Deuteronomy 28,29; Luke 7:31-50

Deuteronomy 28

13 The Lord will make you the head not the tail.  If you pay attention to the commands of the Lord your God ….and carefully follow them, you will always be at the top, never at the bottom.

Deuteronomy 29

25 and the answer will be: “It is because this people abandoned the covenant of the Lord, …… 26 They went off and worshiped other gods and bowed down to them, gods they did not know, gods he had not given them. 27 Therefore the Lord’s Anger burned against this land…”

Luke 7

47″Therefore, I tell you , her many sins have been forgiven-for she loved much.  But he who has been forgiven little loves little.”

50 Jesus said to the woman, “Your faith has healed you; go in peace.”

God is a jealous God.  This fact is pointed out over and over throughout the bible, but never more clearly than when He is setting up His people in their new land.  He makes it very clear that worshipping other gods in any form will result in destruction.  He is also very clear  that He will bless all who turn to Him and obey His commands, particularly those dealing with having no other god but Him.  Loyalty!  That is all that God was asking of them.  Jesus came and made the statement that all we need is to have Faith in Him, and He will save us.  It’s that Loyalty thing again.

All I need is to have Faith in Jesus and I will be saved.  I sometimes make it so complicated.  All I really have to do is be loyal to God by trusting in Him to do what He has PROMISED, and I am saved.  So Simple! So difficult! So wonderful!

Heavenly Father,  Please help me to establish You as my only God, Help me to turn from all other forms of worship.  Steer me away from worshipping things that can not give me life and only lead to destruction.  Teach me to be loyal, trusting You and only You to fulfill the promises that You have made.  Help me to grow my Faith so that I can also hear Jesus say, “Your faith has healed you; go in peace.”

Deuteronomy 26,27; Luke 7:1-30

Prepare the Way

Preparation is important.

In Deuteronomy the preparation for entrance into the promised land continues with Moses’ instruction to the people. The last 40 years had been preparation for them as they lived in the desert. Now they are instructed to give their firstfruits and tithes when they enter the land. They are instructed to build an altar and to write very clearly the words of the law on stones covered in plaster. They are instructed to obey the laws they have been taught. Preparation is at a fever pitch as we near the completion of this book.

In Luke, John the Baptist sends messengers to ask Jesus if he is “the one who is to come”. We aren’t sure if John was starting to doubt, or if this is done simply to provide an opportunity for Jesus to point out how the prophesy in Isaiah is being fulfilled in Jesus’ healing and teaching ministry. In any case, we are reminded of how John the Baptist prepared the way for Jesus’ coming. And then there is an interesting parenthetical that catches my attention:

²⁹ (All the people, even the tax collectors, when they heard Jesus’ words, acknowledged that God’s way was right, because they had been baptized by John. ³⁰ But the Pharisees and the experts in the law rejected God’s purpose for themselves, because they had not been baptized by John.) Luke 7: 29-30 NIV

These verses make me realize just how important proper preparation is. If my heart is too hard to be prepared for Jesus, then it will be too hard to receive him. It makes me realize how fruitful a proper Lenten preparation can be in the celebration of Easter. We need a season of wilderness, fasting, and repentance in order to prepare ourselves to receive the amazing gift of salvation.

Let us prepare ourselves as we get closer to Easter so that we can rejoice this weekend in a spirit of true rejoicing!

suegraff