I Continued Teaching with Many Parables: Part Four

Meditations based on readings from

The Story of My Life As Told by Jesus Christ

November 12, 2019

I Continued Teaching with Many Parables: Part Four

Page 192

Luke 17:1-10

Jesus follows his parables with teachings about faith, forgiveness and obedience. God created us to live in community. One half of the Ten Commandments relate to our relationship with God; the other half relate to our relationships within community. Not surprisingly, Jesus pronounces blessings on those who encourage, mentor and serve one another in community. Jesus also pronounces curses on those who abuse, tempt for evil and oppress the community.

The writer of the epistle to the Hebrews captures the point of Jesus’ teaching here when he wrote, “let us run with perseverance the race marked out for us, fixing our eyes on Jesus, the pioneer and perfecter of faith” (Hebrews 12: 1-2 NRSV). When we keep our eyes on Jesus, the virtue of humility arises in our lives. When we take our eyes off of Jesus, the sin of pride arises.

Pride can be insidious, as revealed by the disciples asking Jesus for great faith. They didn’t need great faith; they needed faith in a GREAT God. We keep our eyes on Jesus because he is our great God and Savior. With our eyes fixed on Jesus, our focus becomes singular: Thy Kingdom come. Thy will be done in earth, as it is in heaven.

There are two words that tie together Jesus’ teaching in today’s passage: gratitude and humility. These are the truest marks of a fully-devoted follower of Jesus. All that I have is a gift of God’s favor and grace – I have no bragging rights. I am what I am by the grace of God (1 Corinthians 15:10), and my ambition is to be found faithful with such trust God has given me.

My Takeaway: Seldom is the day I don’t come home to this prayer:

“I acknowledge Thee to be by Creator and my God. I render Thee the homage of my being and my life. I am not my own, I am Thine. By creation and redemption

I am Thine.”

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. The BLOG is also available on Amazon Kindle, by subscription.

Copyright © 2019 by Alex M. Knight

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 in paperback and Kindle.

• The second edition of  First Think – Then Pray is available on Amazon Kindle.

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.