Luke 21:1 "She Gave Out of Poverty" (April 30)

Luke 21:1  The Omniscient Jesus Christ looked up at the beautiful moment.  She was poor.  She was a widow.  She gave every coin she had to live on. Two mites equaled 1/128 of a day's wage---not much!  She had faith that God would supply her every meager need.  No husband to rely on.  She gave out of her poverty. She had a spirit and, a body---she gave both to her God. She showed up. She wasn't at work.  She went to give wordless worship. No figuring out 10 percent---she gave 100 percent to The Messiah. 
They...

They gave out of their abundance.  Comfortable lives.  Let me help you but, whoa!, if it's going to cost me too much---then, uh no.  Let me figure out my 10 percent and if it doesn't hurt me too much, then I'll do it.   Our LORD wants us to give out of our abundance----no He wants it out of your poverty of soul.

This is a contained pericope sandwiched in-between the end of Jesus' public ministry and the Olivet Discourse.  Jesus had just rebuked the Scribes for destroying widows' houses and making a debaucle of religion, showing off their prayers and posture, especially their giving.  Thus, a pericope to give depth to His teaching about being a giver.  Living out loud not giving out loud. 

Am I giving what I have to my LORD?  Am I showing up before Him every day?  He is looking up at you this day.  Will He see a woman who is giving or grabbing for what you need?  He understands your frame.  Let Him take your open hand.  Humble yourself.  He is such a Good God!

Luke 20:46 "No Pretense in the Kingdom Program" (April 29)

Who were the Saducees and Scribes?  Saducees didn't believe in the resurrection.  Talk about a closed mind.  Is it evidence that we need or transformation?  Scribes interpreted Jewish law---they were the judges and lawyers of the day.  They conflicted with the Author of the law who claimed authority over it.   Who are the Pharisees and Saducees and Scribes of our day?

Jesus preached a Kingdom that turned everything inside out as He dealt with what was going on inside of their heart, not just their behavior. No pretense in His Kingdom Program.  "Beware of the Scribes who like to walk around in long robes, and love greetings in the marketplaces and the best seats in the synagogues and places of honor at feasts, who devour widows' houses, and for a pretense make long prayers.  They will recieve the greater condemnation."  Luke 20:46

Matthew Henry said that the scribes would receive the severest judgement for defrauding the poor widows, and for their abuse of religion, particularly of prayer, which they used as a pretense for carrying on worldly plans. Dissembled piety is double sin. Oh, God, keep us all from pride, ambition, covetousness, and every evil thing; and teach us to seek that honor which comes from You alone. 

Luke 20:23 "Jesus Perceives Our Every Need" (April 28)

Luke 20:2  "Tell us by what authority you do these things" O Son of God.  Seems so arrogant.  The Pharisees were just trying to undermine His Authority cause they didn't want to follow Him.  They take Truth and load it down with difficulties. But it's not about the jot and tittle---it's about the heart and what is stirring in my heart this very moment. 

How can you understand the Word?  How can Christ speak with such Authority?  How can we really know what is the truth?  There is no way we can conform to Christ, the Truth of the Gospel, by trying to make sense out of it.  Not with our natural minds.  This is Mystery.   It is the Power of the Spirit of God.  I do the same things.  I try to understand things, figure them out, make sense of it all.  The Mystery of the Gospel of Christ. 

Jesus perceived their craftiness ~ Luke 20:23.  I've never noticed in any of the gospels before how many times it says that Jesus perceived.  He perceived then, He perceives now.  Oh, the Omniscience of our God.  Someone shared Jer. 23:23-24 with me yesterday and a tear fell.  Then a call came:  "We'd like to pay your health insurance this month."  We were going to sell one of our cars to pay that bill but our car broke down last week so we couldn't.  Oh, the Omniscience of our God.  He perceives where we are, what we need, what is best. 

Luke 19:41 "He Wept for They Knew No Peace" (April 27)

Luke 19:28 Jesus went on ahead to Bethany---it's the place where Lazarus was raised from the dead.  Everybody in Bethany knew who Jesus was.  I'm sure when they heard He was back, they came flocking.  And He instructed two of His disciples there to find a donkey tied up---one on which no one has ever sat. Tell the guy "the LORD has need of it."  Oh Omniscient One.  You know everything even before the words is on our lips.  Someone shared with me today the verses in Jeremiah 23:23-24.  He is not a God Who is far off.  Very near.  There is nothing hidden from You.  You know it all.  Help us to live wide open.
Two miles away is Jerusalem.  It was an uphill mile-high climb all the way.  The King enters riding on a donkey.  A Mission of Peace not War.  Kings ride donkeys in peace.  Kings ride horses in war.  William Barclay said:  "It was a breathtaking thing to think of a man with a price on his head, deliberately riding into a city in such a way that every eye is fixed on Him.  It is impossible to exaggerate the sheer courage of Christ."  Two and one-half million people are in Jerusalem for the Passover.  Thousands and thousands witness the glory, the splendor, the majesty, the King of Kings.  "Blessed is the King Who comes in the Name of the LORD."

When Jesus saw Jerusalem, He wept over it.  Luke 19:41.  I stood at that same spot and, yes, the tears flowed, but they were also for the next part of the verse where Jesus said:  "Would that you, EVEN YOU, had known the things that make for peace!"  Do I know in my life this day what makes for peace in my heart?  Do I have His Peace in the midst of all that life has thrown my way?

