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What your words say about you

March 15, 2022
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Daily Scripture

Luke 6:39-7:10

During Lent, we are using short videos to share a daily idea (linked to the gospel of Luke) on how to grow spiritually. Watch today’s video. Click here or on the image below:

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Note: We are reading the entire gospel of Luke in the GPS. Some day’s readings are longer than usual. We hope you’ll have an extra cup of coffee, or use your lunch break, and read Luke’s entire story of Jesus.

39 Jesus also told them a riddle. “A blind person can’t lead another blind person, right? Won’t they both fall into a ditch? 40 Disciples aren’t greater than their teacher, but whoever is fully prepared will be like their teacher. 41 Why do you see the splinter in your brother’s or sister’s eye but don’t notice the log in your own eye? 42 How can you say to your brother or sister, ‘Brother, Sister, let me take the splinter out of your eye,’ when you don’t see the log in your own eye? You deceive yourselves! First take the log out of your eye, and then you will see clearly to take the splinter out of your brother’s or sister’s eye.

43 “A good tree doesn’t produce bad fruit, nor does a bad tree produce good fruit. 44 Each tree is known by its own fruit. People don’t gather figs from thorny plants, nor do they pick grapes from prickly bushes. 45 A good person produces good from the good treasury of the inner self, while an evil person produces evil from the evil treasury of the inner self. The inner self overflows with words that are spoken.

46 “Why do you call me ‘Lord, Lord’ and don’t do what I say? 47 I’ll show what it’s like when someone comes to me, hears my words, and puts them into practice. 48 It’s like a person building a house by digging deep and laying the foundation on bedrock. When the flood came, the rising water smashed against that house, but the water couldn’t shake the house because it was well built. 49 But those who don’t put into practice what they hear are like a person who built a house without a foundation. The floodwater smashed against it and it collapsed instantly. It was completely destroyed.”

7:1 After Jesus finished presenting all his words among the people, he entered Capernaum. 2 A centurion had a servant who was very important to him, but the servant was ill and about to die. 3 When the centurion heard about Jesus, he sent some Jewish elders to Jesus to ask him to come and heal his servant. 4 When they came to Jesus, they earnestly pleaded with Jesus. “He deserves to have you do this for him,” they said. 5 “He loves our people and he built our synagogue for us.”

6 Jesus went with them. He had almost reached the house when the centurion sent friends to say to Jesus, “Lord, don’t be bothered. I don’t deserve to have you come under my roof. 7 In fact, I didn’t even consider myself worthy to come to you. Just say the word and my servant will be healed. 8 I’m also a man appointed under authority, with soldiers under me. I say to one, ‘Go,’ and he goes, and to another, ‘Come,’ and he comes. I say to my servant, ‘Do this,’ and the servant does it.”

9 When Jesus heard these words, he was impressed with the centurion. He turned to the crowd following him and said, “I tell you, even in Israel I haven’t found faith like this.” 10 When the centurion’s friends returned to his house, they found the servant restored to health.

Daily Reflection & Prayer

In The Message paraphrase, Jesus asked, “Why are you…always saying ‘Yes, sir,’ and ‘That’s right, sir,’ but never doing a thing I tell you? These….are words to build a life on” (Luke 6:46). * We may see all Roman soldiers as personally hostile to Jesus. But like American troops in Iraq, many just did their job in a strange, hostile land. When a humble Roman officer trusted Jesus to help his valued servant, Jesus willingly did.

  • From Francis of Assisi to Pope Francis, from Martin Luther King, Jr. to Mother Teresa, many of Christ’s followers have stood with the oppressed. John Wesley began the Methodist movement, in part, because his day’s leading church seemed to cater to the powerful and ignore the poor. How are you (and your church) building your life on Jesus’ values?
  • The Roman centurion sensed, as many do not, that space or time cannot limit God’s power the way they do ours. How did he apply his own experience of authority to help him realize the reach of Jesus’ power? Which of your experiences help you better grasp and trust God’s power?

Click here to incorporate music and worship from the COR Worship Collective into your daily practice and devotion.

Prayer

Lord Jesus, your mission reached an amazing range of people and needs. Help me see the world more as you see it, and use my gifts to play a part in your mission. Amen.

GPS Insights

Picture of Denise Mersmann

Denise Mersmann

Denise serves as the Care Coordination Director for the churchwide Care Central department at Church of the Resurrection.

Over the past few years, there have been a lot of famous people (and even more not-so-famous people) who have been caught saying things that were racist or terribly hurtful, insulting stereotypes. When they were called out for their actions, the typical excuses were “That’s not what I really think” or “I don’t say things like that.”

We are supposed to believe that the words they spoke don’t represent their thoughts or beliefs. We are supposed to believe that what was said was somehow twisted as it came out of their mouths.

The thing is-–it seems as if those comments come pretty quickly and freely when the speaker is reacting off the cuff. If those aren’t words in your vocabulary, if those aren’t your beliefs, how did that come out so quickly? If the words truly don’t reflect your feelings, why didn’t your reaction reflect your actual thoughts and beliefs?

Scripture calls us to “love one another” and “love our neighbor,” not “pretend to love our neighbor when things are going well.” Just as the house built on sand fell as soon as the flood hit, our own weaknesses tend to become apparent when our personal storms hit.

As Christians, we are going to find ourselves in the midst of a storm many times throughout our lives. If our foundation is not built on love, we are very likely to show the weakness of our structure when we are in times of trouble.

So how do we build that foundation? It’s not easy.

The first step is to honestly examine our thoughts and beliefs. Not once, but multiple times each day. When we see something that makes us think or say unkind, unloving things, we have to stop and ask, “Why am I reacting this way?”

Then, comes the tough part. We have to dig deep and honestly answer that question. Is this a pattern? Have I reacted poorly in similar situations in the past? And, finally, we have to work hard every day to continue growing, learning, and pushing ourselves to be better. We have to uproot our worst impulses. No matter how firm our foundation, there will be storms that challenge each of us and the only way we will survive is by continuing to reinforce our love for one another.

© 2024 Resurrection: A United Methodist Church. All Rights Reserved.
Scripture quotations are taken from The Common English Bible ©2011. Used by permission. All rights reserved.
References

* Peterson, Eugene H., The Message Numbered Edition Hardback. Navpress. Kindle Edition.