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Luke 9:1-6

24 Sep

9 One day Jesus called together his twelve disciples and gave them power and authority to cast out all demons and to heal all diseases. 2 Then he sent them out to tell everyone about the Kingdom of God and to heal the sick. 3 “Take nothing for your journey,” he instructed them. “Don’t take a walking stick, a traveler’s bag, food, money, or even a change of clothes. 4 Wherever you go, stay in the same house until you leave town. 5 And if a town refuses to welcome you, shake its dust from your feet as you leave to show that you have abandoned those people to their fate.”

6 So they began their circuit of the villages, preaching the Good News and healing the sick.

Luke 9:1-6

Dear God, it’s interesting to me to see what the Catholic and some Protestant churches use for scriptures of the day. In this case, as they work through Luke, they skipped a lot of verses in Luke 8 that included some of Jesus miracles and went to this sending out of the twelve. I wonder what was behind that decision.

As I read today’s Gospel reading, I thought about Judas. Who was he in this moment? What was his mindset, and was it really that different from Peter’s, John’s, or any of the others? He probably felt like he had found the Messiah and was ready to go. His ultimate goal was probably revolution. That was probably all of their mindsets. So as he was given this great power by Jesus, went out with his partner to minister and call people to the Messiah, and experienced the positive things that came from healing and casting out demons, I’m sure he started to get more and more excited about this.

Now, he had his failings too. John tells us in John 12:6 that he stole money from the group’s common purse. It’s interesting that Jesus didn’t stop that from happening or confront him about it. But it’s also an indication that this wasn’t necessarily a holy calling that Judas felt.

Father, I don’t know really where I’m going with this except to say that I need to check my heart. In my job, in my volunteer work in the community, or in my relationships with others, how much am I out for myself and how much is surrendered service to you? I’d be an absolute liar if I said that I am not in any of it for myself at all. But what I need to do is make sure that I try to identify my selfishness and then not let it fester. When I see it I need to repent of it. I don’t want anything I do to be about my self-preservation or selfish wants. I want to simply love you and worship you. If I serve someone, I want it to be out of devotion to you. If I go to work I want it to be out of devotion and service to you. If there is a decision in front of me that will cost me something I want, but it is part of bringing your kingdom to earth and your will being done then I want to make the decision for your kingdom and will without a second thought. So search my heart, Holy Spirit. Search my heart, Jesus. Search my heart, Father. Reveal to me the things for which I need to repent, give me the courage and strength to repent, and then renew a right spirit within me.

I pray this in Jesus and with your Holy Spirit,

Amen

 
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Posted by on September 24, 2025 in Luke

 

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Luke 8:19-21

23 Sep

19 Then Jesus’ mother and brothers came to see him, but they couldn’t get to him because of the crowd. 20 Someone told Jesus, “Your mother and your brothers are standing outside, and they want to see you.”

21 Jesus replied, “My mother and my brothers are all those who hear God’s word and obey it.”

Luke 8:19-21

Dear God, family is interesting. My wife and I were just praying together and some of the prayers were for family members. In fact, most of the prayers were for family members. There’s just something about these people who are blood-related to us that makes us care that little bit more.

It’s interesting how Jesus seems to turn that on its head a little. Here, he diminishes that special relationship he has with his relatives, even his mother, by equating them to everyone around him. In Luke 14:26 he says, “26If you want to be my disciple, you must, by comparison, hate everyone else—your father and mother, wife and children, brothers and sisters—yes, even your own life. Otherwise, you cannot be my disciple.” In Luke 12:51-53 he says:

51 Do you think I have come to bring peace to the earth? No, I have come to divide people against each other! 52 From now on families will be split apart, three in favor of me, and two against—or two in favor and three against.

53 ‘Father will be divided against son
    and son against father;
mother against daughter
    and daughter against mother;
and mother-in-law against daughter-in-law
    and daughter-in-law against mother-in-law.’”

I don’t think I’ve ever thought about these passages in relation to each other before, but it’s certainly interesting to see our love and compassion for our relatives and yet how much Jesus is warning us that we might have to let them go because of our love for you.

Father, I have all sorts of relatives rolling through my head right now. They have myriad needs. Some are doing great. Some have physical maladies. Some are struggling emotionally. Some are facing huge mountains. Some love me. Some hate me. Some don’t care about me one way or another. But I love all of them. I care about all of them. Please be there for each of them today. Call each of them closer to you in the midst of their struggles. And be here for me today. Call me closer to you in the midst of my struggles. Help me to be the man you need me to be in every way. And do it all for your glory.

