CHRISTmas Demands Courage - December 17 Readings: Luke 4:14-44

 

 

25 Days of Christmas

On the eighteenth day of Christmas, my Bible said to me...Jesus gave himself to hard ministry, never deterred by opposition or persecution, determined to do the Father's will.

Today's Reading: Luke 4:14-44            

Due to the length of today's reading, it will not be copied here. 

Through the Bible Readings: Nahum 1-3, Revelation 5, Psalm 143:4–12, Proverbs 30:29-31

If you wish to read through the Bible in a year, follow these readings. 

Devotional: A Man of Courage       

Jesus could certainly draw a crowd - I'm guessing few fell asleep when he was proclaiming God's truth. And he was doing miracles before the people's eyes that no one had ever seen before. Demons fled. The lame walked and blind saw. His fame spread as far away as Jerusalem and people were following him. Cheering him. Loving him. Worshiping him.

And hating him. Some hated him. They tried to kill him. Luke tells how the people of Nazareth could not believe it when he claimed to be the fulfillment of Isaiah's prophecy. They remembered him as Joseph's son - just another boy from the village, no one special. If you have ever lived in a small town you know that the story of the angel appearing to Mary and Joseph got around Nazareth and you also know that tongues wagged. Few believed that this little boy that grew up in their town was actually the Promised One, the Messiah.

Now, here he was claiming to be the fulfillment of an ancient prophecy and they'd had enough. Jesus did not back down but reminded them that the chosen people had often opposed and even persecuted the chosen prophets. This infuriated them even more and they tried unsuccessfully to kill him. God protected Jesus and he left and went to Galilee.

What did Jesus do in Galilee? If he was like many Christians, he would find something else to do. "If people are going to treat me this way, I'm not going to serve them!" "I give up." Many Christians are absolutely shocked when they do something good, something godly, something God has called or led them to do, and then they receive criticism, opposition, or some form of hardship. We have bought into some false idea that godliness and obedience is a guarantee of smooth sailing.

Where on earth has anyone gotten that idea?

I'd challenge you to find a man or woman in the Bible who had an encounter with the Living God, who was called to work in name of God, and their life became easier. God can complicate our lives! It is not easy to serve him. Blessed? Yes. Joyous? Of course. Easy? There is no biblical evidence for that.

It is not the presence of hardship or opposition that ought to bother the believer, but perhaps the absence of it. A life of ease and comfort is not a sign of blessing in God's word. Jesus walked in obedience to the Father and immediately people sought to kill him.

But he trusted God. God protected him. And he continued the work! 

Father, may I not be discouraged by opposition, by criticism, or by hardship, but may I continue in your power to do the work you have set before me. 

Think and Pray :

Do you allow hardships and opposition to discourage you, to cause you to want to quit and give up on what God has called you to do?

Think through the great figures of biblical history. What happened when they followed God's call on their lives? Did not most of them encounter hardships and opposition? 

Carol of the Day: 

It came upon the midnight clear, 

That glorious song of old,  

From angels bending near the earth,  

To touch their harps of gold;  

Peace on the earth, good will to men,  

From Heaven’s all gracious king.   

The world in solemn stillness lay,   

To hear the angels sing.    

Yet with the woes of sin and strife   

The world has suffered long;   

Beneath the angel strain have rolled   

Two thousand years of wrong;   

And man, at war with man, hears not   

The love-song which they bring;   

O hush the noise, ye men of strife   

And hear the angels sing.    

And ye, beneath life’s crushing load,   

Whose forms are bending low,   

Who toil along the climbing way    

With painful steps and slow,    

Look now! for glad and golden hours    

Come swiftly on the wing.   

O rest beside the weary road,   

And hear the angels sing!   

For lo! the days are hastening on,   

By prophet-bards foretold,   

When with the ever-circling years   

Comes round the age of gold;   

When peace shall over all the earth   

Its ancient splendors fling,   

And the whole world send back the song    

Which now the angels sing.