12/5/07 - Peter calls Jesus “Messiah” and a look at forgiveness, faith and duty

Today I read from Luke 9: 18-27 and Luke 17:1-8. An interesting selection of scripture that happened to be exactly what I need to hear today.

I’ve been thinking a lot lately about a term I heard this summer at a conference I went to in DC. The speaker talked to us about “Practical Deism”, belief in a god but not interacting with it at all during our life. A lot of time I’ve lived my life without acknowledging God at all during my day, no time in my bible, no prayer, nothing. As I look around I see a lot of people who live that way. In Luke 9:20, Peter has just been asked who he thinks Jesus is and Peter says, “the Messiah” (anointed one, Christ). And as I read it I thought, what would it be like if I called Jesus the Messiah of my life? I think that if I did things would be very different. If I trusted Jesus all the time with my life, more of my life would look like Him and reflect the things that He teaches.

So how is that done…

In the next section of scripture that stuck out to me is verse 23, it says that if I want to follow Jesus I must die to myself everyday. What does that mean? It means that if my desires don’t line up with Christ’s, I must change what I desire. If my attitude isn’t Christ’s attitude, my attitude has to change. If the stuff I let into my mind doesn’t line up with the teachings from the Bible, then I must find stuff that does.

I went on to read Luke 17 and in verses 3 - 5, Jesus is telling the disciples one of the most difficult tasks we have as believers and that is even though I don’t naturally want to tell someone that they are sinning we must to try to reconcile that brother or sister in Christ back to God. Like the disciples in verse 5, I beg for more faith to do this.

And I finished my time with God I was thinking about Luke 17:10, Jesus tells a parable about a slaves duties to their master. All the work the slave does for the master is to repay a debt and the same way when we serve God are we waiting for a pat on the back or an applause for what you’ve done? Jesus says we should say, “We are unworthy servants who have simply done our duty”. I need to make sure as I serve God that I’m not looking for recognition but just simply paying back a debt I couldn’t pay on my own.

So what are you reading about in time with God? What is He saying to you when you pray? What are you leaning about God that you want to share with others?