I pray this in Jesus and with your Holy Spirit,

Amen

 
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Posted by on September 23, 2025 in Luke

 

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Luke 8:16-18

22 Sep

16 “No one lights a lamp and then covers it with a bowl or hides it under a bed. A lamp is placed on a stand, where its light can be seen by all who enter the house. 17 For all that is secret will eventually be brought into the open, and everything that is concealed will be brought to light and made known to all.

18 “So pay attention to how you hear. To those who listen to my teaching, more understanding will be given. But for those who are not listening, even what they think they understand will be taken away from them.”

Luke 8:16-18

Dear God, this is another parable/metaphor from Jesus that gets removed from its context when we read it. It’s easy to forget that it is linked to the parable of the Sower. So the way I read this in that context is that the person who puts the lap on the stand is the same as the one who liberally spreads seeds on the ground. She or he puts it out there for everyone to see.

Verse 17 is interesting. Secrets are so debilitating, especially if they carry shame with them. They can bog us down and just be a cloud that follows us. And that inhibits our ability to put our lamp on a stand. How can we proudly show the world our lives in you when we are hiding pieces of ourselves in shame?

I was talking with a relative who has been going through a trial about how you can take the pain they’ve been through and use it to bless others. You have given them a ministry now they’d have never had before. But they would never have that ministry if they were ashamed of the trial they’ve been through and just kept it a secret. No, even our weaknesss are important to share with others.

Father, help me to listen to Jesus’s teaching. Help me to understand. Help me to humbly share my life with others for their benefit and your glory. Help me to love my neighbor through my own humility. Help me to see beyond the surface of what people display, and see them with your eyes. I give you all praise, glory, and honor, Jesus, for what you have done for me.

I pray this in the name of Jesus and with the Holy Spirit,

Amen

 
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Posted by on September 22, 2025 in Luke

 

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Hebrews 12:1-4

21 Sep

12 Therefore, since we are surrounded by such a huge crowd of witnesses to the life of faith, let us strip off every weight that slows us down, especially the sin that so easily trips us up. And let us run with endurance the race God has set before us. 2 We do this by keeping our eyes on Jesus, the champion who initiates and perfects our faith. Because of the joy awaiting him, he endured the cross, disregarding its shame. Now he is seated in the place of honor beside God’s throne. 3 Think of all the hostility he endured from sinful people; then you won’t become weary and give up. 4 After all, you have not yet given your lives in your struggle against sin.

Hebrews 12:1-4

Dear God, I have a long history with this passage. I was probably 16 or 17 the first time I heard verses 1 and 2 at a Fellowship of Christian Athletes National Conference in Estes Park. That would be almost 40 years ago now. I even remember the little song they wrote to go with it. Whenever I read these verses I think of that conference.

I was at a church service tonight where the pastor used these verses in his sermon. While he focused on verses 1 and 2, I couldn’t help but think about verses 3 and 4. Since all of them are good, I thought I’d just spend a little time with each of them this evening.

  • Hebrews 12:1
    • The cloud of witnesses: In Hebrews 11:32, the author says, “32 How much more do I need to say? It would take too long to recount the stories of the faith of Gideon, Barak, Samson, Jephthah, David, Samuel, and all the prophets.” Who else are my witnesses? Sometimes I consider my grandparents or in-laws to be part of my cloud of witnesses. Our unborn daughter, Sandra, we lost 30 years ago last month. I think about her sometimes when I’m struggling. I think about my grandparents too. Sure, it’s nice to think that the “greats” of the faith are looking down on me, but I prefer the intimate image of those I knew or wish I had known. I don’t even know how theologically correct it is for me to think about them in this way. Are they still dormant and awaiting your return, Jesus, or are they alive in the timelessness of who you are? Either way, I do think about them in this way, largely due to this verse.
    • Strip off the weight that slows us down, especially the sin: I was with someone yesterday who is completely weighed down by this sin that is slowing him down, and I’d love to think he’s ready to strip it off, but he’s not. But before I start thinking about his sin, shouldn’t I first think about myself? What is slowing me down? What is keeping me from being more? Am I really running the race with endurance, or am I jogging in the right direction, but stopping for a lot of water breaks?
  • Hebrews 12:2
    • Jesus initiates and perfects my faith: It’s one thing for me to believe there is a God and to follow a set of his rules. It’s another thing to absorb what Jesus taught through the four gospels and how the other writers of the rest of the New Testament interpreted that for us in their writing. Jesus is the initiator of my faith. He’s why Gentiles like me are here worshipping you. He also taught me some amazing lessons–lessons I’m still figuring out.
    • The joy of sitting at the Father’s right hand: That was the joy awaiting Jesus. But I also think it was redeeming us. Redeeming us gave him joy. He was already at the right had of the Father. No, his journey in flesh was about us. That was the joy awaiting him through the pain and suffering he endured. Pain and suffering I can’t imagine and do not want to endure.
  • Hebrews 12:3
    • The hostility Jesus endured encourages me: I’m in a culture that doesn’t punish me for my faith. Well, that might not be totally true. I had someone say something today that would be considered even more conservative than what my own faith and ideology causes me to believe. But at the end of the day, that’s not what makes me weary. Or maybe it is. I see so much fear and frustration from my fellow Christians. I wish I saw more love and less grabbing for power.
  • Hebrews 12:4
    • I have not yet given my life in my struggle: The word “yet” is subtly placed in there. Am I ready to give everything up to and including my life? Am I ready to be ridiculed and scorned.

