Today's Reading: Luke 9: 46-62
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Please click this link to read Luke 9: 46-62
Bible Study
Today's passage tells us how difficult it is to follow Jesus and nothing is more important than following Jesus. The cost of following Jesus is not anyone can think of. We can see that even Jesus beloved disciples, James and John, they did not understand. They did not know how to deal with opposition, so they thought Jesus could just give them authority to send fire to burn those guys as what prophet Elijah did hundreds of years ago!
N.T. Wright says:
All James and John can think of is that they are now in the same position as Elijah in the Old Testament. If they meet opposition, they want to call down fire from heaven (2 Kings 1: 10-12). But that's not what Jesus' journey is like. It's not a triumphant march, sweeping all resistance aside. It is the progress of the gospel of the kingdom, and as we know from Luke 4 that means the message of love - of a grace so strong, so wide-ranging, and so surprising, that many will find it shocking.
Including, it seems, many who see Jesus and think it would be a fine thing to follow him. The people who speak to Jesus on the road are like the seed sown on rocky ground, or among thorns, in Luke 8. They want to follow, but have conditions attached. Are they ready to drop what they're doing and come right away? The obligation to bury one's father was regarded by many Jews of the time as the most holy and binding duty of a son; but Jesus says that that, too, is secondary to the call to follow him and announce God's kingdom.
So, this is a priority check, how willing are you to really follow Jesus? Are you ready to pay the immense price to follow him?
Let's have a time to be still and give the Holy Spirit space to speak through the passage of scripture we have just read. Offer this time up to Jesus as you listen to him, while listening to "Gabriel's Oboe"
Spiritual Journal
What I heard from Jesus today is: Nothing is more important than following Jesus!
What I received today is a priority check to see if we are really following Jesus. How do we deal with oppositions? Why do we want to follow Jesus? How much love have we learned, experienced and exercised? How ready are you to just love?
Well, many of Jesus disciples follow him because they wanted to be the greatest, to be able to control others. Do you have this control issue too? What do you want from Jesus? What do you want?
Jesus is calling you to follow him now. Do you know that nothing is more important than following Jesus? How well and how close are you following him recently?
Dear Lord Jesus,
Lead us to be willing to follow you and be ready to pay a big, big price. In Jesus name we pray. Amen.
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