How Much More

Monday, July 29, 2013               How Much More

“Even he rendered a just decision in the end. So don’t you think God will surely give justice to his chosen people who cry out to him day and night? Will he keep putting them off?”

Luke 18:7 (Parable of the Persistent Widow Luke 18:1-7)

Near the conclusion to his Sermon on the Mount, Jesus used a powerful phrase to illustrate our need for persistence in seeking the life in Christ: “So if you sinful people know how to give good gifts to your children, how much more will your heavenly Father give good gifts to those who ask him” (Matthew 7:11 Emphasis mine). Jesus has urged his followers to keep on, keeping on because of the contrast between what we are able to accomplish adhering to our performance-based-acceptance standards and trusting in God’s grace. Jesus is saying if we think we can work out the meaning of our existence through our own efforts, how much more can we realize our potential through the grace of God!

The parable of the Persistent Widow is an affirmation of human ingenuity. As Steven Covey so well taught in his 7 Habits of Highly Effective People, the ultimate secret to a happy, well balanced, effective life, is taking responsibility for your own life. The Persistent Widow took responsibility for her life and used her resources and her wits to pursue vindication of her issue before the judge. While the facts and truth may have been on her side, she encountered a judge who neither feared God nor cared about people. Yet her persistence won over the unjust judge. Jesus calls us to “Learn a lesson from this unjust judge” (Luke 18:6). Jesus is saying that if persistence and ingenuity can prevail over an unjust judge, how much more can we rightly expect from our God who is Justice, Mercy and Grace!

Jesus is not saying that we will win more from God through persistence and ingenuity. Jesus is saying that in this life we will confront adversaries who neither fear God nor care about people. Perhaps through our persistence and ingenuity, we will prevail against our adversary; perhaps not. But in the only eternal issue that matters, our Judge is Just. What then can we rightly expect from our Judge? The Apostle Paul answers this question by contrasting the old way of relating to God through the law, and the new way of grace: “If the old way, which brings condemnation, was glorious, how much more glorious is the new way, which makes us right with God!” (2 Corinthians 3:9).

“But now we have been released from the law, for we died to it and are no longer captive to its power. Now we can serve God, not in the old way of obeying the letter of the law, but in the new way of living in the Spirit” (Romans 7:6). Because of this foundational truth of the life in Christ, because we serve a “how much more” God, we can with joy obey Jesus: “Keep on asking, and you will receive what you ask for. Keep on seeking, and you will find. Keep on knocking, and the door will be opened to you. For everyone who asks, receives. Everyone who seeks, finds. And to everyone who knocks, the door will be opened (Matthew 7:7-8).

Sē’lah

<><  <><  <><  <><

(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.  In addition to this BLOG they are distributed on the Constant Contact email server. You may subscribe to this email service by sending an email to: amkrom812@gmail.com. The BLOG is also available on Amazon Kindle, by subscription

Publications by Alex M. Knight:

·        Seeking the Life in Christ, Meditations on the New Testament and Psalms has been published and is now available at Amazon.com. The Kindle version will follow soon.

·        The second edition First Think – Then Pray has been released as an e-book on Amazon Kindle.

·        Meditations on The Story of My Life as told by Jesus Christ has been released as an e-book on Amazon Kindle.