Father, I pray that you will help me to be willing to throw off the weight and sin that slows me down. And as I look for encouragement from my cloud of witnesses and even through considering how much worse others, especially Jesus, unjustly suffered, help me to not only be willing to suffer for you, but to also make sure it is you I am suffering for. I want it to be truly driven by you and not through my own mind. My mind is foolish. You are great. I am weak. You are wise. I am foolish. If I am going to die on a sword, let it be one that came at me because I was truly representing you and not something I was doing out of my own heart just to make a point.

I pray this in Jesus and with your Holy Spirit,

Amen

 
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Posted by on September 21, 2025 in Hebrews

 

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Luke 7:18-35

17 Sep

18 The disciples of John the Baptist told John about everything Jesus was doing. So John called for two of his disciples, 19 and he sent them to the Lord to ask him, “Are you the Messiah we’ve been expecting, or should we keep looking for someone else?”

20 John’s two disciples found Jesus and said to him, “John the Baptist sent us to ask, ‘Are you the Messiah we’ve been expecting, or should we keep looking for someone else?’”

21 At that very time, Jesus cured many people of their diseases, illnesses, and evil spirits, and he restored sight to many who were blind. 22 Then he told John’s disciples, “Go back to John and tell him what you have seen and heard—the blind see, the lame walk, those with leprosy are cured, the deaf hear, the dead are raised to life, and the Good News is being preached to the poor.” 23 And he added, “God blesses those who do not fall away because of me.”

24 After John’s disciples left, Jesus began talking about him to the crowds. “What kind of man did you go into the wilderness to see? Was he a weak reed, swayed by every breath of wind? 25 Or were you expecting to see a man dressed in expensive clothes? No, people who wear beautiful clothes and live in luxury are found in palaces. 26 Were you looking for a prophet? Yes, and he is more than a prophet. 27 John is the man to whom the Scriptures refer when they say,

‘Look, I am sending my messenger ahead of you,
    and he will prepare your way before you.’

28 I tell you, of all who have ever lived, none is greater than John. Yet even the least person in the Kingdom of God is greater than he is!”

29 When they heard this, all the people—even the tax collectors—agreed that God’s way was right, for they had been baptized by John. 30 But the Pharisees and experts in religious law rejected God’s plan for them, for they had refused John’s baptism.

31 “To what can I compare the people of this generation?” Jesus asked. “How can I describe them? 32 They are like children playing a game in the public square. They complain to their friends,

‘We played wedding songs,
    and you didn’t dance,
so we played funeral songs,
    and you didn’t weep.’

33 For John the Baptist didn’t spend his time eating bread or drinking wine, and you say, ‘He’s possessed by a demon.’ 34 The Son of Man, on the other hand, feasts and drinks, and you say, ‘He’s a glutton and a drunkard, and a friend of tax collectors and other sinners!’ 35 But wisdom is shown to be right by the lives of those who follow it.”

Luke 7:18-35

Dear God, two things stand out to me in this passage:

  • Verse 23: 23 And he added, “God blesses those who do not fall away because of me.”
  • Verses 29-30: 29 When they heard this, all the people—even the tax collectors—agreed that God’s way was right, for they had been baptized by John. 30 But the Pharisees and experts in religious law rejected God’s plan for them, for they had refused John’s baptism.

