God’s Agenda, Not Mine

Meditations in the Season of Epiphany 

January 27, 2022

God’s Agenda, Not Mine

When they heard this, the people in the synagogue were furious.

Luke 4:28

Read: Luke 4:14-30

The old church expression, ‘You’ve gone from preaching to meddling’ comes to mind after reading today’s passage. Or as the great preacher Fred Craddock noted, there are two kinds of preaching people won’t listen to: bad preaching and good preaching. Bad preaching wasn’t the issue in Nazareth.

History reveals that the Jewish people were longing for God to rescue Israel from the oppression of their enemies. Jesus announced he is the Messiah, the One whom God sent to save Israel. What was so offensive about Jesus’ claim to be the Messiah? It’s all about control. Jesus was saying the Messiah was coming to proclaim God’s grace for all people, including the Romans, the enemy of Israel. The people very much wanted God’s grace, but just for Israel, no other nations. The people wanted to control God’s agenda and be the ones who determined which nations were redeemed and which were not.

The people in Nazareth wanted to be like God. That’s a familiar theme not just for first century Jews. In our world today, we still suffer from the sin of wanting to control God’s agenda. Several years ago, a devotion in Daily Guidepost for New Year’s Eve said I only need to remember two things in the New Year: “Love God with all that I am and love my neighbor as much as I love myself.” Still today we struggle as much as the Nazarenes with wanting to determine who our neighbor is.

My Takeaway: The people of Nazareth responded to Jesus with anger and death threats. We see that behavior modeled everyday in our society. Thus, I need to be continually reminded it is God’s agenda, not mine. I am called by God to confidently trust in the future He has planned for me, and all who give their lives to God in Christ Jesus.

Sē’lah

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(Selah is a word that appears in the Book of Psalms that I often use as the Complimentary Closing in my correspondence. Its meaning, as I use the word, is to pause and think about these things.)

 

These meditations are written by Alex M. Knight as he seeks the life in Christ as his way of life.  The meditations are published on the BLOG, http://seekingthelifeinchrist.blogspot.com/ and they are also distributed on the Constant Contact email server. You may subscribe to this email service by sending an email to: amkrom812@gmail.com.

 

Copyright © 2022 by Alex M. Knight

 

Unless otherwise indicated, all Scripture quotations are taken from the Unless otherwise indicated, all Scripture quotations are taken from the Holy Bible, New Living Translation, copyright © 1996, 2004, 2015 by Tyndale House Foundation. Used by permission of Tyndale House Publishers, Inc., Carol Stream, Illinois 60188. All rights reserved.