Luke 12 -- What's In YOUR Wallet?

I was amazed at all the margin notes I’d made in this chapter over the years!

Jesus said, “Everything that is hidden will be shown, and everything that is secret will be made known.”  I’d written, “Don’t give anyone any ammunition.  Live wisely.”

When one brother asked Jesus to tell his brother to divide his father’s estate with him, Jesus answered the complainer rather than the one with more of the estate:  “Be careful to guard against all kinds of greed.  Life is not measured by how much one owns.”  The man was coveting.

Jesus said, “You must be ready because the Son of Man will come at a time when you don’t expect Him.”  Sure, this would include making sure to keep sin always out of your life, but He’s talking to believers here.  Their sins are forgiven.  So how do they stay ready?  By always seeking to add others to the kingdom.  That’s the only thing that’s really on countdown to His return.

Jesus said, “From everyone who has been given much, much will be demanded.  And from the one trusted with much, much more will be expected.”  This isn’t one of the wealth redistribution speeches we’ve been hearing during this election season.  Knowing what God wants brings responsibility and accountability DUE TO that knowledge.  If He shares with us knowledge about Himself, then He expects us to share that knowledge with others.

Jesus said, “Do you think I came to give peace to the earth?  No, I tell you, I came to divide it.”  In other words, people will have to choose sides over Jesus.  Be sure to choose the right side.

Father, those listening to Jesus back then were likely dirt poor, and they watched as their religious leaders will all their fineries seemed to imply that holiness leads to prosperity.  So they felt unholy.  But here, You attacked greed and materialism, worry, and hearts that seek after material gain instead of you.  Please remind me that my heart will be where my treasure is, and let that treasure only be You.

Your Brother In Christ,

Gary Ford

Luke 11 -- Leaders Who Failed To Lead

It was amazing that Jesus’ followers had to ask:  “Lord, teach us to pray…”  They were all Jewish – members of a nation that God had called to be His own and set apart.  He’d walked them through the desert for 40 years – training time for reigning time.  They’d seen evidence of His presence before them in the pillar of fire and the covering cloud deflecting the hot desert sun.  They’d heard Him speak!  Yet they’d failed at learning to speak to him – what should be the most natural thing we can do!

Jesus laid the blame for this squarely on the religious leaders of that day.  They’d been so proud to be Jewish that it didn’t matter what they did.  Jesus corrected their misconceptions:

“The people who live today are evil … You Pharisees … inside you are full of greed and evil … you fail to be fair to others and to love God … you are like hidden graves [people will unknowingly touch them and become ritually unclean as a result]…”

Jesus also attacked the teachers of the Law: 

“You make strict rules that are very hard for people to obey, but you yourselves don’t even try to follow those rules … You have taken away the KEY to learning about God.  You yourselves would not learn, and you stopped others from learning, too.”

They wanted to greedily hold those keys for their own prestige.

I think about how much I love to teach about God.  I remember too many Sunday School and Training Union classes which left me with nothing.  The instant I left the room, the teachings left as well.  So I try to make it all so interesting that the youth I teach can’t help but remember it.  Failure is not an option.  How I’ve seen God work in the lives of so many youth over the years, helping them stay connected to Him despite being in the world.  That’s what it’s all about, and it galls me to think people were looking up to these “leaders” and getting nothing in return.

Father, thank You for sharing with me ways to teach youth about You.  Thank You for giving me a passion for them.  When I question, please remind me of all those who’ve come and gone and still remain in You.

Your Brother In Christ,

Gary Ford

Luke 10 -- Too Busy For Ministry? Study?

We are so used to hearing about the 12 disciples, but we hardly ever hear about the 36 pairs of disciples Jesus sent out ahead of Himself.  He told them to do something that we today think very little of.  They were to bless the homes they stayed in simply by saying, “Peace be with this house.”  It was His command that they do this.  One of two outcomes would occur:  Either the people living there would be blessed with peace, or the disciples would be blessed with peace in a home that wasn’t peaceful.  Who knows what power our words might have today to impart peace just like this!

In one of the homes He chose to stay in, Jesus met Mary and Martha.  Mary sat a Jesus’ feet, listening to Him teach.  Martha busied herself with meal preparation, cleaning up, and being a hostess.  When she complained that Mary wasn’t helping, Jesus encouraged here never to be too busy to hear His words.  Today, that tells me to never be too busy to have a quiet time.

Likewise, the expert on the law asked Jesus who his neighbor was.  Jesus told the story of the good Samaritan, then asked him, “Who was a neighbor to the man?”  The man answered, “The one who showed him mercy.”  The Jewish priest and the Levite in the story were too busy staying ritually clean for their jobs to stop and help the injured man.

We can always find reasons to be too busy for God, but Jesus said to throw those reasons out the door and simply do what needs to be done when God places an opportunity before us.  Otherwise, we miss out on a ministry opportunity and a blessing.

Father, thank You for showing me over the past week that simply being there for my mom is a way of ministering to her in Your name.  Help me to see those You place in my path who need a touch, a hug, or a word.  Let me be Jesus’ hands and feet on this earth.

Your Brother In Christ,

Gary Ford

Luke 9 -- What He Said

Jesus gave the 12 apostles something He didn’t give others – authority over all demons and the ability to heal sicknesses.  Yet when it came to the feeding of the five thousand, their finite brains couldn’t make the leap of faith, and Jesus stepped in to divide the food.

Later, Jesus asked them what the people were saying about Him.  Then came the point-blank question:  “But who do You say I am?”  To the Jewish leaders, Peter’s answer would be blasphemy, and he probably knew he was risking his life by uttering it:  “You are the Christ from God.”

