Monday Reading: Luke 9:51-56
Key Verse: Luke 9:56
56 For the Son of Man has not come to destroy men's lives, but to save. And they went to another village.
Devotion:
Is it right to kill in the name of religion? What a loaded question! There are many who would answer “yes” without thinking and some of those are going to be Christians too! But Christ, during the days before He was crucified, was making His way slowly back to Jerusalem where He would send disciples into villages and cities before Him to see if they would be willing to take them in for the night and even to listen to the gospel being preached. The Samaritans were a steadfast bunch who refused to accept Christ and would not even allow them to come to their cities simply because they were on their way to Jerusalem.
Key Verse: Luke 9:56
56 For the Son of Man has not come to destroy men's lives, but to save. And they went to another village.
Devotion:
Is it right to kill in the name of religion? What a loaded question! There are many who would answer “yes” without thinking and some of those are going to be Christians too! But Christ, during the days before He was crucified, was making His way slowly back to Jerusalem where He would send disciples into villages and cities before Him to see if they would be willing to take them in for the night and even to listen to the gospel being preached. The Samaritans were a steadfast bunch who refused to accept Christ and would not even allow them to come to their cities simply because they were on their way to Jerusalem.
The disciples were all ready to show them God’s power by calling on fire to be rained down from above just like Elijah had done. However, the circumstances were very different. God had been challenged personally in the case of Elijah and Elijah simply did what God commanded him to do. God was the one that rained down the fire and God is the one that did the judging. We do not have the right to judge others and so do not have the right to call for death because of religion. In the case where we are at war against others, we do have the right to defend ourselves and some of that defence will be to kill others simply to stop them destroying us.
Jesus reminded them in no uncertain terms, He had come to save mankind and not to destroy mankind. If He had wanted people to bow down before Him like slaves then He could have destroyed a few along the way to get others to be frightened. Instead, He wants each of us to know the truth and to make up our own mind about whether we are going to believe in Him. He does not want us to go out and frighten people into believing in Him either… He wants us to tell others of the truth and allow them to come to their own conclusions. He will allow them to see the truth as long as we are willing to open other peoples eyes as to there being a truth that is built around God.
Points to Ponder:
Do you ever get angry with others because they don’t believe?
Do you ever get angry with others because they don’t believe?
How often do you get to tell others that God is real?