November 20: Luke 13 22-27
Key Verse: Luke 13 26
Then you will say, ‘We ate and drank with you, and you taught in our streets.’
Devotion:
When Jesus was teaching people throughout the streets, He reminded them they had to not just listen to what He said, but to go out and do what He taught them. Jesus told people here they must do what they can to follow those instructions; too many times in our lives we find excuses so we do not have to follow instructions or rules. This is does not work with God!
Jesus also tells us the things He wants us to do are not always the most popular actions – He does this by comparing what we should be doing to a narrow door. It is easy to follow the crowd and go in through a big door which is waiting open, but many times Christ does not want us to blindly follow others. The work He has for us and the life He has for us to lead may well seem like a narrow or partially hidden door; we have to work hard to either go through it or even find out where it is.
Jesus also reminds us all we have to do something before we can get into heaven. If we think we have it all sorted just because we went to church every Sunday and heard every sermon, then we are sadly mistaken. We may find we are knocking madly on the doors of heaven only to have God call out and say “I don’t know you…” You see, we have to acknowledge Christ as our Lord and saviour and ask Him to forgive us of our sins; once we do that He will no longer say “I don’t know you” but will acknowledge you and open the door for you to come in.
Being turned away by someone who you though should support you is never a nice thing to happen to you. Having someone open the door and invite you in even when you have doubts over whether they will call you a friend is always a good thing! Even if we have doubts and still do things wrong, if we have called on Christ to forgive us of our sins, He is faithful to call you a friend and invite you in!
Points to Ponder:
Do you live a religious life?
Or do you have a personal relationship with Christ?