Luke 19:6 "Courage to Climb our Tree" (April 26)

Luke 19:1   Jesus was passing through Jericho on his way up to Jerusalem.  About 17 more miles to walk to Jerusalem.  And it's all uphill.  Jericho is about 800 feet below sea level.  Jerusalem sits approximately 2,500 feet ABOVE sea level.  That means the incline is not quite one-mile high in ascent.  The road ahead for Jesus is steep physically and spiritually. 

Yet, knowing what He faces, He sees a publican in a sycamore-fig tree.  The Jews didn't make room for publicans to see Jesus.  Jesus calls the rich chief publican by name.  How did He know his name?  How does He know your name?   And how humbling and desperate is this rich and honest chief publican, a dignified leader, to climb a tree to catch a glimpse of Jesus?   A touch.  A word.  A miracle.  He got it all.  You see, Zaccheus wasn't just any old tax collector, he was a superintendent of tax collectors.  And he was rich.  And he was waiting for God to show up. He had a wide open heart.  Do I?  We're about to see a rich man walk into the Kingdom of God, right through the eye of the needle.  

In verse 6, Jesus called him by name, Zaccheus, "Come Down" for TODAY I must abide at your house.  Since when does Jesus abide or stay overnight at strangers' homes?? Yes, Zaccheus had already been living a rather clean life of giving and serving.  But it was the relationship that was missing in following Christ.  And Zaccheus was being invited to more, so much more.  He was about to find it at a dinner made for him, a night he will never forget, especially for the rich chief publican.  For verse 10 says that Jesus came to seek and save the LOST.  Vine's Dictionary defines "lost" as spiritually destitute.  Zaccheus found the Kingdom of God in a tree.

Oh that we would have the tenacity, the courage, the humility, the abandonment to climb the tree to pursue the knowledge of the Savior of our world.  Make us all like Zaccheus this day, this moment in our lives, that we let go of our preconceived notions and surrender to relationship.  Have Mercy on Us, O God, and help all of us sinners climb our very own tree---whatever it takes---to know You and the Power of your Resurrection. 

Luke 18:35 "Have Mercy on Me" (April 25)

Luke 18:35 ~ They are on their way to Jerusalem.  It's a throng surrounding Jesus passing between villages where blind men can make the most money in more traffic.  Almost to Jericho, not quite.  The blind man inquires about the unfamiliar noise, the commotion.  What is it?  Jesus of Nazareth is passing by.  Oh for a heart like this to cry out with the four words that can change our life.  The blind man yells it:  "Have Mercy on Me!"  God, you know where we sit this day in our own blindness.  Would you please have mercy on me and my friends?
Those in the front rebuked him---do you suppose it was the Pharisees?  But, the blind man just cried out ALL THE MORE.  "Son of David---Messiah---Have Mercy on Me."  What raised the ire was that a blind man identified Jesus as The Messiah!  A blind man who couldn't see.  But those pharisees who could see were the ones who were so blind. 

Jesus replied to the blind man that day, and it's for this day:  "What do you want Me to do for you?" 
And immediately he recovered his sight and followed Him. And all the people, when they saw it, gave praise to God for they recognized this was no ordinary man.  He was their Messiah.

What do you want God to do for you?  Have Mercy on me, a sinner.

Luke 18:1 "An Interior Prayer is the Longing of Your Heart" (April 24)

Happy Easter to you and your Family!

Luke 18:1 Jesus said we ought always to pray. I seem to be stricken with A.D.D. when I start on my daily list of urgent and needful and humble and dependent and desperate prayers. Verse 2 says to pray and don't faint. Can I stop the physical faint, the spiritual faint? I have fainted at least ten times that I could document---all related to shock and fear and disease. Couldn't stop the fainting. But can I stop the surrounding circumstances that plummet my life into distress? Probably not, not really. So, should I say, I cannot stop the circumstances, but can I better wrestle with what is really going on deep inside of my heart? Absolutely.

And One Way is through Persistent Prayer----longing for Him.
Coffman's Commentary says that Luke 18:1 has "no reference to a ceaseless bending of the knee, or a continuation without intermission in the utterance of petitions to the Almighty, but to an attitude of unbroken fellowship with God. As Augustine said, 'There is another interior prayer without intermission, and that is the longing of thy heart.' " And that gives me such hope for our Avenger does not make all wrongs right here and now. Our Long-Suffering LORD doesn't immediately heal every disease this Resurrection Day. Therefore. Are my longings for God and His Plan greater than my longing for healing, for comfort, for safety, for approval, for recognition? What's most alive in me this Easter Sunday?

As I stand before a holy God in the midst of a Kingdom Program, may we be called to repent, whether the younger prodigal or the older brother, repent of what controls us other than the Love of Christ. As we stand in the middle of the Easter congregation alongside pharisees and publicans, may we see with the eyes of our heart what we are doing to God, our families, our friends & ministries.

Luke 18:13 ~ God, be merciful to each of us sinners on Easter and always!  Because, He is Risen!

Luke 17:21 "The Kingdom Is Related to Repentance" (April 23)

Jesus addresses the question from the Pharisees about when the Kingdom of God would come:  "The Kingdom of God is in the midst of you." ~ Luke 17:21.   Well, it's not in the hearts of the Pharisees, so what does Christ mean here?  Beasley writes:  "The Presence of the Kingdom of God is related to one's ability to repent" (Beasley-Murray 1986: 102-3).  That's what really matters. For there will be an Interruption one day, One Grand Day, when we are "eating and drinking, buying and selling, planting and building" just like Noah and Lot.  For Noah it was a flood; for Lot it was a fire; for us it will be like the flash of lightning...and one day the Son of Man will be revealed and all will be judged.  So, what am I doing to be ready for that day?  It may catch you by surprise while you are on the roof or in the field.  It will be swift---no time to grab your photos, your purse, your money, your memories.  The Pharisees and you and me just need to respond today to the King for "days are coming."  (Is 39:6).  Don't look back.  "Expect suffering but persevere with patient faith. Redemption comes, and so does God's vindication." Whether two are asleep or two women are grinding at a mill, on That Day, one will be taken and another left.  And the separation of humanity will begin:  those who are FOR Him and those who are AGAINST Him.  May we be found faithful on That Day, this day!

