Tag: Luke

Posted in Through the Bible Devotions

How can I help?

Posted on by William Douthwaite
Photo from Gospelimages

These “through the bible” thoughts are from Luke 18.

As Jesus approaches Jericho, a blind beggar cries out, “Jesus, Son of David, have mercy on me!” (Luke 18:38)

Jesus stops and asks the man, “What do you want me to do for you?” (18:41) In other words, “How can I help you ?”

I believe that’s an interesting moment. And it’s also a very good question. What does mercy look like in that context?

Beggars beg for money. Spare change. A couple of bucks. Anything helps, right?

But this is three years into Jesus’s public ministry. The talk on the street is that Jesus of Nazareth can teach, can heal, and might be the Christ. As the man cries out, “Jesus, Son of David,” he acknowledges Jesus’s claim to the throne. There’s a new king in town, someone who can make things happen.

“What do you want me to do for you?”

A blank check? Three wishes from a genie? A “What do you want for Christmas?” moment on Santa’s lap? Or a moment of complete faith and trust?

“Lord, let me recover my sight.”

That’s a big ask. Huge. Had the man prayed for that in the past? Perhaps. But it’s one thing to ask the unseen all-powerful God for a miracle. It’s another to ask it of a man named Jesus.

Do your prayers consist of huge favors or small requests? Are you bold enough to pray for the miraculous? Or do you only petition for what you think God will give?

Jesus said, “Ask…seek…knock” (Luke 11:9). We might as well go big. To do so not only acknowledges our need but also God’s ability to provide. It’s an expression of faith and trust in a Father who is able to do more than we ask or imagine. Who knows? You might get a miracle. You might get something better.

Posted in Through the Bible Devotions

What are you doing here?

Posted on by William Douthwaite
Photo by Kenny Eliason on Unsplash

Some “through the bible” thoughts from Luke 24.

“Why do you seek the living among the dead?”

We do it all the time:

  • Turn the key one more time, even though the starter won’t even click because the car battery is dead.
  • We search around through containers of fuzzy leftover food in the refrigerator, hoping to find something edible.
  • Birds build a nest in a flower pot near my front door. I went out to see the eggs every day, until the day when there weren’t any. I don’t think they hatched. I think a lizard ate them. But I still peeked in every day or so, just to make sure I didn’t miss new ones.
  • When I need some help shopping in a big box store, I futilely scan every aisle to find someone in a blue or orange vest. Not a single soul to be found.
  • I show up at someone’s house for a visit. I called ahead to set up a time. Upon arrival, no one answers the doorbell and then a knock. I peer in the windows around the door. No lights are on. No one is home. They forgot.
  • Why do many return to cemeteries after the burial of a loved one? To complete unfinished conversations? To have the last word? To keep memories alive?

Just like the women who showed up at to tomb at early dawn on the first day of the week, we go to places of death. The angels who appeared are surprised to see the women. “Why do you seek the living among the dead?” Don’t you remember what he told you? Don’t you remember how the prediction of his crucifixion was followed by the promise of resurrection? What are you doing here?

We can’t help it. Death is the end of the story for leftovers, batteries, and human life. Until Jesus rewrites the ending. Until we encounter an empty tomb. Until we remember what he said.

Where will you look for life today?

Posted in Through the Bible Devotions

Looking down, looking up

Posted on by William Douthwaite
Photo by Waldemar Brandt on Unsplash

Some “through the bible” thoughts from Luke 18.

 “To some who were confident of their own righteousness and looked down on everyone else, Jesus told this parable…” (Luke 18:9)

I hate this parable. It’s addressed to me, or people like me, who look down on others. It is so easy to look down on someone else.

Why? Because I seek out those who aren’t as good as me, who have more problems than me, who need a lot more help than me, and whose lives are messier than mine. All that makes me look great. Until I look at the holiness, the righteousness, and the justice of God Suddenly, my opinion of myself means nothing. His evaluation means everything.

We all look down on someone. Someone younger, smaller, or less experienced than us. Someone less talented, less experienced, and less skilled. Don’t we love to elevate ourselves?

That works great, until someone else better comes along. They put us in their place. They look down on our talent, experience, skill, and ideas.

iI’s so much better to look up. Look up to what God had done. Remember what he has done for you,

 

Posted in Through the Bible Devotions, Travel

How much do you really need?

Posted on by William Douthwaite
 Photo by Totte Annerbrink on Unsplash

Some “through the bible” thoughts from Luke 9 and 22.

Jesus said to them, “Take nothing for your journey, no staff, nor bag, nor bread, nor money; and do not have two tunics” (Luke 9:3).

 Jesus said to them, “When I sent you out with no moneybag or knapsack or sandals, did you lack anything?” They said, “Nothing.” He said to them, “But now let the one who has a moneybag take it, and likewise a knapsack. And let the one who has no sword sell his cloak and buy one” (Luke 22:35,36).