Verse 23 stuck out because this is an interesting tag to add on to his message to John. My wife and I talked about this story at breakfast, and she said something I liked: “Jesus is the scandalon. He is supposed to make us stumble.” It seems that even John was stumbling in his questioning of Jesus’s identity as John himself was languishing in prison and would ultimately be killed there. But it seems to me that Jesus sent one last message to John: Press on. Don’t fall away. Have faith. You have rightly put your faith in me.

Verses 29-30 struck me because this is Luke inserting his own commentary to Theophilus as he writes this letter to him. It’s as if he’s saying, “Just to make sure I’m clear, the people who believed Jesus and drew closer to God because of him were the sinners, but the holy, righteous, and pious stumbled. The scandalon got them.

Father, there are times I stumble over you. There are times when I’m just flat out wrong or stubborn. There are other times when I am selfish. Oh, please help me to be exactly what you need me to be today. Love through me. Lead through me. Forgive me for my thoughts and words. For what I have done and what I have failed to do. Make me a comforter to those who mourn. A guide for those who seek. A learner from those through whom you will teach me. And a teacher to those who need to hear you through me.

I pray this in Jesus and with your Holy Spirit,

Amen

 
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Posted by on September 17, 2025 in Uncategorized

 

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Luke 7:11-17

16 Sep

11 Soon afterward Jesus went with his disciples to the village of Nain, and a large crowd followed him. 12 A funeral procession was coming out as he approached the village gate. The young man who had died was a widow’s only son, and a large crowd from the village was with her. 13 When the Lord saw her, his heart overflowed with compassion. “Don’t cry!” he said. 14 Then he walked over to the coffin and touched it, and the bearers stopped. “Young man,” he said, “I tell you, get up.” 15 Then the dead boy sat up and began to talk! And Jesus gave him back to his mother.

16 Great fear swept the crowd, and they praised God, saying, “A mighty prophet has risen among us,” and “God has visited his people today.” 17 And the news about Jesus spread throughout Judea and the surrounding countryside.”

Luke 7:11-17

Dear God, is it terrible that my first thought this morning when I read this familiar story was, “Was that really the best idea, Jesus?” Answer: Of course it was the best idea! It was Jesus! But this certainly raised the bar on who the people thought Jesus was.

It’s interesting to put all of Luke’s book into one character development arc and story that he’s unfolding for us because these things all fit together, but we forget that since we are used to just reading stories in segments and not part of the whole. So in the last two chapters we had Simon’s mother-in-law healed, Jesus calling the 12, and then a mini Sermon on the Mount. Now, we’ve seen the faith of the Centurion from yesterday and today Jesus actually goes next level by raising someone from the dead. And this isn’t like Jairus’s daughter where he did a little misdirection and told everyone she was only asleep. This was like Lazarus, but maybe even more so. And then tomorrow we will get John the Baptist, from prison, asking if Jesus is the Messiah or if there is another one to come. But I’ll get to that tomorrow. There’s probably a lot to say about that.

But back to this miracle resurrection. I wonder how many times he did this that we aren’t aware of. Off of the top of my head, I’m counting three including this instance, Jairus’s daughter, and Lazarus. Now, he didn’t necessarily need to be the Messiah to do this. There was a history of both Elijah and Elisha doing it. But it did mean that he had power from you at a very high level. He was to be respected and adored. In the minds of the people there, maybe not worshipped, but revered as being from you.

Father, as I look for applications for my life today, I first just want to thank you. Thank you for the reality of this story. I do not doubt its veracity. I guess I do wonder what this young man’s life was like after this. What did he do? How long did he live? How did he eventually die? How did his life touch others and ripple through time, even until this day? Maybe that’s the reminder for me. That all of our lives will ripple through time whether we realize it or not. And we can do the best we can and still knock over negative dominoes as well as positive ones. So I’ll just pray that you guide me today. Make my life as positive of an impact on our community as you can. Love through me. Love me through others. And help me to always give you the glory, for you are the giver of all good gifts.

I pray this in Jesus and with your Holy Spirit,

Amen

 
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Posted by on September 16, 2025 in Luke

 

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John 3:13-17

14 Sep

13 No one has ever gone to heaven and returned. But the Son of Man has come down from heaven. 14 And as Moses lifted up the bronze snake on a pole in the wilderness, so the Son of Man must be lifted up, 15 so that everyone who believes in him will have eternal life.