Luke 17:19 "Your Faith Has Made You Well" (April 22)

Luke 17:11 - "On the way to Jerusalem" ~ His Face is set toward Jerusalem on the way to His Death, taking on the weight of the world, even my sins and yours.

But he hears Ten Voices: "Master, have mercy on us." A rousing ruckus. What does He hear from you this Resurrection weekend? Is it a cry for mercy? A wail that our faith make us well again? 
Jesus told them to go to the priests in this tiny town between Samaria and Galilee. How could a leper stand in the presence of the townspeople?  Even lepers knew Jesus was their Master possessing a Power like none other. They heard the sermons on the mountains from afar, they heard about their friends being healed of the dreaded adornment of leprosy. They knew He could heal them but they didn't know Who he really was. 
Only One of Ten Found Him. A foreigner. This One Samaritan Leper came back to fall on his face before His Master and say thanks because he was healed "as they went" to the priests---I mean, they didn't even make it to the priests' presence, not even inside the city gates --- and they are CLEAN. Were the other nine that easily pleased---I'm happy with my health, Jesus, and I'll move on.  But, the Foreigner went back to the Author of his healing.  And to the foreigner and to you this very day, Jesus says in Luke 17:19: "Your Faith Has Made Your Well." Am I falling on my face?  No, I wonder why...am I merrily on my way cause the Master is making things work out for me?

What is the cry of your heart this Easter weekend? Those thoughts that you let no one see. The Master Alone Owns the Power and Presence to invade your Easter finery. May your Faith be Found. May you be made Well Again in your Soul, no matter what! On my face before the Master praying for all who read this post that your faith makes you well. He Lives!

       "We are far too easily pleased."   C.S. Lewis

Luke 16:31 "Unbelief Is Not Lack of Evidence But Lack of Heart" (April 21)

There are not two classes of people in life:  the have's and the have not's.  No big people and little people in God's Eyes.  This is a story, not a parable, a parallel about how two men lived their lives.
1.) A Rich Man. The sins of this rich man:  Selfish---so living for himself.  Rebellious---not listening to the Word of God.
2.) A Poor Man. Here is a godly man who will be happy because he is going to live forever.  On earth, he lived his whole life in the midst of adversity and distress and poverty.  Wonder if he ever was happy on earth.  Wonder why God allows so many to live in such need.  Wonder if we miss what life is really about? 

Almost half the world — over three billion people — live on less than $2.50 a day.  There are 2.2 billion children alive today.  One billion live in  poverty this day.  God has left many in the midst of adversity.

So, what's the teaching of this story for me and for you?  The rich man didn't care one iota about the poor man who ate his crumbs under his table.  He didn't harm the poor man.  He simply could have cared less about him.  "Here, have my crumbs; you'll never have my heart."  We are all richer than someone in some way, aren't we?  How am I living my life that shows that I care about all who come across my path?  Those who want to eat my crumbs.  Every day, every day, every day, I see people who are overlooked, outcast, one-of-a-kind.  I am one of those people. I have a couple of enemies. But the real question is how I treat those who eat my crumbs. 

And then, what happens when it's over and death ushers us into I Cor 2:7, our Full Glory?  Who will be standing next to us?  What family members will be on our street?  What friends will be there?  And Luke 16:31 assures us that if they are not there, they didn't hear the Word cause they didn't want to.  Nothing could convince them otherwise, not even someone rising from the dead.  You see, their unbelief is not for lack of evidence, but it's for their lack of heart---their rebellion.  They have refused to repent and bow the knee before the Author & Finisher of their life.  Oh my!  I am so shaken by these verses tonight.  So, what will I do, this day, with those who want to eat my crumbs?  You know who they are in your life.  It's the people and the situations you could care less about. 

        Go after a life of love as if your life depended on it—because it does.
                                                                               I Cor 14:1 The Message

Luke 15:11 "Control our Lives Through Works-Righteousness" (April 20)

Luke 15:11 - You all know the story of the prodigal son who squandered his inheritance in reckless living.  Lost his money.  Hoping now to be fed with the pigs.  Came to himself.  Went to his father.    "I am no longer worthy to be called your son." So humble. 

Did his father hold hope that he would return?  Sounds like he did. He was watching for him to appear on his road one day. Is there anyone you are waiting for to knock on your front door or come through the back way?  The father didn't go after his son, did he?  No, the father waited on God---he knew that it would have to be a work of God, a work of faith, a work of hope.

The prodigal went home, a familiar road, shamed and broken.  On that rocky road where he played safely as a child, from far off, the mixed-up son's eyes met the most welcomed unexpected surreal sight.  His father was running to him.  Embraced in the arms of his dad.  Kissed all over like when he was a child on that road. 

It's the best scenario possible when you've messed up grandly.  Every day, we miss the mark and our Father's arms are WIDE-OPEN waiting for us.

"Father, I've sinned against heaven and you.  I'm no longer worthy to be called your son."  Did the father say:  That's right, prodigal!  You've so disappointed me.  How could you have done such a thing?  Where have you been?  No, no, no.  The Father came alongside the rebellious one.  "Bring the Best Robe. A ring.  Shoes.  A Fattened Calf to Eat and Celebrate.  My son was dead and is ALIVE again.  He was lost and is FOUND."

