Freedom For Today

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.

 

Take a moment to read Luke 11:1-13 before reading the devotional below.

When I do something, my children imitate it. (I learned a long time ago that if I eat vegetables as if I do not want to share with my children they beg me for vegetables… Shh, don’t tell…) Jesus’ disciples — who were on the immature side since Jesus handpicked those who needed to learn from him most — see him praying and they want to know how to do it too.

Many of us have heard and recited the Lord’s Prayer a lot. What strikes me most about it right now is that Jesus focused first on God, then on the collective “we.” God, we love you and honor you. We want to live in your kingdom — bring it soon! Meet our needs, forgive us and help us to forgive each other, keep us away from temptation. Those words are not, “meet my needs” or “keep me away from temptation.” It’s “us.” We’re all in this together. In Matthew 22, Jesus says that the greatest commandments are to love God and to love others. His prayer here really reflects that and gives us a template for how to pray and how to think about what our priorities are.

Jesus follows up his prayer lesson by sharing a story about how friends as well as parents/children would naturally relate and says that God wants to show us that same kind friendship and loving parenting. Here’s your freedom for today: God is eager to love you, care for you, parent you and befriend you. Even if you have already known those truths, let them sink in again in this moment. Maybe your friends have harmed you in the past or your parents did not want to give you good things. Those earthly experiences are the complete opposite of God’s nature and kingdom. Let your images and assumptions of God break as you breathe in the reality that he is for you today.

Take a moment to read the entire chapter of Luke 10 before watching today’s special video post!

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Take a moment to read the entire chapter of Luke 9 before reading the devotional below.

The theme that jumped off the page as I read this chapter was, “Take nothing with you.” Jesus shows off in a bunch of ways by using nothing to make something. Cast out demons and heal every disease? Sure, I have nothing but the clothes on my back! 5,000 people suddenly over for dinner? No problem, I have nothing to give them! Want to live a life full of everything? Great, just lose everything important to you! Are you up for a huge promotion in the kingdom of God? Super, be sure to be the last one in line!

If you cling to nothing then Satan’s power is extremely limited in your life. When we live like we have nothing to lose, we stop protecting our own interests and instead think of others first. No one can steal from you if you freely give whatever you have away.

Here’s your freedom for today: live a life holding on to nothing but faith, hope and love. We know these eternal things will be with us forever. Everything else Satan can try to rob, but he cannot steal your faith. He cannot take your hope. And he cannot snatch you away from God’s love. Against these things he is utterly powerless.