16 “For this is how God loved the world: He gave his one and only Son, so that everyone who believes in him will not perish but have eternal life. 17 God sent his Son into the world not to judge the world, but to save the world through him.

John 3:13-17

Dear God, I have a couple of people in my life right now who are in a lot of pain. Help me to both look to Jesus, who has been lifted up for me, and then point each of these people to you. Help me to know how to do this. Give me words. Give me vision for them. Give me comfort for them. Give me encouragement for them. But the first thing they need, to the extent they are able to grasp the depths of it, is faith in you and following you. Help me to offer them to you today.

I remember preaching on this passage several years ago as a guest pastor at a church. It stuck with me so much that every time I see a cross in a church I think about it. When they are processing with a cross on a staff, or when there is a big one at the front of the church, I almost always think about it. I try to remember that I am as a person struck by the snakes of my own sin and I need your redemption. I am a slave to death. I need your redemption out of that slavery.

Father, I’ve talked about one of these visits that I’m having with these people to a couple of friends, and I’ve gotten some good advice. But what I need is for the Holy Spirit to speak through me, guide me, and give me ears to hear and eyes to see. I need you to help me be discerning and loving. I need to be exactly what you need these people to have. Help me to be that for them. For your glory, Father. For your glory and not mine.

I pray this In Jesus and through your Holy Spirit,

Amen

 
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Posted by on September 14, 2025 in John

 

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Luke 6:43-49

13 Sep

43 “A good tree can’t produce bad fruit, and a bad tree can’t produce good fruit. 44 A tree is identified by its fruit. Figs are never gathered from thornbushes, and grapes are not picked from bramble bushes. 45 A good person produces good things from the treasury of a good heart, and an evil person produces evil things from the treasury of an evil heart. What you say flows from what is in your heart.

46 “So why do you keep calling me ‘Lord, Lord!’ when you don’t do what I say? 47 I will show you what it’s like when someone comes to me, listens to my teaching, and then follows it. 48 It is like a person building a house who digs deep and lays the foundation on solid rock. When the floodwaters rise and break against that house, it stands firm because it is well built. 49 But anyone who hears and doesn’t obey is like a person who builds a house right on the ground, without a foundation. When the floods sweep down against that house, it will collapse into a heap of ruins.”

Luke 6:43-49

Dear God, I don’t normally follow the gospel readings for the Catholic church day to day so faithfully, but these are from the mini-Sermon on the Mount and I’m loving it. I almost wonder if I shouldn’t read the Sermon on the Mount–the OG in Matthew–every day, as a discipline. Or maybe record it and listen to it in my earbuds as I go to sleep at night. Yeah, maybe. I’ll think about that.

Okay, I just took a moment to go to YouTube and find it. Of course, someone put it up.

I’ll need to bookmark it and try that. In fact, my wife and I were talking this morning about bad dreams and things to help. Maybe this is a way to go.

Now, back to Luke 6. Two things here. First, fruit [of the Spirit] that comes out of us as we live how you taught us. It’s interesting how I can see two people who disagree on a lot of things, but when they are both really pursuing and loving you with all their heart, mind, soul, and strength and loving their neighbor as themselves then they can be very close and loving to each other. The good fruit rises above any disagreements. I fact, I’ll see them influence each other. I think about how my wife and I have influenced each other over the years even though we don’t agree on everything. Our good fruit (what I hope is good fruit from me and I know is good fruit from her) reigns.

Now, for the foundation built through following you. I remember when I had a plumbing issue with my first house over 20 years ago. It had a slab, but a sewer pipe in the slab that was made of cast iron collapsed. They said we had to choices. One was to dig into the slab and repair the line at that point, or we could run a new drainage line through a wall and then go underground with it, tapping into the original sewer line in the yard in front of our house. Someone warned me I didn’t want to mess with the foundation, and I agreed. So we ran a new line. A year or two later when we sold that house, the inspector told the buyer about the problem we solved and indicated that we had chosen the correct path. We didn’t want to tear into the foundation.

A few years later, I was at a relative’s home where they were faced with the same situation, but they chose to cut into the slab and repair the line. There were all sorts of cracks in their walls. The foundation was shifting and unpredictable. The house wasn’t on the verge of falling down, but it had been weakened.