The older brother heard the celebration, oh-so-quickly processing the song and dancel and became ANGRY and refused to go inside to see his wayward brother home.  "Look at me, Dear Dad, look what I've done for you.  Never disobeyed your command"---Really?  ----How is that possible?----only if you are a pharisee.

Younger Brothers are way-too-self absorbed.  Self-Obsession!  They live out of their selfish addictions.  Addicted to pleasure, comfort, fun, my way.  I'll count the cost later.  God wouldn't send me to hell, would he?

Older Brothers are way-too-righteous.  Arrogance!  They may do the right things but the joy is not there.  They live out of duty not delight.  They may be going through the motions, but all their contribution nets very little in the Kingdom.  !Appreciate me! is their mantra.

What is stronger in me?  Is it the pursuit of holiness or is it life working out in my favor, especially when those we love overlook our contributions.  Am I more like the older brother or the younger brother? What flows out of my days?  Peace in the middle of the success of others, even at my expense?  Contentment smack dab when life overflows with troubles?  Rest, no matter what happens? 

What story resonates? Being an elder brother?  Being a younger brother?  And why won't I do something about it?

       “At the root of all our disobedience are particular ways in which we continue to seek control of        our lives through systems of works-righteousness. The way to progress as a Christian is to
       continually repent and uproot these systems the same way we become Christians, namely by the
       vivid depiction (and re-depiction) of Christ’s saving work for us, and the abandoning of self-       trusting efforts to complete ourselves."                                                      Tim Keller

Luke 14:1 "The LORD Comes With A Strong Hand" (April 19)

The Hebrews have been shepherds since the days of Abraham and Isaac and Jacob.  They know their sheep.  This pastoral scene is a very familiar one.  100 sheep in Palestine belong to a rather wealthy shepherd.  The shepherd counts his flock at night's end and notices one is missing.  Easy to get lost.  99 present. The shepherd searches for the lost sheep who represents a lost sinner like the tax collectors.  It's all about the search and how valuable that one sheep is.  You are valuable beyond comparison to God.  He will go to great length to find your heart and lift you up on His Shoulders and carry you home.  May the Hand of God grace your problems, your lostness, your wandering this day.  "Behold, the LORD God shall come with a Strong Hand...He will feed you like a shepherd.  He will gather the lambs with His Arm, and carry them on His Shoulders."  Isaiah 40:11

Luke 14 "Longing for The Sun of Righteousness" (April 18)

Jesus stunned the citizens of Capernaum with a metaphor ---leave your mother, leave your father behind.... it's called the cost of discipleship.  Did He mean it literally?  No.  But, did He mean it? 

No "by-path meadow" here.  We all enter through the same door.  It cost Jesus His Life, literally, for you and for me to have access to the Kingdom.  He is our Righteousness.

The Sun of Righteousness is Rising Up
to bring Light into your Darkness.
Are you willing to leave it all for Him?
What is that still in your grasp, slipping through your fingers?

For What do you long for in this life?
For Whom do you long?

     "If you want to build a ship,
       don't drum up people to collect wood and
       don't assign them tasks and work,
       but rather teach them to long for the endless immensity of the sea."

                                                                    Antoine de Saint Exupéry

Luke 14:17 "Jesus Bids Come Near" (April 17)

Luke 14:1 - Sabbath Sunday in charming Capernaum. Jesus received a surprising invitation to dine at the House of a Ruler of the Pharisees, an Eastern Banquet. 

No surprise that he went and "they watched Him carefully."  The word "watched" in the Greek text in verse 2 means "sinister espionage."  Oh my!  I dislike people watching me to prove me wrong.

And who appears on this Sabbath Sunday Supper at the distinguished Pharisee's home but a man needing healing.  It was a set-up. A Pharasaical snare. What will Jesus do? 

No words are spokenl in this text, yet, but Jesus responds to their THOUGHTS with a question.   "Is it lawful to heal on the Sabbath, or not?" Is the Jesus we so love responding to our thoughts this day?

The Pharisees were stuck if they said yes He could heal for it was not a written law; if they said "no healing," they would be proved wrong---very soon---within minutes.  Jesus entered the drama and healed the dropsy.  Unbelievable.  The man wasn't even a dinner guest for he was sent on his way.  Hmmm.

So, Jesus goes on to tell a parable about dining at a wedding feast but this wasn't an analogous parable like others---it was truth.  These men were more interested in real estate and business and success and prestige and family. 

They missed the Ultimate Invitation bid of Luke 14:17 - "Come, for everything is ready now."  Bidden!

This Sunday we celebrate a parade that has continued for 2,000 years. You have an invitation to come. The Suffering Servant walked the Palm Sunday route fanned by royal palms, "Hail to the King."  He came on a donkey of peace not a flamboyant ride for a conquering Messiah.

I shook and sobbed to my core as I silently surreptiously surrendered and shuffled down that palm sunday descent into Jerusalem. 

I've accepted the Ultimate Invitation to come near to Him. 
Will you draw near to your God this day and long for only what He can do and give and make of you?
He longs for you.

Luke 13:23 "Ask Not: Whom? Ask: How Am I?" (April 16)

Luke 13:23

Ask Not how many shall be saved?
Ask Am I one of them?

Ask not What shall become of such and such?
Ask What will I do and what will become of me?

Strive to enter the narrow gate. 
This is directed to even us 2000 years later.
 It's a narrow road and few find it. 
But don't ask, Whom? 
Ask, How am I doing on this Narrow Road.

