Why is this so hard?

Today's poweredby4 reading from Luke 13:22-35 brings to mind several questions.

First of all Jesus says "work hard to enter the narrow door to God's Kingdom". My first response to this is - why do we have to work hard? I can't earn my salvation - I can't earn my way into heaven - so why do I need to work hard? To me it seems so easy - I'm a sinner, Jesus wasn't - He died to pay the penalty for my sins - conquered death and now sits at the right hand of God offering a free gift of salvation to me - based upon the fact that he already paid for my sins. I don't have to do anything - It's already done for me.

And yet, I remember sitting and talking with a young man a few years ago - as I explained what he needed to do in order to enter into a relationship with Christ - he looked at me and said one of the saddest things I have ever heard - "I can't do it, I can't believe it - it's too easy".

So many people think that they can figure out a different or better way to get through the narrow door into God's Kingdom - that's why it is so difficult. Our human nature always wants to try to do it bigger and better. To make it harder than it really is.

If there was any other way for man to be saved other than through the blood of Jesus Christ - he wouldn't have had to come and die for me - but he did. Thank you Jesus.

The Burden of Religion

I love how Jesus stirs the pot in Luke 11:37-54. He starts by not washing his hands before dinner at the house of one of the Pharisees. Now before my good friend, O.C. Handwasher (That's Obsessive Compulsive Handwasher for those of you that care) over at The Dumping Ground think that Jesus was breaking all rules of common courtesy, I want you to understand that the hand washing that Jesus skipped was the PUBLIC, CEREMONIAL hand washing done by the Pharisees to prove how religious and clean they were to the rest of the world. It should in no way be thought that Jesus was a disgustingly dirty person in any way shape or form.

As the conversation around the dinner table progresses, Jesus starts to pronounce "WOE" upon the Pharisees and the religious leaders of his day. He accuses them of being RELIGIOUS but uncaring. He says, they do a good job at following the rules, but they are completely missing the point. The point of the Law was to bring people closer to God, but by embellishing the rules with their own set of ceremonial, unbearable religious demands, the Pharisees and teachers of the Law were driving people away from God.

That is what is so unique about Christianity. It is not a religion - it is a relationship. A relationship with the One that created us. The one that was willing to step down into the depths of our depravity to rescue us from ourselves. Every other religion on earth - EVERY ONE - is about what you must DO in order to earn eternal security. Christianity is about what Jesus Christ has already DONE for us. Thank you Jesus.

No list of unbearable religious demands, simply a lifetime of trying to understand and become more like the greatest person that ever lived.

The Rumor Mill

Luke 8:40-56 brings to light an aspect of Jesus' ministry that I have always found to be a little curious. After Jesus raised Jairus' daughter from the dead - he gave strict instructions to the parents to not tell anyone. Why? They house was surrounded by people that were mourning and all knew she was dead. Now they see her walking around alive and well - what are they gonna think happened?

Jesus was already a very popular man at this point in His ministry - as evidenced by the crowds surrounding him when Jairus came to request his help. And yet it was a common theme in Jesus' ministry for him to request that the people that had been healed tell know one - and yet Jesus' miracles weren't done in secret - many of them were done in public or in such a way that people were certain to notice.

One thing that I think of is that as we repeat stories - whether they are true or not - they tend to get bigger and bigger with time - perhaps Jesus was trying to limit this - knowing that it was going to happen anyway. Or perhaps, Jesus was trying to prevent the people that had been healed from being thrown into the spotlight.

The other thing that I think of as I try to reconcile this in my mind is that we as Christians are given the directive to go into all the world and make disciples of all men - one of the best ways to do that is to tell our own story - what Christ has done for us. How does that fit in with the directions that Christ gave people He healed during His earthly ministry to tell no one?

Food for thought I guess.

The Jesus we Need

Luke 7:18-35 is for me, a passage that brings to light one of the greatest struggles that people had with Jesus.

When Jesus came and began his ministry - John the Baptist recognized him as the Messiah. But later on when John is sitting in prison, and Jesus isn't necessarily doing the things that the Messiah was supposed to do - such as overthrow the Roman Empire and establish His own Kingdom - even John says - are you the one that we are all waiting for - or should we look for someone else?

This comes after Jesus has been teaching on such things as "LOVE YOUR ENEMY" (see chapter 6) and and has been doing such unMessiahish things as hanging out with Lepers, denouncing the Pharisees, and allowing a great prophet (who also happened to be his relative) sit in prison. Can we wonder at how people didn't recognize Him for who he was?

I can't tell you the number of times I hear things like "I don't believe in a God who..." - maybe that is because we think we know who God is supposed to be, what He's supposed to act like, and what He's supposed to do for us. When will we let go of our own preconceived ideas of what God is like and embrace the God who really is - the God that we need - not the God that we want.

Need I say more?

The Colts Rule - click here

A Question of Need

Today's passage of scripture is one of those that I would have loved to be there and seen first hand. Luke 5:17-26 relays the story of a time when Jesus was teaching and healing at the height of his popularity. The place where he was teaching was so packed that some people bringing a paralyzed man to be healed couldn't even get through the crowd. So they went up to the roof, dug through the clay / tile roof and lowered him into the midst of this crowd.

Can you imagine being in the crowd as the dust and dirt started falling into the crowd as this man's friends dug through the roof!! That would get some attention. Then to see this man lowered on his bed through the hole in the roof - what a sight. I can only imagine that the man must have been scared and holding on to the edge of his mat for all he was worth - maybe yelling at his friends to not drop him.

This man came to Jesus thinking he knew what he needed - he thought that he needed to be healed. But when he finally got to Jesus - Jesus looked at him and said - "Your sins are forgiven". Again, I'm just speculating here - but my guess is that isn't quite what this young man had in mind. My guess is that he may have been a little disappointed in Jesus' response to his effort to get to him. He may have been visibly disappointed.

Jesus surely knew what this man wanted - and yet he didn't respond by giving the man what he wanted - he gave him what he needed. What he needed is the same thing that we all need - forgiveness of our sins and the ability to enter into a personal relationship with our loving Heavenly Father.

God can meet all of our wants - Jesus proved this by healing the man as well - but He is more interested in meeting our NEEDS. God is more interested in our character and our eternal soul than He is in our physical desires and comfort. But I praise God for giving us good blessings and allowing us to live a life of comfort and for meeting so many of my desires - Thank you Lord. Amen.