Day 21

Luke 18

More parables. I really love parables. They are stories told by Jesus that probably hit me the hardest when it comes to my faith.

vs 1-8 The story of the persistent widow is a good one. It teaches us not to give up. If she had gone to the judge once or twice she would not have received justice in her favor, but because she did not give up she eventually received what she wanted. This is not to say that God will give you every thing you want but rather not to give up when something is important to you. God hears you, and will give you what is right.

vs 9-14 The Pharisee prayer was lifting himself up, but obviously this is not the attitude of prayer that we should have. Don't lift up what you do but rather lift God up. It was not a prayer of humility. Yet the prayer by the tax collector was lowering himself to ask for forgiveness.

vs 15-17 The child is innocent and pure. There is something about faith like a child that is so fresh. We need to be able to bring children to Christ and raise them in what is right and true.  This goes for us to, we need to receive the kingdom of God just like a child would. For a child it is easy to have faith, believing what others tell them to be true.

vs 18-30 A rich ruler asks about receiving eternal life. Talks about the commandments here. And the ruler says he has kept them. But let us look at the commandments.

#7. do not commit adultery

#6. do not murder

#8. do not steal

#9. do not lie

#5. honor you father and mother. 

All of these have to do with your relationship between other people. Look at the ones left out.

#1. Have no other God's before me.

#2. Do not make yourself an idol.

#3. Do not misuse the name of the Lord.

#4. Remember the Sabbath day to keep it holy.

#10. Do not covet.

All of these commandments except the last one have to do with the relationship you have with God. These are the ones that God wants us to remember. But if you look at the 10 commandments they can all filter through our relationship with God and people.

Jesus replies to the ruler. Sell everything you have and give to the poor. Then come and follow me. When the ruler heard this he went away sad. The ruler was not willing to give everything up to follow Christ. Following Christ is the first and foremost thing that he wants from us.

vs 31-34 Jesus predicts his death and the disciples struggle to understand what he means by this.

vs 35-43 A blind man begs for Jesus to heal him. Yelling out with all his might to be saved from his blindness. He had obviously heard of Christ and his healing power before. So he did everything he could for Jesus to hear him. And Jesus did in fact heal him.