Devotion - Thursday, October 30

I was reading this morning from Luke 6.  Jesus is accused in these verses of allowing his disciples to ignore the Sabbath Laws.  He ignores them himself by healing on the Sabbath.

We read such stories and we wonder, "How could they have insisted on such rules?"  But are we able to turn that question on ourselves?  Are we able to see the "rules" we have in place, rules that in another 2,000 years be looked upon as ridiculous?

There is an old saying which goes something like "We can't know what we don't know."  So, I need to admit that we may have no way of knowing our own shortsightedness.

I read an article which spoke of a teacher growing older who told his students, "I believe much fewer things now than before; but I believe them with more deeply."  That comment resonated with me.  I find myself much less likely to pull out one or more of the "rules" that I insisted on in my youth.  But I also know that I am more firmly convinced of the goodness of creation and the presence of God which pulls me toward living a life which reflects that same goodness in me.

Read Luke 6.  Come to your own conclusions about Sabbath laws.  Then turn a critical eye on yourself, for a moment, and ask what it is that God expects of you, as opposed to what you have come to expect.  It can be, and ought to be, an experience of the freedom which is ours through Christ.