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But the fruit of the Spirit is love, joy, peace, patience, kindness, goodness, faithfulness Gal 5:22 |
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Dear
Friend,
If you do not already have a habit of gathering daily manna the first thing in the morning (we can look at the example given to us in Exodus 16 and find the pattern for make it a habit. Establish your life and your schedule to allow you the necessary time to do your daily collection first thing every morning to give you the strength to make it through the day. And remember that today’s manna will not be sufficient for tomorrow; tomorrow’s manna must be collected tomorrow morning. Friday, October 7, 2022
Today's Passage : Today's Passage :A Prophet in His Own Land Bible Verse:Luke 4:16-24 "And he came to Nazareth, where he had been brought up: and, as his custom was, he went into the synagogue on the sabbath day, and stood up to read. The book of the prophet Esaias was given to him; and he opened the book and found the place where it was written, “The Spirit of the Lord is upon me, because he hath anointed me to preach the gospel to the poor; he hath sent me to heal the brokenhearted, to preach deliverance to the captives, and recovering of sight to the blind, to set at liberty them that are bruised; To preach the acceptable year of the Lord.” And he closed the book, and he gave it again to the minister, and sat down. And the eyes of all the synagogue were fastened on him. And he said, “This day is this scripture fulfilled in your ears.” And all listened to him, and wondered at his gracious words. And they said, Is not this Joseph's son? And he said to them, “You will surely tell me the old proverb: 'Physician, heal thyself: what you have heard done in Capernaum, do also here in your homeland.” And he said, “Truly I say to you: No prophet is accepted in his own land.”" Message:
When Jesus left Nazareth, he was a regular blue-collar worker; he has been gone for many months, and something has changed. In the first place, they have heard stories of miracles he has performed in Capernaum (about 30 miles away). Then, he stands in the synagogue like a prominent scholar and preaches like a prophet. It even sounds like he is claiming to be someone foretold by the great prophet Isaiah (Esias). What in the world is going on with this guy?
Here we get two very famous quotes. The first, “physician, heal thyself,” refers to the fact that Christ will not be able to heal the people of his home town as he has done elsewhere. As recounted in Mark 6:5-6,
“ He could do no miracle there except that He laid His hands on a few sick people and healed them. And He wondered at their unbelief.”
The Nazarenes complain that Christ does not heal the sick, but It is a self-inflicted wound. His miracles when people have faith in him, not vice versa. The honor he has found elsewhere does not exist among the people he grew up with.
People often find it hard to accept change in others, and the people of Nazareth have trouble seeing Jesus, the familiar carpenter, as the Son of God. It seems in general, the better we know someone, the harder it is to accept change.
But people really can change, especially as they pass out of adolescence into adulthood, and inability to accept such change can lead to unnecessary pain and difficulty. Many parents have trouble accepting their children as adults even if the child has, truly, become self-sufficient and responsible for himself. Sometimes we don't want people to change.
There is an even greater challenge in all of this: Can we accept change in ourselves? Especially at the moment we accept Christ, we must be willing to see ourselves as someone who is not the same as they used to be, and it isn't always easy. If you have accepted Christ, you have undergone, not just a change, but a radical, life-altering change.
Here's a good example: Can you accept a loss of guilt and shame? That is, can you understand that you have been profoundly forgiven, to the point that the old part of you that generated guilt and shame has become vestigial, unnecessary, even harmful or wrong? Diminishing harmful emotions, such as anxiety, guilt, and depression, are earthly benefits of our faith, but these habits of thought, drilled into us at an early age, can seem intransigent.
No matter how impossible it may seem to let these emotions go, let us always remember Christ's words to the rich young man: “With people this is impossible, but with God all things are possible.” (Matthew 19:23-26)
Meditation : Prayer : Glory to God whose power, working in us, can do infinitely more than we can ask or imagine: Glory to God from generation to generation in the church and in the world, and in Christ Jesus for ever and ever.......Amen |
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