Charles Spurgeon's Sermon #39-40 on Heaven and Hell -
http://www.spurgeon.org/sermons/0039.htm
What will you think if you hear the voice behind you saying Amen! to your condemnation...
and that voice is your mom, your dad?
"Separate the chaff from the wheat;
The mother dreamed that she and her children were standing just in the middle of the great assembly. And the angel came, and said, 'I must take the mother, she is a sheep: she must go to the right hand. The children are goats: they must go on the left.' Her children clutched her, as she said: 'My children, I would, if possible, take you with me.' But in a moment the angel touched her; her cheeks were dried, and now, overcoming natural affection, being rendered supernatural and sublime, resigned to God's will, she said, 'My children, I taught you well, I trained you up, and you forsook the ways of God; and now all I have to say is, Amen to your condemnation.' Thereupon they were snatched away, and she saw them in perpetual torment while she was in heaven. ... "

Luke 13:22 "I'll See You at the Eastern Gate" (April 15)

Luke 13:22 "Then Jesus went through the towns and villages, teaching as he made his way to Jerusalem."  On His way to suffering and He never lost His calling all the way to the Gate. 
 
"Keep your lamps all trimmed and burning;

For the Bridegroom watch and wait.
He’ll be with us at that meeting
Just inside the Eastern Gate."

As you make your own way to the New Jerusalem, what calling will you answer all along that way?
May His Grace flow freely from heart to heart until I lay eyes on you at the Eastern Gate.

Luke 12:32 "Don't Keep My Family in the Courtroom" (April 14)

Luke 12:32  "Fear not, little flock, for it is your Father’s good pleasure to give you the kingdom." I still hold in my heart the night of my 21st birthday when I went to the little empty Catholic Church on the LSU campus. This life-long good Catholic girl knelt alone before the altar and cried for help. I got up and went out and got drunk.  I was connected at the hip to kids who drank and did drugs.  My treasure was on earth and finding happiness with people here. God answered my humble prayer that night about five years later.  And He has never stopped answering my prayers since that day. 

My prayer as I read this passage is that I not keep my family and friends in the courtroom.  There's only one courtroom I plan to stand in innocence before a Divine Judge who has already cleared me.  Can weeping and wailing or dutiful obedience and moral living pay to Divine Justice the debt we have all contracted?  No, my Christ has paid my debt in full.  I'll stand in that Courtroom someday as a redeemed woman.  He gave me a Kingdom beyond what I could have imagined. 

Luke 12:15 "Don't Let the Sun Catch you Coveting" (April 13)

Luke 12:13 "Teacher, tell my (older) brother to divide the inheritance with me."  Older brothers under Jewish law inherited 2/3rds of the estate.  The younger brother demands a redress.  The problem is not social inequity, it's greed. Idolatry. Mortal life is not our most valuable possession.  The body is not the real me.  Fear Him who rules over your soul.  No one can take anything away from your soul.  "Seek the Kingdom of God."  It's a spiritual issue not an earthly issue to figure out.  Jesus didn't intervene. He didn't meddle with civil rights.  "The Master knew that a changed world would not solve man's problem as long as his biggest problem, sin in his heart, was within him." (Trench) Jesus worked from the inward to the outward.  You know, we've been in a couple of situations where we have been wronged, just like you.  We have been sued twice and lost both times---strange situations.  And here in verses 14-15 Jesus says, Who made me a judge or a divider over you?  Keep yourselves from all covetousness for a man's life consists not in the abundance of things which he possesses.  So we live open-handed to the One we adore.  Covetousness is a cancer eating out our heart.  "Be not anxious for your life."  "Your Father knows you have need of things."  So, I preach to myself.  Lay down your head this night on a clean uncovetous pillow.  And don't let the morning sun catch you coveting.  "Gird your loins. Burn your lamps. Look for your LORD."  And keep close to your heart that life is not about a works righteousness. Will He find you watching this day? 
        
        "Edith lived in a little world, bounded on the north, south, east, and west, by Edith." 
                                                                                                           William Barclay








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Luke 11:28 "Lead Us to Higher Considerations" (April 12)

Luke 11:27-28 While the scribes and Pharisees despised the discourses of Jesus, there was a good woman who admired them, and the wisdom and power with which He spoke. Christ led the woman to a higher consideration. Though it is a great privilege to hear the word of God, yet those only are truly blessed who hear it, keep it in memory, and keep to it as their way and rule.  Luke 11:35 ~ Be careful lest the Light in you becomes Darkness. 


Oh God, this day, lead us to higher considerations than our small thoughts.

Luke 11:13 "Quiet Our Hearts" April 11

Luke 11 - Teach Us To Pray, O God!  Impress on our hearts to go to you like we would go to this neighbor asking for some bread.  We need you so to help us!  Every night I bend my knees and pray the Our Father to close my day. Hallowed Be Your Name!

Luke 11:13 - And you quiet my heart, O God, by answering --- whether now or later or eternity. Just like the neighbor who gives you what you need even though he doesn't want to get out of bed, the neighbor moves out of relationship with you to give you your request.  How much more so, O God of Infinite Mercy on each of us.

And this day, I ask that you would allow our neighbor to rise up and walk with You and us...and you know what I mean, dear Beautiful God!  Help us all to rise up today to meet the needs of our friends.

Would you teach us to pray today as we hold fast and lean hard onto You!

Luke 10:42 "What Must I Do" (April 10)

A blogger commented yesterday: "Blessed are the eyes that see what You see."  Eyes to see our neighbors.  Our problem is not knowing what's the right thing to do.  Our problem is our lack of vision---oh little eyes of faith.

