Author: Kristen Kansiewicz, LMHC

Take a moment to read the entire chapter of Luke 15 before viewing today’s video devotional.

Hear a word from Kristen today through this video post. Share it with a friend who you know needs to hear this message: you are valuable!

 

Take a moment to read the entire chapter of Luke 14 before reading the devotional below. 

The Christian life is not for everyone. Jesus tells us in this chapter to count the cost of following him. He warns that being his disciple is a hard road and you have to be willing to walk away from a lot. His twelve closest disciples had walked away from their family lives and careers to follow him.

You know who this was easy for? The commoners. The masses. The crowds that followed Jesus around everywhere. When you have nothing to lose, the cost is easy to calculate. These were the thousands that crowded around Jesus and cheered him on when he took on the big shots. They literally had nothing else to do. They needed healing, they had been cast aside by the important people, they had nothing to lose.

You know who this was hard for? The self-reliant. The independent. The elites who had pretty good earthly lives going on. We see this with the story of the rich young ruler as well in Mark 10. When Jesus tells him to sell everything and give it all to the poor, he has a lot of cost-counting to do. And we don’t know which way he landed on that decision.

Here’s your freedom for today: Jesus will not rob you. He will not steal the things you cling to or pry from your hands the things you fear letting go of. Jesus gives you the freedom to count the cost. And as you spend time with him, those things you cling to seem less like obstacles and more like opportunities. He will make a way for you if you decide you want one.

Take a moment to read the entire chapter of Luke 13 before reading the devotional below. 

God loves second chances. He loves third chances. He loves 490th chances. And as much as Jesus may seem like he’s being hard on those who count themselves as insiders in God’s club, he really came to earth to give them a second chance. The Jewish people of Jesus’ day knew they were God’s chosen people. Descendant of Abraham? Awesome, you’re in.

But God had already give his special Jewish people chance after chance after chance, and Jesus arrived to set the record straight on God’s priorities. Someone needs healing? Sabbath or not, you take care of that person. You want to be saved? Don’t count on a birthright to get you in. God had spoken to them and cared for them for generations, and Jesus was another turning point moment to call God’s people back to his heart.

You know who Jesus didn’t give a second chance to? All the people who knew nothing about God and had been counted out by the religious elites. He couldn’t give them a second chance because they had never known they had a first chance. Jesus swings the door open for them, and I’d like to think he gave them a little wink every now and then when he ripped into the religious know-it-all’s (verse 17). Jesus is like the big kid on the playground who shows up and scares off the bullies right when you think you don’t have a chance.

Here’s your freedom for today: Jesus is stepping into your life right now to chase away all the people and things that have gotten between you and God. Whether you’ve been following Jesus for 50 years or 50 seconds, stuff has hurt you. You’ve felt far from God at times. Maybe you feel far from God now. But the Holy Spirit is praying for you at this very moment.

Jesus said that the kingdom of God is like a tiny seed or a small bit of yeast. Both bring forth life and dramatic opportunity. Plant a seed and nurture it long enough, you’ll get some fruit. Verse 8 tells of a gracious gardener who has just enough faith to stick it out one more year. God’s not done with you yet.

 

Take a moment to read the entire chapter of Luke 12 before reading the devotional below.

What would you say is most important to you? We all know the right answers… God, family, friends, etc. Let’s move past what we should say into what is really true. Want to know my honest answer? What others think about me. Reputation, image, making everyone happy, people liking me. Deep down, that is what I care about most. And on my worst days I’m thinking way too much about retweets and shares and likes and followers. On my best days, I’m working to have a reputation that reminds people of Jesus.

Either way, I’m spending a lot of time working to gather something that I can’t take with me to heaven. Yes, I can sow seeds of influence that will hopefully change people’s lives in eternal ways, and perhaps people will regard me well for that. But their opinions? That’s just my pride, plain and simple.

In this 12th chapter of Luke, Jesus preaches a message of freedom about priorities. He’s calling people out, but he’s really setting people free. In this case he’s telling people that if they focus on money, they’ll miss him. If they focus on family, they’ll miss him. If they are caught up in their own busy lives and aren’t keeping an eye on what is spiritually going on around them, they’ll miss him. And missing Jesus isn’t worth any of that.

Here’s your freedom for today: who you are with Jesus is a better you. I don’t want to be that prideful person caught up in my own ego. And I know you don’t want to be that person obsessed with money or your schedule or your kids or your job. Instead of being caught up, I want to be caught upwards. At the end of each day, I want to ask myself, “Did I go deeper with Jesus today?” And I want that to be all that matters.

 

Take a moment to read Luke 11:14-54 before reading the devotional below. 

When you strive to find the foolproof path to a life with God that has no mistakes and has a “God-says-I’m-good-enough” guarantee, you end up missing God. He could be standing right there in front of you, and you wouldn’t believe a word he said. You could witness miracles and stand there thinking, “Yeah… I think this guy is probably demonic himself.” How do I know? It is exactly what the Pharisees did.

I am a Pharisee. I have been convinced of that for a long time and to be honest, it scares me. When I see who Jesus picked to be his disciples, I know that I’ve lived too “put together” a life to qualify. The Pharisees knew the word of God, clung to it strictly and lived very disciplined lives in order to be sure they kept God’s law. (You can read more about the Pharisees here.)  They wanted to like Jesus — they even invited him over for dinner. They tried to give him a chance. But when someone claiming to be from God (or maybe even God himself) sits down to dinner and doesn’t wash his hands it’s not okay. God’s law said, “Wash your hands before you eat.” Here’s this guy claiming to have a unique connection to God seemingly disobeying God’s own law. I can see why they came to the conclusions they did about him somehow being from Satan.

Jesus answers them by pointing out that he couldn’t be from Satan and cast demons out at the same time. He tells them that if they want to get what’s really going on they’ll have to look for a new Jonah (someone who spends three days in a dark, seemingly death-filled place and then suddenly reappears — hint, hint…). He tells them that they’ve been in the “light” so long they actually are in total darkness and have no idea. And the most telling judgment is in verse 46: “What sorrow also awaits you experts in religious law! For you crush people with unbearable religious demands, and you never lift a finger to ease the burden.” The message, also an important one for us today: rule-driven systems crush people.

Here’s your freedom for today: if your life is messy and filled with mistakes and you aren’t sure you know enough about the Bible yet, you are in a really great spiritual place. And if you have been a rule-following Christian for your whole life and think you know God really well and have all the important verses memorized and emblazoned on your coffee mugs, it’s not too late for you either. As much as Jesus called out the Pharisees, he never stopped pursuing them. Even the number one Pharisee of all time — Saul, who became Paul — got a second chance from Jesus. I can only hope and pray that God knocks me off my horse and blinds me one day if that is what I need to understand his heart. May I do nothing zealously stupid in the meantime.