So should you pack light, or take everything you need?

Those who aspire to international mission work in our world must raise enough support to last three years. The sending organization wants to make sure they have enough funding for housing, food, transportation, and health insurance. Support comes from family, friends, churches, and church groups. It can take as long as a year raise enough support to embark on the mission.

Does anyone go with nothing but the clothes on their back, a bible, and a zeal to reach the unsaved? I suppose. But to travel to and stay in another country usually requires a visa, passport, cash for those who enforce entry points and transport your from one place to another.

Jesus was sending out the twelve to other towns in Israel, to Jewish communities where hospitality was the rule rather than the exception. They spoke the language, shared a heritage, and would know someone who knew someone who would have a place for them to stay.

Later, the apostles would face the same opposition Jesus did. So they needed to be prepared to fend for themselves in a hostile world. They would be hated and rejected just like Jesus. Equip yourselves with a sack for money, extra clothes, and a weapon. It’s going to be rough.

When my wife first went to Haiti just weeks after the 2010 earthquake, she followed instructions to pack as lightly as she could. Upon arrival, she watched people unpack ginormous luggage packed with clothing, food, fans, and other first-world comforts. The definition of “minimal packing” varies greatly from person to person.

We learn a lot about what we need with every trip we take. Basically, lay out everything you think you’ll need. Put half of it back in the closet, and pack the other half in the suitcase. You’ll still have packed way more than you need.

Spirit Airlines charges extra for carry on bags as well as checked luggage. You can bring on personal item, no more than 18x14x8 inches in size. I bought a backpack exactly that size, and am amazed at how much I can pack in there. I love the challenge of traveling that lightly!

Posted in Through the Bible Devotions

Persistent prayer

Posted on by William Douthwaite
Photo by Jack Sharp on Unsplash

Some “through the bible” thoughts from Luke 18.

“[Jesus] told them a parable to the effect that they ought always to pray and not lose heart” (Luke 18:1). The good news in Jesus’s parable (18:1-8) is that we don’t have to wear down God with relentless prayer like an uncaring judge. We know God will respond in just the right way at just the right time.

It’s not that I lose heart. It’s all the distractions that compete for my attention. Morning prayer is easy. It’s part of my early day routine. After that, life gets busy.

In the Old Testament, Daniel prayed three times a day, every day. He didn’t abandon that habit when threatened with lions (Daniel 6). Someone suggested a similar system. Set an alarm for noon and late afternoon, a simple, personal call to prayer. It’s not a bad idea. When my phone buzzes in my pocket, I remember to pray. When that alarm goes off, God shows up on my radar. I don’t pray for a long time. I just give thanks for whatever is going on, or pray for whoever’s around at that moment.

A bell summons monks away from work to prayer in monasteries. Why not use technology to my advantage? What a great way to weave prayer in the fabric of a day.

Posted in Through the Bible Devotions

A first time for everything

Posted on by William Douthwaite

Some “through the bible” thoughts from Luke 5.

After Jesus touches a man full of leprosy, he tells him, “Go and show yourself to the priest and make an offering for your cleansing as Moses commanded” (Luke 5:13,14).

I’ll bet this didn’t happen very often. In fact, I’ll bet that few if any people recovered from leprosy or any other skin disease that word refers to. I could be wrong, but the priest may have never had anyone come to him to be proclaimed healed.

I imagine the priest had to get out the scroll which included Leviticus 14. That’s where the Lord told Moses exactly what needed to be done for a leprous person on the day of his cleansing.

  • If the priest observed healing, the person would bring two live clean birds, some cedarwood, scarlet yarn, and hyssop,.

The person then kills one of the birds in a jar filled with fresh water.

  • The priest ties up the other bird with the yarn, cedarwood, and hyssop, dips it in the water in the jar. The priest then sprinkles the water on the person seven times, and releases the bird.
  • The healed person washes his clothes, shaves all his hair, and takes a bath, clean and restored.

But there’s more.

  • Eight days later, the person offers up two males lambs, a ewe lamb, some grain mixed with oil, and some more oil.
  • The priest takes some of the blood of the killed lamb and puts it on the right earlobe, right thumb, and right big toe, followed by oil in those same places.

The whole process was involved and took more than a week to complete.

I was once invited to do a memorial service at someone’s home. After some readings and prayers, we went into the back yard which abutted some freshwater marshland. A family member handed me a cardboard box and said, “Do what you usually do.”

I had never held a box of remains before, much less performed a ritual scattering. I had to rubric to consult, so I made one up. I did learn this: always make sure you’re standing upwind.

That wasn’t the only time I improvised.

