Take a moment to read the entire chapter of Luke 8 before reading the devotional below.
We’ve been talking about how Jesus was a rule-breaker who was willing to offend those who thought they knew God well (see yesterday’s post). As we journey on into chapter 8, we continue to see the confrontational nature of Jesus. His authoritative claims force us all to confront ourselves and our beliefs. What do we do with Jesus? Everyone must answer this question at some point in life.
In verses 4-15, Jesus tells and then explains a parable in which seeds are scattered on four types of soil. If you’ve been around church for any length of time, you’ve heard this one in a variety of forms. What strikes me most is that it emphasizes this confrontation with Jesus: you will either never believe, believe enthusiastically but never grow, believe but love all your other stuff more, or believe and grow. That’s it. Everyone will be in one of those categories. Jesus’ life, unquestionably historic even by those who do not follow him, confronts us still today.
The rest of the chapter is more mind-bending supernatural stuff. Story after story of healings and exorcisms and weather control. We like to talk about Jesus calming the “storms of life,” but that is a lame, watered-down retelling. He literally changed the weather. He threw a legion of demons into a bunch of pigs who then jumped off a cliff. These are not cute children’s Bible stories. These are confrontations with the supernatural. And this is the space in our minds where faith can exist.
Here’s your freedom for today: faith is not about you feeling better. Sometimes we feel like we don’t have enough faith if we struggle with depression or anxiety or other emotional issues. But faith is the position you take with the supernatural confrontation of Jesus. Are you willing to wrap your mind around who he is and what he did while on earth? Are you willing to wrestle with tough questions about the supernatural realm? Don’t weaken the definition of faith by making it about your feelings. Wrestle with the genuine spiritual questions Jesus forces us to answer.