8/8/19
Many churches throughout the world use a Bible reading schedule called a "lectionary." It's just a fancy word meaning "selected readings." Posts like this reflect on the readings for an upcoming Sunday or other Church holiday, as found in the three-year lectionary.
The word “gospel” means “good news.” In our Gospel passage for this week, Luke 12:22-40, there is a lot of good news. Here we read that God has planned to give his people what they need. He clothes us and feeds us so we don’t need to worry. He provides all the security, now and for eternity, that his people need. We are to seek God’s kingdom, and we will find that it is God’s good pleasure to give us His kingdom. He has employed us in His household and intends to come to us and find us engaged in the work given to us, then delight in us and give us all His riches as a reward.
Our natural inclination is to expect a very different kind of relationship with God. We expect to deal with a grudging, curmudgeonly figure, maybe more similar to a Norse or Greek deity, who will use people to gain advantage, discarding or destroying them when they do something displeasing. Our normal intuition is to do as much good as we can, or at least persuade ourselves that our lives are adequately good, that we can squeak by.
What about this divine Master described in Luke’s Gospel? He is the one who wants to give us the riches of his kingdom. He is the one who has provided for forgiveness. He doesn’t overlook our sin and failure. He atones for it and delivers us his grace. That’s the God of the Bible. That’s the kind of God we can trust. He’s the one we can serve.
If this brief meditation was helpful to you, I hope you will check out the other materials on our website at www.WittenbergCoMo.com and consider supporting us.
Many churches throughout the world use a Bible reading schedule called a "lectionary." It's just a fancy word meaning "selected readings." Posts like this reflect on the readings for an upcoming Sunday or other Church holiday, as found in the three-year lectionary.
The word “gospel” means “good news.” In our Gospel passage for this week, Luke 12:22-40, there is a lot of good news. Here we read that God has planned to give his people what they need. He clothes us and feeds us so we don’t need to worry. He provides all the security, now and for eternity, that his people need. We are to seek God’s kingdom, and we will find that it is God’s good pleasure to give us His kingdom. He has employed us in His household and intends to come to us and find us engaged in the work given to us, then delight in us and give us all His riches as a reward.
Our natural inclination is to expect a very different kind of relationship with God. We expect to deal with a grudging, curmudgeonly figure, maybe more similar to a Norse or Greek deity, who will use people to gain advantage, discarding or destroying them when they do something displeasing. Our normal intuition is to do as much good as we can, or at least persuade ourselves that our lives are adequately good, that we can squeak by.
What about this divine Master described in Luke’s Gospel? He is the one who wants to give us the riches of his kingdom. He is the one who has provided for forgiveness. He doesn’t overlook our sin and failure. He atones for it and delivers us his grace. That’s the God of the Bible. That’s the kind of God we can trust. He’s the one we can serve.
If this brief meditation was helpful to you, I hope you will check out the other materials on our website at www.WittenbergCoMo.com and consider supporting us.
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