We have had hundreds of conversations these past couple of years about preaching morality.  What must I do?  Seems today people want preachers to talk about sin and judgment and how to get their way out of it.  Tell us what to do, like the Good Samaritan story. Wait, this isn't a good story about morality---what to do. Because, before it is about doing, it is about seeing, just like yesterday's passage.

What did the Priest & the Levite see:
They saw a horrendous hassle on the side of the road not a burden to bear. 
They saw obligation and inconvenience not an opportunity to love.

What did the Samaritan see:
He saw his "neighbor."  The Hebrew word means "place."  Anything surrounding you. Any place you are. What do you see?

What did the Lawyer see in the story:
Lawyers parse their words to make stories come out.  Only what COUNTS matters to lawyers on a mission.
Who's on the bus. Who's not. Who's In. Who's Out. 
In God's Divine Economy, it's about who fits.  So they master the guidelines to live by. Mastering the Rules. Isn't that what some church-goer's want...tell me what to do and I'll go do it and don't mess up our neighborhood with your troubles and tears and toils and tales.  I've thought a lot about Job. His friends were willing to sit in silence with him for 7 days---then, the friends decided, THAT'S ENOUGH, Job.  Draw a line in the sand and move on.  When was the last time anyone lost 10 kids and beyond? 

Somewhere in 66 LL it says, we all have cancer of the soul.  We don't need opened eyes, we need a transplant for what ails us.  The Bible is not an instruction manual or life coaching.  We need Eyes to see His Kingdom, His Love----so deep and wide and strong and high.

Eyes to see like Mary who sat at Jesus feet and let the dishes go.  Serving Jesus is not the ultimate goal. Martha welcomed him into her home to serve Him.  But, it's also about listening to Him. And seeing with eyes of faith in the midst of arguments and betrayals and dismissals and rejections and dishes.  Remember, yesterday, He said:  "The one who hears you, hears God." Yes, it's about listening and seeing with eyes wide open. 

Mary saw and chose the One Thing Necessary, Luke 10:42.

Luke 10:16 "Shake the Dust Off" (April 9)

Luke 10:10 Whenever you enter a town and they do not receive you, know this.  The Kingdom of God has come near to you.  Christ will visit your city soon.  Pentecost is about one year away.for the people in this story.  For us today, He has come. Available to all men. The LORD is nigh.

From 2,000 years ago to this very day, Jesus never told them to go win a city but to share His Gospel and let the hearer decide.  The gospel mission is to give our families and friends and communities an opportunity to hear and know the Truth.  If our family and friends reject the Gospel, it is not the responsibility of the messenger but the hearer. 

This verse frees me from the constraints and angst I have felt from decisions of my family and friends not to follow God.  God is not commanding any specific individual or town to be "won for the Master," but rather that the Message be proclaimed.  The rest is left up to the hearer.  So, shake that dust from your feet, Bev.  Be concerned for the hearer but it is their decision and, as someone once said, I cannot nag any child into the Kingdom of God.  That is not my mission in life.  Salvation belongs to Him and the hearer. 

Woe to Austin!  Woe to Dallas!  Tyre and Sidon never had the opportunity of having Jesus visit or they would have repented.  We have Him here.  Repent.  Don your sackcloth and ashes. Don't wait. Drop it all.  Drop your deadly doings for the Kingdom is at hand.  "The one who hears you hears Me and the one who rejects you rejects Me," Luke 10:16.  When your child, your husband, your friend hears your words, they are actually hearing the Light of the World.  He is not a God of force but of conviction of sin and righteousness and judgment.  What will your decision be?  What will theirs be?  Shake the dust off.  And rejoice that your names are written in heaven, not because you were victorious over the Enemy---that's about you!  No, Rejoice for your name is inscribed upon His Palm, written in the Lamb's Book of Life! Rejoice in His Work, Luke 10:20.

Luke 9:62 "Put Your Hand to Plow w/ Tears Falling Free" (April 8)

Luke 9:62 
Put your hand to the plow
with tears running down and
questions swirling round.
And don't look back
for there's nothing you lack.
5 Loaves & 2 Fish in a sack.

People say every day that they want to follow Christ with all their heart. 
Use the plumbline of the Word of God  (Amos 7:7) in Luke, Chapter Nine, to reveal what's not straight, what's going on inside of your hearts:
* Verse 40 - Do you believe in His Power to change the very circumstances you are in?
* Verse 44 - Do you realize there are some Words that may not be sinking into your ears and hearts?
* Verse 46  - Are you climbing the social ladder? Who is great? Is it Beth Moore? John Piper? Are there people whom you ignore---pass over their comments, don't return their friendship?
* Verse 47 - Do you see the competition in your own heart to be somebody great, as you measure days by people's responses and what's worked in your favor?
* Verse 53 - How do you treat those who do not want Christ as their LORD?

Jesus turned the world upside down.
And He had nowhere to lay His Head.
Fold up your social ladders.
Withdraw from the blogging competition.
Adjourn your family from the courtroom. 
Play like a little child today in humility and gratitude. 
Live in the risky poverty that your Sovereign LORD has arranged for you. 
I am so preaching this sermon to myself.
He is oh-so-more concerned about you than you will ever know.  He sees what is happening and He is writing the next chapter.  Let Him write it.

Put your hands to the plow. Let the tears fall. And don't look back.

Luke 9:20 "The Messiah of My Dreams" (April 7)

I stood in a dense desolate place called Caesarea Philippi where the Messiah made his move on his final journey to Jerusalem. A poignant moment to remember is the question posed to the followers and to you reading this Word from God.   Luke 9:20 "Who do You say that I am?"  It was Peter who answered for his eleven disciples. Quickly, He spoke: You are the Christ! In a couple of days, Peter will quickly transpose those words, He is not the Christ. Fickle just like you and me.