Jesus said to all of them, “If people want to follow Me, they must give up the things they want.  They must be willing to give up their lives DAILY to follow Me.  Those who want to save their lives will give up TRUE LIFE.  But those who give up their lives for Me will have true life.”

I read through that several times this morning.  How we hate to give up the things we want – not the things we have, but our desires!  And I think Jesus is saying that He knows what a struggle it’s going to be to do so.  That’s why He added, “They must be willing to give up their lives daily …”  Each new day that comes brings with it the temptations to quit the race – to go back to the old life.  Satan makes it sound so alluring and attractive.  “You get to indulge your desires!” he whispers.  But Jesus says, “Give it up.  I’ve got something much better for you – TRUE life.  What you were meant to do.”  Give up to get … not something that usually works in this world.  But then again, this world is not our home.

Father, help me to daily make the purposeful decision to give up what I still try to hold onto from my old life.  Erase all doubts that this new life is every bit worth it.  Expose Satan’s whispers for the lies they are.  Let me listen only to Jesus.

Your Brother In Christ,

Gary Ford

Luke 8 -- What The Demons Knew

I like the fact that the Holy Spirit directed Luke to write what he did in verse 10:  “You have been chosen to know the secrets about the kingdom of God.”  That sentence speaks across the millennia to believers today.  And I believe that others, who will not ever become believers will either fly right by that verse if they ever read it or else likely get angry because they don’t feel a part of the chosen.

In the parable of the seed, Jesus said that the seed that fell on the good ground “is like those who hear God’s teaching with good, honest hearts and obey it and patiently produce fruit.”  Those are the three things we are supposed to be doing as believers. 

Put these two sections together – being chosen to know, then hearing, obeying, and producing fruit, we’d say that such a person has been enlightened.  So how appropriate it is then that we receive the instructions in the next verse – verse 16:  “No one after lighting a lamp covers it with a bowl or hides it under a bed.  Instead, the person puts it on a lampstand so those who come in will see the light.”

That isn’t about a household item.  It’s about us.  Once we hear and become enlightened, we don’t hide what God has shown us or be cowardly about telling others about it.  God wants others to see the light of His grace through us.

Likewise, the man from Gerasene was afflicted with many demons.  As Jesus addressed the man’s needs, God told me to pay attention to what the demons knew, because they are real, even today.  They begged Jesus not to send them into eternal darkness.  Even though God was their enemy, the very thing even they did not want to experience was an eternity without His light.  When the demons left him, he was in his right mind again.  That’s what they can still do to us.  Jesus told him, “Go back home and tell people how much God has done for you.”  Those are our instructions as well.  We aren’t to hide the knowledge of Him we’ve been given.  We are to tell others what He’s done for us.

Father, You’ve so radically changed my life.  I love telling my story.  Thank You so much for stepping in and loving me enough to change me!

Your Brother In Christ,

Gary Ford

Luke 7 -- Jesus Whispers A Secret

Jesus had quite a task at hand – teaching the world to see with the eyes of Adam and Eve, for once again God was walking among mankind.  But sin had impacted their soul-vision to the point that they could neither see him nor the truth of life as God designed it.  Even John the Baptist had questions!

Max Lucado addressed one of the stories in this chapter in his book Six Hours One Friday – the story of the widow who, after losing her husband, had also lost her only son.  Jesus was entering the town as the funeral procession neared the city gate – the woman’s son carried on a funeral cot.  “When the Lord saw her, He felt very sorry for her and said, ‘Don’t cry.’ “  In my Bible’s sidebar this morning, I read what Max wrote:

“Jesus turned his attention to the dead boy.  ‘Young man,’ His voice was calm, ‘come back to life again.’ … Jesus must have smiled as the two embraced … Jesus gave the woman much more than her son.  He gave her a secret – a whisper that was overheard by us.  ‘That,’ He said, pointing at the funeral cot, ‘that is fantasy.  THIS,’ He grinned, putting an arm around the boy, ‘THIS is reality.’”

Only God could show us that truth – that He is Lord over even death; that this world is not our home; that He desires us to live with Him forever; that He loves us more than we even love ourselves. 

Father, thank You for opening my eyes the way You did her eyes.  Thank You for showing me that all this isn’t just history.  You amaze me every day with new revelations about Yourself and about my relationship with You and with others.  Keep doing it, Father.  I want to know You more.

Your Brother In Christ,

Gary Ford

Luke 6 -- Jesus Says To Look Inside

Continually in this chapter, Jesus looks to the condition of the heart as opposed to the person’s conditions in this world.

He chastised the Pharisees for caring more about their rules than about human suffering.  They’d rather a person starve or remain physically handicapped another day than that their Sabbath rule was broken!

Jesus spoke the beatitudes to the crowd, not speaking of physical poverty, but of spiritual hunger.  He warned them that the world wouldn’t like their allegiance to Him, and when they faced the world’s anger, it should inspire joy because they’d know they were being obedient to Him.

He wanted them to have charity in their hearts – giving to those who couldn’t  give back rather than exchanging giving with those who could.

He wanted them to examine their own lives, removing sin they found, rather than judging others for minor things.

He summed it up by saying, “Good people bring good things out of the good they stored in their hearts.  But evil people bring evil things out of the evil they store in their hearts.  People speak the things that are in their hearts.”

Father, I don’t want to harbor any evil in my heart.  Help me to examine what I say and do to make certain that my words and actions give evidence of Your love in my heart and not anything else.  Show me anything that I am missing, just as Jesus warned His followers to remove the plank from their own eyes before trying to remove a piece of dust from their friend’s eye!

Your Brother In Christ,

Gary Ford