  • I did a quinceañera for a teenager whose family had Puerta Rican roots. I made phone calls to local churches with Hispanic ministry to find the ceremony.
  • People asked me to bless bibles and cross necklaces. I usually prayed for the people who read or wore them.
  • Visiting someone in the hospital with Covid-19 involved gearing up with personal protection equipment. I don’t remember taking that class in seminary.

Posted in Through the Bible Devotions

It’s relentless

Posted on by William Douthwaite
Photo by Tim Bernhard on Unsplash

Some “through the bible” thoughts from Luke 4.

“Jesus, full of the Holy Spirit, returned from the Jordan and was led by the Spirit in the wilderness for forty days, being tempted by the devil” (Luke 4:1,2). During that time, Jesus ate nothing, so he was in very dire circumstances when tempted. In contrast, we’re often tempted when we’re blessed, when things are going well, and when we have few worries.

The thing about temptation is you rarely see it coming. It looks good, sounds appealing, promises to be beneficial, and is within reach. After the fact is when you think, “I wish I hadn’t done that,” “I shouldn’t have said that,” and “I should have known better.” In these matters, your hindsight is indeed 20/20.

Here something from Enduring Word that I never thought about: “The presence of temptation only relents when we give in.” Until we succumb, temptation from the influences around us, our own desires, and yes, Satan himself, will press in on us.

Jesus is different. He knows exactly what the devil is attempting to do, and heads off each temptation at the pass with guidelines from God’s word. After several failed attempts, the devil gives up until another time. We have a hero who resists temptation, pays the price for every time we’ve given in, and shows us that there is always a way out through faith in him.

Posted in mathematics, Through the Bible Devotions

Just do the math

Posted on by William Douthwaite
Photo by Antoine Dautry on Unsplash

Some “through the bible” thoughts from Luke 2.

In his gospel, Luke mentions a man name Simeon who is waiting to see the Messiah. “It had been revealed to him by the Holy Spirit that he would not see death before he had seen the Lord’s Christ” (Luke 2:26). In faith, he knows he’s immortal until he puts eyes on the Savior. Imagine what you could do with a promise like that!

I’m a math guy, but I never considered that Simeon did the math when he went to the temple on the very same day when Joseph and Mary showed up with Jesus.

The shepherds who saw and heard the angelic announcement and praises about the Christ’s birth had told everyone what they had experienced (Luke 2:17). News like that spreads quickly.

Simeon was righteous and devout (2:25). He knew the Old Testament statute that after circumcision, a woman would come to the temple with her son in thirty-three days for purification (Leviticus 12). The Spirit of God, working through the Word, gave Simeon a good idea of when the Messiah would show up at the temple. This was not an accidental encounter. God had arranged for this meet-up a long time ago.

I’m smiling as I write this. My undergraduate degree was liberal arts, but I majored in math. Years later, God led me to the seminary to prepare for pastoral ministry. To some, math and ministry appear to be thousands of miles apart. For me, they are next door neighbors!

I cut my math teeth on algebra in eighth grade. I helped all my friends get through ninth grade geometry. Functions, trigonometry, and calculus all made sense to me in high school. From statistics to topology, God prepared me for graduate study in theology. By God’s grace, I love numbers almost as much as I love him!

I know enough about math to know that you can’t calculate when Jesus will return. I also can’t assume that the little bit you have won’t go a long way, as it did with the feeding of the five thousand. My age may be a finite number, but nothing about God is. The concept of infinity simply leads me to worship the eternal God and look forward to eternal life.

Math got me some awards and college scholarships in high school. Math prepared me to help my daughter excel in high school calculus. Math gives me the chance to tutor my home-schooled grandsons. Math gives me perspective when people try to use statistics to their advantage. Math reveals a creator who numbers my days, knows the how many hairs I have on my head, and constantly gives more than I ask for or imagine.

Posted in Grace, Ministry

It takes time

Posted on by William Douthwaite

It takes time. In my morning devotions I just began the gospel of Mark. Before this I was in Luke. What a contrast. While Luke takes his time getting through the birth of Christ and extensive teaching, Mark moves things along very quickly. In just three quick chapters of Mark, Jesus has attracted not only crowds of followers, but also plenty of opposition and they are already plotting to kill Jesus. After three chapters in Luke, Jesus is just getting warmed up for his public ministry.

In many ways, I think we come at the church and ministry from Mark’s perspective. We expect things to happen quickly. Whatever ideas, projects, and programs we implement, we look for quick results. This may not be true everywhere, but in my experience, it takes quite a while to see things develop in the church. In our own congregation it has taken many years to move from talking about missions to actually going and doing mission work. It’s taken many years to develop some of our music programs, community involvement, and teachers for classes.

So I’ve learned that you can’t force these things to happen. You can’t rush them. And all those months when it seemed like absolutely nothing was happening, something was happening. God was working to prepare his people for ministry. Note to self: when it seems like not much is happening, relax. There’s actually a whole lot going on.