Dobra Family Blog

The Bible Knights Quest! - Bible Challenge 2010 - Week 9 - 06/06/2010

Week 9 - Luke Chapter 9
 
Knights and Ladies,
 
Jesus replied, "No one who puts his hand to the plow and looks back is fit for service in the kingdom of God."
Luke 9:62

Jesus Christ first, even before family.

Jesus' reply was in response to two potential disciples requests to first attend to family matters before following Him. (Luke 9:57-62) One living in the “land of the free” (praise God!) would wonder, “would God really ask me to abandon my family?” I know I wrestle with that question.

It is easy to forget that even in this enlightened day and age we have Christian brothers and sisters that must make this decision almost every day. “If I deny Christ my family will live in relative peace and safety in this life, but if I stand firm in the faith and do not deny my Saviour, then I could go to jail, be killed, or have my children taken from me. . .” what to do? God bless them!
(torturedforchrist.com is a must read, and visit persecution.com/newsletter for current news)

That is the extreme, but even more practically, I can see how I might sometimes use my family duties as an escape or excuse from being obedient to God! It can be a justification for having a “divided mind.” He who looks back is not fit for service, is not “well-placed, suited for, adapted to. 'The first case is that of inconsiderate impulse, the second that of conflicting duties, the third that of a divided mind' (Bruce).”
(“The Robertson's Word Pictures of the New Testament” Broadman Press 1932,33, Renewal 1960)

This commentary from the Geneva Bible really lays it out dead pan style, “Those who follow Christ must at once renounce all worldly cares.” I must say, I am daily being saved, and daily being molded and transformed. God worked some miracles in me from the moment I acknowledge the truth of the Gospel, but I am not yet complete, let alone at once free from all worldly cares. Hmmm, interesting meditation, that really we ARE at once FREE from ALL worldly cares through Jesus Christ, but it is the old sin nature and lies of the flesh that we must fight against as our faith grows and we actually accept that reality.
(“1599 Geneva Study Bible”)

Commentaries:

www.biblestudytools.com/commentaries/

 
Accept the challenge, take the quest!

“All Scripture is God-breathed and is useful for teaching, rebuking, correcting and training in righteousness, so that the man of God may be thoroughly equipped for every good work.”
(2 Timothy 3:16-17)
 
A prayer for the use of Holy Scripture:
 
O Gracious God and most merciful Father, who has granted us the rich and precious jewel of Your holy word, assist us with Your Spirit, that it may be written in our hearts to our everlasting comfort, to reform us, to renew us according to Your own Image, to build us up, and to instruct us into the perfect building of Christlikeness, sanctifying and increasing in us all heavenly virtues. Grant this, O heavenly Father, for Jesus Christ’s sake. Amen.
(adapted from the “1599 Geneva Bible” Tolle Lege Press, 2006-2007)