Today's readings are Exodus 22.20-23.13 ( http://www.gnpcb.org/esv/search/?q=Ex.+22.20-23.13 ) and Luke 4.16-30 ( http://www.gnpcb.org/esv/search/?q=Luke+4.16-30 ).
Commands, commands, commands. We get rules everywhere we go. And as we observed yesterday, the commands of God, things he genuinely wants us to do and which are undisputably good, are things we really can't do, at least not fully and wholeheartedly all the time.
Look with me now at the reaction Jesus got when he proclaimed the truth in a synagogue in Luke 4. The people heard him, even seemed to respect him and wait for him to finish telling them what they should know. Yet when he proclaimed God's truth, they were offended and wished to kill him. Jesus by his command brings division and controversy. Likewise, when we speak the word of God we can end up bringing no small amount of division and controversy. How ironic that the very word of God which is provided to bring life and reconcilation between God and man is that which divides our human communities through the hardness of our heart.
I pray we may look to the revealed Word of God - both written and the living Word, Jesus Christ, as our authority. When the Scripture says things which go against our logic, our reason, our desires, let us cling to the veracity of God. Let God be true and every man a liar. May the Lord plant in us a desire to hear him, to love, trust, and obey him. May the Lord use us as instruments of his grace on this world, that we should not become objects of his wrath.
Thanks be to God, who has laid his judgment and wrath on our Lord and Savior for our unbelief and disobedience. Thanks be to God, who has raised Jesus from the dead and has also raised us from the death of sin.
No comments:
Post a Comment