So if Jesus says when the storms come and not if, then how do I make sure I have a foundation ready for the storm? I think it goes back to my prayer from almost exactly a year ago about the “floor.” What is the least I need to be doing to worship you. Here is what I wrote at the time:

  • The prayer journals. Spending 15-30 minutes a day in a concentrated time of prayer like this has become a have to for me. And it didn’t used to be that way. A year ago I would have said that I need to do it 4-5 times a week. But since Lent I haven’t missed a day because I know I need this time meditating on you, listening to your Holy Spirit, and learning from the bazaar thing you left us called Scripture.
  • Giving. Ten percent of our gross is a minimum. Not that we are giving away even 20%, but we try to be generous when we see needs arise. Giving 10% is a floor.
  • Intentional time in conversation with my wife at least once a day is a floor. If we are available around each other at a meal, we each make it a priority to sit with each other, even if one of us isn’t eating at the time.
  • At least one sermon/Bible teaching a week. I need to hear someone else I trust teaching me the Bible in a way I wouldn’t see on my own (this homily is a perfect example of that).
  • Communication and contact with at least one of the two male friends I have. It doesn’t even have to be a conversation, but I need to touch their lives in some way–even if it is to text about sports.
  • Avoiding sexual temptation/lust. This has to be a floor. When you look at the lists of sins Jesus and Paul talk about, it’s always on there. I must do this.
  • Exercising at least four times a week. I am mentally better when I am taking care of myself physically. I should probably make better eating habits a floor, but I haven’t chosen to do that yet. Perhaps it will be one day.
  • Doing the things I know bless my wife like fixing things around the house, managing our money and then sharing with her what our status is, doing my laundry, making the bed, etc. Even listening to things I like but I know she doesn’t care for on my headphones instead of subjecting her to it. There’s a whole set of “floor” issues for my relationship with her that are important for her to feel loved.

So then what are some of the things I “get” to do, but aren’t necessarily something I “have” to do every week?

  • Church. A lot of Christians would probably disagree with me on this one. While I feel like it is important to have a church you belong to and to be involved in that church, I don’t feel like the foundation in my life is cracking if I miss a week.
  • My extra writing projects. I get joy from writing and thinking about how to bless others, but it’s a “get” to and not a “have” to.
  • Teaching. Similarly, I enjoy taking what I get from you during my prayer journal time and sharing it with others through preaching or teaching, but those occasions happen infrequently, and, while they help me and teach me, they aren’t the floor.
  • Engaging healthily through prayer and action in my community. This is close to a “have” to because it is part of me loving others as I love myself, but it’s not something that is foundational. Well, maybe it is. It actually might belong in the “have” to list.
  • Listening to Christian music. I mix it in during the week, but I also listen to secular as well.
  • Listening to Christian podcasts. Similar to music, I mix it in, but it’s a “get” to.

Father, help me to be mindful of the work I need to do to build the best foundation I can, and help that lead to your best fruit in me. Let that fruit bless others around me, starting with my wife. Love her well through me. Give her what she needs through me. Be glorified in my life regardless of what it costs me. I consider my life worth nothing to me, Father. It’s all yours. Use me as you will.

I pray this in Jesus and with your Holy Spirit,

Amen

 
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Posted by on September 13, 2025 in Luke, Matthew

 

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Luke 6:37-42

12 Sep

37 “Do not judge others, and you will not be judged. Do not condemn others, or it will all come back against you. Forgive others, and you will be forgiven. 38 Give, and you will receive. Your gift will return to you in full—pressed down, shaken together to make room for more, running over, and poured into your lap. The amount you give will determine the amount you get back.”

39 Then Jesus gave the following illustration: “Can one blind person lead another? Won’t they both fall into a ditch? 40 Students are not greater than their teacher. But the student who is fully trained will become like the teacher.

41 “And why worry about a speck in your friend’s eye when you have a log in your own? 42 How can you think of saying, ‘Friend, let me help you get rid of that speck in your eye,’ when you can’t see past the log in your own eye? Hypocrite! First get rid of the log in your own eye; then you will see well enough to deal with the speck in your friend’s eye.

Luke 6:37-42

Dear God, I’ve heard all these verses about not judging before, but what’s catching my eye today are verses 39 and 40. I’m blind. I’m foolish. I know so little. Can I really claim to have the ability or authority to lead others? And I love the idea that, although I am your student and certainly not greater than you, if I am fully trained I can become like you.