And who do the crowds say He is? The crowds had already begun listening to the smear campaign launched by high priests and noble rulers against the Messiah Who was no longer the One of their dreams. No one in the town responds that He is the Christ.  Just this day I was criticized unfairly and I limped through the day with hurt feelings.  But this vindictive crusade accused Jesus of being Beelzebul, a wine drinker, a glutton, a sinner, a Sabbath breaker, a deceiver, a friend of sinners.  Nothing good could come out of Galilee.  He was a man "beside Himself" claiming to be a King, Mark 3:21. 

The crowds do not even acknowledge Him as their coming Messiah anymore.
And in this desolate place in the foothills of Mount Hernon,
Jesus said to all:  If you are going to come after Me...

Deny self
Take up your cross Daily
and follow Me.
So what does that look like in your life?
 
200 million born in Jesus day.
We know of about 10,000 who would follow Him.
6.9 billion alive today.
We know of about 2.1 billion Christians this day.
Who is this Christ?
Who do you say that He is?
He is the Messiah of My Dreams,
not that everything works out and that I understand,
but I trust the Unseen One with tiny grains of faith, even when I don't understand
like now. 
  ,

Luke 9:13 "A Hope that Doesn't Disappoint" (April 6)

5,000 men brought their families to a grassy knoll in Bethsaida, one mile northeast of the stately Sea of Galilee who carried The King of Kings on its whipping waves.  The massive crowd begged to hear what this Son of God had to say.  They came in droves:  lepers, lame, demoniacs, diseased, poverished, poor, brokenhearted, blind, jailbirds, jews ... over 10,000. Oh my! What kind of Wonder could draw such a crowd to this tiny fishing town? 

I watched the rolling plains of the mount from a rickety boat on that noble Sea of Galilee  I pictured a lonely leper sitting quarantined way below to catch the Voice of the One Who would rescue Him f.o.r.e.v.e.r.  *Drawn to the Heart of God they were.* You see, Jesus stood at the tippity top of the rolling hill so that the wind would carry His Voice down the plain into stained souls sitting silently in hope.  The Wind of the Spirit of God. And Living Hope does not disappoint. Romans 5:5. They sat to find Grace in which to stand. God Himself poured out His Love into lonely despised rejected bruised hearts by the Holy Spirit through a little boy and his five loaves and two fish.  Wonder how he felt?

I'll never forget the words of a mentor to me at the lowest spot I never imagined anyone could be.  I had just been diagnosed with PTSD five years ago. Severe depression. Unwanted poverty. Never thought I could pull out of it.  I came to talk to my friend.  His last comment to me before I left that frightful dark night of my soul:  "Bev ~ Five Loaves and Two Fish." Luke 9:13.  And like that leper listening, the blind begging, the desperate dreaming, The King of Kings fed me in my poverty a Hope that didn't disappoint.

       As Mother Teresa said,
      “Loneliness
        and the feeling of being unwanted
        is the most terrible poverty.”

Luke 8:30 "Infinite Tenderness" (April 5)

Luke 8:30 - "What is your name?"  No name.  Naked.  Homeless.  Camping in a cemetery.  No friends.  No present family.  The demons inside of this man bowed low before the Son of the Most High God.  Even the demons believe...and someone once said that it's strange how men seem to have NO FEAR of the Coming Judgment but the demons tremble about it.  Jesus drove all those demons out into a herd of pigs ... and the townspeople threw a fit and asked Him to leave when they saw the demoniac clothed and sitting in his right mind.  They were more concerned about destroying their property---2,000 pigs---than they were concerned about the life of this tormented guy.  Jesus left their town immediately and he left behind a witness for Him! 

Jesus walks into Capernaum and the crowd around Him is so thick that they could hardly get to Him. A welcomed crowd here.  And with Infinite Tenderness to an afflicted woman of 12 years, He heals her first then reveals her dreaded disgusting disease.  With Infinite Mercy, He walks with a Centurion about 30 miles to awaken his daughter from death. 

Real life stories that so grab at us all.  In our community tonight, there's a funeral going on tonight.  A handsome college student took his own life.  Our children's friend.  There are demons who drive us beyond the brink like this no-clothes young man with no name.  Embrace the One Who keeps us all in our right minds.  Things get so distorted, so blown out of proportion.  The crowd presses in on us every day.  Sometimes there's not even anyone there.  People can be so cruel. 

May you find Infinite Tenderness, Infinite Mercy this day. Here's a verse that was tucked into my Inbox this morning.  It's meant so much to me:

       The Spirit Lifted Me Up and Took Me Away
       I went in turmoil.
       But the LORD's Hold on Me was Strong
                                                        Ezek 3:14

Luke 8:23 "Don't Panic" (April 4)

Luke 8:22  Sea of Galilee.  It's a small lake.  13 miles Long.  7 miles Wide.  You can see from hill to hill.  The Gennesaret Valley.  Tiberias.  Galilee. Capernaum.  A fisherman knows that a storm on this fresh water lake is deadly, like 10-foot-high waves.  Sea in Hebrew is "yam" meaning "to roar."  A storm stirs the surf and sends crashing waves with a pitch of noise like none other.  Scary sea.  So when the windstorm came up suddenly, the fishermen knew they were trapped in the turf and in deadly trouble.

There's a storm brewing in my own life right now.  A devastating one.  So I took a walk under the moon as I felt panic coming over me this evening as we pulled in from the Passion Conference.  I prayed for God to please speak to me in my panic.  It's been a while since I've had a panic attack, but it's still way-too-familiar.  That grueling feeling was all over me.  God, just like in Luke 8:23, I'm in danger.  They awakened the Master.  I love it that He rebuked the storm, not the disciples. 

