to write a daily devotion tied to our readings. Also, I was with three of my granddaughters who kept Papa busy from morning to night…LOL. Now, back to our time through the New Testament.
One of Jesus’ main messages for the religious elites then, and I believe now, was to speak of their hypocrisy. These leaders spoke great glowing words about what it meant to be a pious person of God, but their lives, the way they treated people, and their pride showed them to be hypocrites. A person does not become a hypocrite by accident, it takes both intention and work. The hypocrite knows the truth, and they know how they are to live…this is clear by what they say to others…but they have no intention of living what they say is the right way to live. Jesus talked about the “leaven” of the religious elite. Leaven works in dough to make the whole lump rise…just a little bit impacts the whole. It is the same with hypocrisy. I need to say here that hypocrisy is not that we Christian’s all come up short, and at times sin, that is true of all of us. We should confess our sins and shortcomings, and come humbly before God to receive His forgiveness and restoration. What would be hypocritical would be to deny our sin and shortcomings and put on the persona that we never sinned…that we have arrived!
Jesus tells three parables in today’s reading. The rich fool who thought he had the world by the tail…he had become rich, and now he was going to spend his days and wealth eating, drinking, and making merry. The problem with this attitude is that he wasn’t in control of his own destiny, and the One who was had numbered his days. Jesus warns us to be very careful not to live for ourselves or for temporal things…but to live for Him, live for the eternal. Then Jesus gives us a parable to remind us to live with expectation of His return. Finally, He uses a parable to remind us to be faithful as we wait. We are instructed in this chapter to seek first the Kingdom of God, and everything else that God has for us will be provided. We are told by Jesus of the cost of being His disciple. There is no glamour, there is no promise of riches…as a matter of fact to follow Jesus brings division, even in a person’s own home. It’s not that Jesus causes division, its that the world draws so many away from God, and this will of necessity cause division from those who are genuine disciples of Christ. As the chapter closes, Jesus tells us to discern the times. We are living is ungodly days. It is clear we are nearing the time of Christ’s return. Be aware of the signs of the times, and remain ready in all things for the coming of our Lord!
Please share your thoughts from today’s reading.
TOMORROW’S READING…Luke 13
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