Wednesday Reading: Luke 7:28-35
Key Verse: Luke 7:34
34 The Son of Man has come eating and drinking, and you say, Behold a gluttonous man and a winebibber, a friend of tax-collectors and sinners!
Devotion:
It still amazes me to see how much each of us lives a double standard life and we are all guilty of that to some extent. We say one thing and seem to do another or we take God’s word and we say that it means something else; and we do these things just to suit ourselves. I’m not saying that we do this all the time nor that we all do both but we are guilty to some extent. Don’t think that we are alone because as we read our bibles we see that man has been doing this for a very long time...
Jesus bore witness to the work that John had been doing and He wanted people to know that what John was doing was ordained by God; He also wanted people to see that all manner of people can be forgiven of their sins. Baptism is not a requirement to gain entry to heaven but rather a show of obedience towards God’s ways. It is a way of showing God and others that we are trying to turn our backs on our old ways and live a new life for God rather than for ourselves as we were. As Jesus told those around, the people who were turning to God and away from their sins would willingly go forward to be baptised and yet the Pharisees and lawyers rejected those ways.
I like the way that Christ described those actions comparing them to children sitting in a market place. One plays the flute and expects the other to dance just because he plays the flute. Each of us has a choice and it is our choice as to whether we dance to the tune or not and not the choice of the person playing the music. It is our choice as to whether we choose God’s ways or continue to follow our own. Don’t be swayed by the descriptions attributed to man by men because it is what we do for God that counts.
Points to Ponder:
Do you think you are doing OK?
Are you obeying Him?