It's natural to feel afraid in the eye of the storm.  It's holy to feel peace looking into the Eyes of our Master. And, as I prayed, a "tweet" twittered on my cell.  I thought I couldn't possibly read it in the pitch black of the night with no street lights on Zuni Trail.  For some odd reason, I interrupted the prayer and peered hard to see who it was from.  The tweet was from someone I've never met, a man I don't know.  I read it anyway. It wasn't from man. It was from God to me.  Here's the tweet:

       No need to panic.
       The One who called you to where you now are
       supplies all you need
       to do what he's commanded you to do there.
                                                               Paul Tripp

Luke 7:47 "Wordless. Worship. Silence. Surrender." (April 3)

We just witnessed the Power of God on a young man from Nain.  Jesus raised him up from the dead.  He makes us come alive.  He opens our mouths in praise.  Now, here's an adulterous woman whom He has made alive again.  She's free! 

Uninvited, the nameless woman comes to Simon, the Pharisee's home, knowing there was a dinner being held for Jesus.  There are good reasons for thinking that the other three gospels describe a different story in their gospels than this story in Luke.  The other gospels refer to an incident in the last week of Jesus' life.  Luke refers to this dinner happening much earlier on.  This unnamed young girl wet His Feet with her tears and watched the dirt roll down his skin.  Tears flowed freely.  Tears of Repentance but no voice. She spoke not a word.  And I must ask:  Are my tears ones of Repentance over the sin in my life?  Or am I just sad that these things are happening to me?  And if I hold no tears then I must ask why...

It was a public dinner, so the uninvited woman could slip in for a look at her Savior.  There were benches along the walls in the homes of the important for passers-by to come in uninvited and unaddressed and unnoticed and unannounced and unwelcomed to demeaningly sneak a peek at royalty. 

This woman with no name, no voice, had a debt.  She had lived a life of sin, wielding perfume as her weapon. Jesus was all about paying that debt for her.  She used the perfume that she wore to seduce men but to this Man-God she used the fragrance to surrender and kiss, not His Face, but His lowly Feet, and diffuse the fragrance over Him, over the world who reads and still smells. 

His Timeless Words of forgiveness are to a stranger, a sinner, a soul touching Him in places that sinful women shouldn't go uninvited.  Simon the Pharisee stands up:  "You should know, oh Prophet, what sort of woman is touching you---a sinner, a Woman of the City."  Do we ever act like we are above people? 

Jesus' reply to Simon, The Pharisee:  You gave me no respectful kiss.  You didn't wash my blemished feet.  You didn't anoint me with any fragrance.
 
Jesus' reply to the Sinner:  "Your sins, which are many, are forgiven...She who is forgiven little, loves little."  This woman loved her Savior much in this intrusion. Luke 7:47 You have been forgiven so much!

Wordless.  Worship.  No-Name.  No-Voice.  Silence.  Surrender.

So, where are my repentant tears?  Why the dry eyes?

Luke 7:22-23 "Not.Offended.by.God" (April 2)

Luke 7:19 "Are you the One Who is to come, or shall we look for another?"  It's a question that every one of us must answer.  John the Baptist had already been calling people to follow the Christ...so why is he asking this question?  Repent for the Coming Messiah is at hand.   Why would John ask if Jesus was the One as John sat in a dimly lit dungeon cell alone, unable to fulfill his calling, his job.  What was John thinking?

Not.Offended.by.God.---not yet...

On special occasions, I receive a letter from my friend Elisabeth Elliot since 1981.  I have a large stack of bundled letters dating back over three decades in Elisabeth's beautiful script. Tied with a black velvet ribbon, and tucked away.

There's one letter that still come to my mind often.  Even this week.  Multiple times I've thought about her words penned back to me on Kilpatrick Street in 1984.  I had just lost a baby to miscarriage and I wrote her the overwhelmingly sad news.  She wrote back and said Luke 7:22-23, My Dear Bev, The blind receive their sight, the lame walk, lepers are cleansed, and the deaf hear in His Presence.  And Blessed are you who is not offended by God and what He has chosen.

Not.Offended.by.God.

I wept as a very young mom reading her letter.  I weep almost three decades later, remembering the beautiful script from a heart so in love with her LORD Who had allowed both of her husbands to be taken away from her. 

Not.offended.by.God. 

I had lunch this week with a dear friend who is not offended either.  His twenty-something daughter has Stage 4 brain cancer and is living on Someone Else's time.  They take each day as a gift and live to love. 

How will I know if I am not offended by God?

Luke 6 "Your Servant Listens" (April 1)

Luke 6:27 - Am I listening to my Lord?
Speak, God, for your servant listens. I Sam 3:9-10.
And for places where we have forgotten Jer 3:22
we come once again to hear.

And this is what He says to those who hear:

Love your Enemies,
Do Good,
Lend,
And you will be daughters of the Most High.

Judge Not
Forgive
Give
Expecting nothing in return.

Luke 6:45 Out of the good treasure of your heart, you produce good.
Luke 6:46 Do I call Him my LORD, my LORD and not do what He tells me?

We hear your words for You have spoken them to us. 
Therefore we go to live this day,
and whatever is not of the Attitude of our Christ, Phil 3:15

You will reveal what we forget, where we fail, where we faint---
and by Your Power, we will change it.
What Energy is most alive in me this day?  Col 1:29

Thank You for speaking.  We hear You, Oh LORD!
By Your Incomparable Great Power, change us today.