Today’s Podcast
Today’s Bible reading plan:
Read it in a year – Acts 9-10
see the whole year’s plan [here](http://www.bible-reading.com/bible-plan.pdf)
Today’s Devotional
Luke 9:55-56
Jesus (turning toward them and shaking His head): You just don’t get it. The Son of Man didn’t come to ruin the lives of people, but He came to liberate them.
What do Jesus’ words mean for us today?
Football season has started in earnest once again. It’s always interesting to watch the energy and enthusiasm displayed by fans. Some go a little over the top with their enthusiasm, though. When you paint your body green and then stand in sub-zero temperatures to root for your team with nothing on to cover you but that green paint, that’s going a little far. And if you start to say something about that fan’s favorite team, start looking for a fight. Don’t dare get in the way of a true fan and his love for the team. You might find yourself enjoying the services of one of the finest hospitals in your hometown. This sports fan stuff is serious business.
James and John were acting like those sports fans. “Jesus, these guys are not on our team! Should we do like Elijah did and pray for fire and brimstone to fall from the sky and destroy these people who don’t follow you? Don’t they understand that you are the Son of God. Don’t they understand that God has come to earth and you are here to save all of us? Jesus, just say the word and we will join you in prayer and get rid of all these folks that are on the wrong side of the aisle. What do you say?”
James and John were pretty adamant about folks choosing sides and then wiping out anyone that wasn’t sitting on their side of the field. But that wasn’t what Jesus came to do. He certainly wanted people to choose what side they would be on. He wanted everyone to make a choice about who they would follow. He wanted to see all come to the realization that God wanted salvation for everyone. That was His mission. He came to save the lost. But James and John didn’t understand the rules and let their enthusiasm turn their understanding into a game of follow the leader instead of true faith.
James and John wanted Jesus to ascend to the throne of David and free His people from the bondage they had suffered since Babylon enslaved them 600 years earlier. They didn’t understand that Jesus wanted to free everyone who would ever live from the bondage of sin that ensnares us. This was a battle to be fought in the spiritual realm, not on the political or military battlefields around Judea or Rome.
And oh, by the way, these same people that James and John wanted to destroy, God created in the same way He created James and John. He made everyone and everything in all creation. So how could God not want to do everything He could to call these back into His favor just as He was trying to call the Israelites back into His favor. You see, that was part of the problem that caused Him to come into our world in the human form in the first place.
God entrusted the message of salvation to a group of people descended from Abraham and gave Abraham a covenant that included instructions to bless all nations with that message. Share with the world the story of the God you serve. Let them know how Jehovah blesses and keeps and provides and protects when you serve Him with all your heart. But Abraham and his descendants failed to share that message. They failed to live the message and even those who understood the story God wanted them to share horded it instead of sharing it.
God wanted to use His chosen people as His emissaries to the rest of the world to spread His message of salvation. When they failed, He came to share the message Himself. When His people still didn’t listen, God sent messengers like Paul and Barnabas and Peter to evangelize the Gentiles to spread the good news that God could and would lift the guilt of sin from our shoulders if we would but repent and ask His Son, Jesus for forgiveness, through the washing of His the blood He shed for us on the cross as a sacrifice for our sins.
James and John didn’t understand. Too many of us today don’t understand, either. We act just like James and John pushing anyone that’s not like us, that’s not part of our team away. Hey, they don’t belong to our church or our denomination, so they can’t be part of the kingdom or God’s work. Hey, they don’t have the same color of skin, so they aren’t welcome in my church. Hey, they don’t speak the same language I speak, I don’t know what they’re saying behind my back, so they can’t come around here. They might be plotting some sinister threat against us. They come from one of those countries on the terrorist watch list. How do we know they aren’t here to gather information and kill us all? We can’t let them in.
You see, we can get just as bad as those rabid sports fans or as bad as James and John if we’re not careful. Jesus wants everyone to find Him. But how will they find Him if you and I don’t tell them?
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