Tag: kingdom of God

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Luke Devotionals

Sent out to proclaim and to heal

Luke

The tragedy in the States continues. I just read of an 8-year old girl that was shot in Atlanta in the same neighborhood where Rayshard Brooks was killed.

75 shootings have occurred in Atlanta in the last few weeks, and killings in cities across the United States are up dramatically. And as in Atlanta, this is not police shootings we’re talking about.

As the Atlanta mayor said, “We’re fighting the enemy within when we are shooting each other up in our streets.”

Or as a famous cartoonist once put it, “We have met the enemy and he is us.”

And it’s not just the black community that is hurting in all this. It’s this entire world that is hurting.

What do we do?

And he called the twelve together and gave them power and authority over all demons and to cure diseases, and he sent them out to proclaim the kingdom of God and to heal. (Luke 9:1-2, ESV)

We may not have the same power to heal sicknesses that the apostles had.

But we do have the same power and authority over the satanic powers in this world.

And we are called to proclaim God’s kingdom and to bring healing to those whose lives are broken by sin.

We are living in a broken world. It’s broken because people have rejected their King. And so to proclaim God’s kingdom is to bring people back to their King. Because only when people submit to their King can true healing begin.

Racial healing. Marital and family healing. Emotional and spiritual healing. The healing of our communities, cities, and our nations.

We are sent to proclaim and heal. Let’s get to work.

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Luke Luke 13 Mark Mark 4 Matthew Matthew 13

Parable of the mustard seed: Starting small

The gospels

I love the vividness of the pictures Jesus paints as he tells stories.

As he talks about God’s kingdom, he talks about how the mustard seed, though it is extremely small, grows into a tree in which birds can find shade from the sun.

What is Jesus’ point? The kingdom of God doesn’t usually start with a bang, it usually starts with something small.

This is especially true in terms of the kinds of people that God uses for his kingdom. Think of Mary, a simple, poor, teenage girl. Think of Joseph, an ordinary carpenter.

And when Jesus came, he didn’t come as a great king surrounded by his armies. He, like Joseph, was a carpenter.

When Jesus chose his disciples, he chose ordinary fishermen, a hated tax collector, and a political radical.

When the Christian movement started, it started in a relatively insignificant city, at least compared to the other great cities of the world.

And yet, through these people in this insignificant city, the gospel spread to the very ends of the earth.

What can we get from this?

You may feel insignificant. Small. Useless to the kingdom of God.

Yet it is because of this very fact that God is so eager to use you. The kingdom of God is filled with such “insignificant” people that others are quick to look down on.

But it is through people like you and me that the kingdom spreads and touches the people around us.

Paul puts it this way,

Brothers, think of what you were when you were called.

Not many of you were wise by human standards; not many were influential; not many were of noble birth.

But God chose the foolish things of the world to shame the wise; God chose the weak things of the world to shame the strong.

He chose the lowly things of this world and the despised things — and the things that are not — to nullify the things that are, so that no one may boast before him. (1 Corinthians 1:26-29)

Never think that you are insignificant concerning God’s kingdom. It is through the small that God’s great work is accomplished.

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Matthew Matthew 13

Parable of the weeds: Why evil?

Matthew

The problem of evil is one that many people in this world struggle with. They wonder how a good God could allow evil in this world.

In this parable, we see at least part of the reason.

I think the first thing we should note is that God is not responsible for the evil in this world. God is holy. He never does anything wrong. All the seeds he sows are good seeds.

But there is an enemy. And Satan sows his seeds in the hearts of people as well, causing them to grow as weeds in this world, causing much damage to those around them.

God could pull them out, but Jesus says here that if he were to do so, it would be impossible to do so without wrecking havoc with those God has called to salvation.

How is that possible? I’m not sure. But there are, for example, some people that are so indifferent to God, that it takes something painful to shake them up and turn them to God.

It might be a natural disaster. It might be some hurt that another causes to them.

But through these things, they come to God. And God knows that if they never went through these experiences, they would never come to him. And so he allows the “weeds” to remain in the world.

In short, there are many things that God sees that we don’t. There are many things that God knows that we don’t.

But remember this. There will be a day of judgment. For the murderer or rapist. For everyone who rebels against God.

And on that day, people will see the difference between those who serve God and those who reject him.

So as I’ve said before, when you see the evil around you, don’t lose hope. Wait patiently, for the time is coming when all will be made right.

And on that day, God’s justice and wisdom will be known to all.

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Luke Luke 4 Mark Mark1 Matthew Matthew 4

A light in the darkness

The gospels

I mentioned yesterday the question of why God allowed John the Baptist to go to prison. We don’t know for sure, but perhaps one reason was to get people’s eyes off of John and solely on to Jesus.

For right after John went into prison, it says that Jesus returned to Galilee to begin his formal ministry. In doing so, Matthew tells us he fulfilled the words of Isaiah who wrote,

Land of Zebulun and land of Naphtali, the way to the sea, along the Jordan, Galilee of the Gentiles– the people living in darkness have seen a great light; on those living in the land of the shadow of death a light has dawned. (Matthew 4:15-16)

It’s amazing that the Pharisees totally missed this passage as they disparaged Jesus’ background. (John 7:52)

But here we see one of the reasons Jesus came. We were living in darkness, separated from God by our sin, condemned to death. But in Jesus, a light dawned.

Hope sprang anew as he showed the way to the Father. He declared to the people,

“The time has come…The kingdom of God is near. Repent and believe the good news!” (Mark 1:15)

That is our message to this day. The King has come. His kingdom is near. Both in the fact that it is working in the hearts of all who believe in him, and in the fact that Jesus will come again to establish his kingdom here on earth forever.

And so we are called to repent. To repent is to turn around. To change our way of thinking. To stop living for ourselves and start living for God. To put aside our distrust of God and to follow him wholeheartedly.

A big part of that, of course, is to believe in the good news of Jesus Christ.

That God became man, becoming one of us. That he died on a cross to take the punishment for our sins, and that he rose again. And that if we will only put our faith in him, trusting in him as our Lord and Savior, we will be saved from eternal hell.

That’s the message Jesus came to bring.

Now there are two questions we all must ask.

First, have you put your faith in Christ? And if you have, are you continuing to pass on the message Jesus came to give?

How about you? Can you say yes to both questions?