Tag: jesus

Luke 14:15-24

On By Tim EhrhardtIn Daily Bible Reading Blog, Year CLeave a comment
            If the gospel of forgiveness in Jesus Christ is such good news, and God is so good, then why aren’t people breaking the door down to get into the church?  Today’s Gospel lesson gives us one reason why:  They just aren’t interested.  The parable Jesus told was of people, when invited to come to the great banquet, kept making one excuse after the other why they couldn’t come.
 
            Jesus was not talking to the sinful outsiders, but the religious insiders – they were the ones making the excuses why they could not participate.  Here’s the deal:  If professing believers in God are not excited about the gospel; if Christians are not enthused over what they possess in the gospel; if we as the church are content to go through the motions of Christianity without a concern to be with Jesus; if we are simply too busy to come and attend God’s banquet of grace; then, why in the world should those persons who don’t profess Christ as Savior break down the door to get in?
 
            Jesus was offering a penetrating warning:  The unresponsive religious insiders will be replaced by the responsive sinful outsiders.  If the insiders take for granted what they possess and have better things to do, then God is going to call people who will hear, listen, and respond to his gracious invitation.
 
            The deeply probing question for every believer today is this:  Are we so familiar with Jesus, and so content with the way things are that when God breaks into our lives in the form of an invitation that we refuse to respond because we are not interested in going to some stupid banquet?  Lord, have mercy.  Christ, have mercy.
 

 

            Gracious God, forgive me for wasting time in things that just don’t matter in the scope of eternity.  I choose to go out and compel outsiders to come in, so that your house will be full for the great feast at the end of the age.  Through Jesus, in the power of the Holy Spirit, I pray.  Amen.

Hebrews 12:3-17

On By Tim EhrhardtIn Daily Bible Reading Blog, Year CLeave a comment
            “So keep your mind on Jesus, who put up with many insults from sinners.  Then you won’t get discouraged and give up.”  The Hebrew Christians were in danger of losing their resolve and reneging on their commitment to Christ.  Their circumstances had been so adverse for so long that they just did not have any more fight in them to keep going.  They needed perseverance.
 
            The path to perseverance is through keeping our minds on Jesus.  Sometimes we might forget that Jesus did not have it easy on this earth.  He faced ridicule, insults, hardship, and was not born with a silver spoon in his mouth.  If that was the path for our Lord, then it is silly to think that, as Christ’s followers, we should avoid suffering and hardship. 
 
            Giving up happens when our minds are off Jesus.  Today we would say, “Get your head in the game!”  Regular Bible reading and persistence in prayer to God are not just nice ideas if we have time for them.  If we are going to maintain a commitment to Christianity, then these become must disciplines in our lives over all other disciplines we do on a daily basis.  Feelings of giving-up ought to clue us to the reality that it is time to retreat with God. 
 

 

            Jesus, you are the Suffering Servant who has gone before us and secured deliverance from sin, death, and hell.  In the scope of eternity, it is a small thing for me to live for you and face any kind of ridicule it might bring to me.  I only ask to be in solidarity with you in all things.  Amen.

Matthew 10:16-25

On By Tim EhrhardtIn Daily Bible Reading Blog, Year CLeave a comment
            “I am sending you like lambs into a pack of wolves,” said Jesus to his disciples.  Sometimes we completely lose sight that Jesus was a troublemaker and warned us about there being trouble for us in the world.  It’s not that Jesus was intentionally pressing everyone’s buttons; he was just being himself, and that sent a whole lot of people gnashing their teeth at him.  Our Lord Christ got all up into people’s grill and confronted them with the bold assertion that people can only be rightly related to God through himself, on his terms.
 
            Therefore we should expect opposition and trouble.  We ought to expect that we are going to disrupt and upset our families, our co-workers, and those around us.  It’s not that we are intentionally obnoxious; by simply loving Jesus and seeking to follow him we are going to upset people – and that’s okay.  Facing trouble is really not the worst thing to be experienced; to be separated from God is the most terrible thing that could ever happen to us.
 
            It’s okay to rock the boat, shake the tree, upset the fruit basket, stir the pot, and make waves if you are doing it because you are committed to God’s will.  So, count the cost.  Give your life away.  In doing so, you will actually find it.
 

 

            Holy God, you are jealous for your Name to be honored and adored.  My life is yours.  Use it for your glory in this fallen world.  If trouble and persecution occur, I’ll consider it a privilege to suffer for Jesus.  Amen.

Luke 5:17-26

On By Tim EhrhardtIn Daily Bible Reading Blog, Year CLeave a comment
            Jesus came to this earth to forgive sin and transform sinners.  Today’s Gospel story has a paralyzed man brought to Jesus in an unorthodox way.  His two friends carried the man on a mat, but could not get close enough to Jesus to be noticed.  This was not about to stop the two friends.  They just took him to the roof, created a hole in it, and lowered the man right in front of Jesus!  Our Lord was impressed with their faith, healed the man, and said “My friend, your sins are forgiven.”
 
            There is a very important observation about this story that we need to notice:  the man was healed because of the faith of his friends.  Yes, that’s right.  Read the story again.  It was the faith of the two men in bringing their friend to Jesus that led to the healing and transformation.
 
            If this does not inspire, impel, and inform you to pray diligently by bringing your friends to Jesus in prayer I’m not sure what would move you.  Sometimes great miracles are not brought about by a lone person praying for his/her personal change but by believing people who do not give up in bringing their friend to Jesus.  Think of one person right now for whom God has laid him/her on your heart.  Pray today and every day until there is a breakthrough.  In the metaphorical sense, create a hole in the roof and place your friend in front of Jesus and watch what kind of healing and renovation of life he can affect.
 

 

            Healing God, I thank you for doing your good work of forgiving sins and transforming sinners in Jesus’ name.  I pray you will deliver my grandson from the scourge of epilepsy and give him a new life full of spiritual power through Jesus.  Amen.