Today’s Podcast
Today’s Bible reading plan:
Read it in a year – 2 Chronicles 16-20
see the whole year’s plan [here](http://www.bible-reading.com/bible-plan.pdf)
Today’s Devotional
Luke 7:22-23
Jesus (to John’s disciples): Go and tell John what you’ve witnessed with your own eyes and ears: the blind are seeing again, the lame are walking again, the lepers are clean again, the deaf hear again, the dead live again, and good news is preached to the poor. Whoever is not offended by Me is blessed indeed.
What do Jesus’ words mean for us today?
I don’t know if you are old enough to remember the days when we joked with each other about each other. All of us were the brunt of jokes. Every religion, every race, every socioeconomic group, every school, every age, both sexes (we didn’t talk about transgender, transsexual, gender identity, and such back then). We told funny stories and jokes about everyone. We laughed a lot at and with people, including ourselves. And we didn’t get upset about it. We all joined in and no one seemed offended by the stories. We enjoyed life.
I wonder what happened to those days? Now we get offended by just being titled American instead of African-American or Asian-American or Hispanic-American or Native-American. We get offended by not being recognized by a transgender or lesbian or gay title. We get offended if someone tells a joke about our school or our race. We get offended if someone doesn’t agree with our political views. We get offended if someone doesn’t agree with our religious views. We get offended about anything and everything.
I’ve just about come to the conclusion that in our society we’ve decided that we live for the opportunity to be offended and we look for ways to be offended. It’s almost like we want to be offended by something or someone so we go out of our way to find things to offend us so we can complain about it.
John’s disciples came to Jesus to find out if Jesus really was the Messiah. John had been telling everyone that He was, but now he found himself in Herod’s prison because of his preaching. He told everyone the Messiah had come and they needed to repent. He told Herod about the sins he committed and that even as king, Herod would be accountable for the wrongs he had done. His position and power would not stand against God. Herod in response to John’s accusations, imprisoned him.
Now, John asked the question, “Are you really the Messiah, as I have been telling everyone?” It’s a reasonable question considering the position he was in and the fact that everyone thought the Messiah would free them from Roman rule. John was Jesus’ herald. He proclaimed His coming. But now he found himself in jail with no prospects of escape or release.
Jesus didn’t answer John’s question directly, though. Just like He doesn’t answer directly for us. He says look at the evidence and make up your mind. He told John’s disciples to go back and report what they had see, the blind made to see, the lame made to walk, lepers cleansed, the deaf made to hear, the dead raised. Go tell John what they had seen and then let him make up his mind whether Jesus was the Messiah as John proclaimed.
Jesus asks us to do the same. Look at the evidence. Read His word. Let Him forgive your sins. Let Him act in your life and see how He acts in the world around you. Recognize His handiwork around you and weigh the evidence of what you see. Your heart will tell you the truth about Him. You can try to cover it up and say He is not divine. That’s what the Muslim religion does. They recognize Jesus as a great prophet who said good things and could perform great miracles, but they don’t recognize Him as divine, the son of God.
Many of those around Jesus didn’t accept Him for who He was. They saw the miracles, but didn’t believe. The Pharisees, Sadducees, and other church leaders didn’t accept Him as Lord. They looked at the evidence, but didn’t put it together. It’s all there. We must just exercise the faith necessary to know it to be true. How much faith does it take? As much as it takes to believe your light will come on when you turn on the light switch. As much as it takes to believe the car will start when you turn the key. A much as it takes to believe the sun will rise in the eastern sky in the morning. Just that much faith and you can know that Jesus is the Son of the living God.
When you know Him as Lord, you will be blessed beyond anything you can imagine. Not in this world, perhaps because this world doesn’t know Him or understand Him. But there is coming a day when everyone will bow to Him and those who live for Him now will continue to rejoice with Him forever.
So look around at the evidence. Do you know Jesus is the long awaited Messiah? It just takes a little faith to be sure.
The Voice Bible Copyright © 2012 Thomas Nelson, Inc. The Voice™ translation © 2012 Ecclesia Bible Society All rights reserved. In accordance with the requirements for FTC full disclosure, I may have affiliate relationships with some or all of the producers of the items mentioned in this post who may provide a small commission to me when purchased through this site.