So how do I let you train me? I think it happens in times like this. Times when I honestly try to look at myself and pray that you will reveal my faults to me. When I read the Bible and look for myself in the bad examples and not just the good ones. Then it comes when I engage in relationship with like-minded people in whose faith and relationship with you I trust. My wife comes to mind. I have a few friends that come to mind. I need them to challenge me. To change me. And this has certainly happened over the years. Then there’s the media I consume. I must confess I’ve spent too much time violating my abstinence from social media and looking at some comments that last 24 hours. I’m sorry for that. It has not helped me to grow. Even Christians are fearing. If I get afraid, let it be on behalf of others and not myself.

Father, help me to take one more step through the narrow gate and on the narrow path today. Help me to simply be in your presence at all times, share your love at all times, and then be a source of comfort and clarity to others around me as i figure it out too. Let me be someone who is taught by you so I can become more like you and then help me to take that and teach what I learn to others so they can be more like you as well.

I pray this in Jesus and with your Holy Spirit,

Amen

 
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Posted by on September 12, 2025 in Luke

 

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Luke 6:20-26

10 Sep

20 Then Jesus turned to his disciples and said,

“God blesses you who are poor,
    for the Kingdom of God is yours.
21 God blesses you who are hungry now,
    for you will be satisfied.
God blesses you who weep now,
    for in due time you will laugh.

22 What blessings await you when people hate you and exclude you and mock you and curse you as evil because you follow the Son of Man. 23 When that happens, be happy! Yes, leap for joy! For a great reward awaits you in heaven. And remember, their ancestors treated the ancient prophets that same way.

24 “What sorrow awaits you who are rich,
    for you have your only happiness now.
25 What sorrow awaits you who are fat and prosperous now,
    for a time of awful hunger awaits you.
What sorrow awaits you who laugh now,
    for your laughing will turn to mourning and sorrow.
26 What sorrow awaits you who are praised by the crowds,
    for their ancestors also praised false prophets.

Luke 6:20-26

Dear God, I have probably been too judgmental of The Chosen. One of the things I’ve said about it is that I’ve spent so much time with these stories and I’ve got them so pictured in my head that I don’t want their telling of the stories to taint what I have. But, frankly, that’s a pretty arrogant thing to say. I’ve made all kinds of conjectures about these stories. I’ve tried to read between the lines. I’ve tried to infer tone of voice. Why have I made my interpretation of it so sacred?

I bring this up because someone told me that The Chosen portrays Matthew writing Jesus’s notes down as he prepare the Sermon on the Mount. Help records it as Jesus fleshes it out and develops it into a kind of stump speech that he will give over and over again. Now, I don’t know if any of that is true, but I do like the idea of Jesus honing the message of the Sermon on the Mount down and then giving it over and over again. Today’s passage is an example of Jesus delivering this speech. It’s a little condensed from the Matthew 5-7 version, but the bones are here.

In this case, all of these blessings and warnings of this part of the sermon are all based on circumstances others and life circumstances are foisting upon me. Whether it’s persecution for following Jesus, hunger, or sorrow, there is a blessing to be had at some point. There is hope. Life is not hopeless. Had those people ever heard that before? Had they ever been given a hope of better days (or an eternity) ahead?

And the arrogant who looked down on the poor and reveled in their prosperity, they were warned too. And don’t we still have that sentiment today? Don’t I still get it sometimes? Don’t I judge those who don’t seem to be working hard enough and assume I am better than them? I know some who look at people who are in our country illegally and throw a blanket judgment on them without knowing the particular circumstances that led to their undocumented status. For example, I have a friend from grade school (almost 50 years ago) who was here illegally for a while in high school. She was from England and her father left her, her siblings, and her mother stranded in Texas with no way to get back or means of support. And it took years to get her documentation in order. There are an awful lot of people like that, but we cast judgment on all of them as law breakers who need to “go home” (even though it’s a home they’ve never known).

Father, my point is that I need to continue down this road of receiving your hope in my grief and mourning. Receiving your joy in my sadness. And receiving your mercy in my sin. And then generously giving your mercy to others, sharing my resources with others, and simply letting you live through me. Help me to do that today. Help me to know what it means to forgive those who have hurt and/or betrayed me. Help me to know how to love them–how to love everyone.

I pray this in Jesus and with your Holy Spirit,

Amen

 
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Posted by on September 10, 2025 in Luke

 

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