Daily Bread Luke 12
Daily Bread Luke 12
8"I tell you, whoever acknowledges me before men, the Son of Man will also acknowledge him before the angels of God. 9But he who disowns me before men will be disowned before the angels of God. 10And everyone who speaks a word against the Son of Man will be forgiven, but anyone who blasphemes against the Holy Spirit will not be forgiven.
11"When you are brought before synagogues, rulers and authorities, do not worry about how you will defend yourselves or what you will say, 12for the Holy Spirit will teach you at that time what you should say."
Observation:
There are many challenging verses in this chapter of Luke. Out of all the gospels, I would say Luke has the most instances of Jesus being aggressive and confrontational about what it means to follow him.
In the verses above Jesus makes it clear that being His follower also means being willing to publicly acknowledge Him. And this was saying a lot given the context of when Jesus walked the earth. In many cases to acknowledge Jesus was to bring on persecution, and sometimes even death.
Verse 10 is especially challenging when Jesus says that those who say something against Him will be forgiven, but anyone who blasphemes (or misuses the name) of the Holy Spirit will not be forgiven. The only reasonable explanation I can give for this is that the Holy Spirit is the one who opens our hearts to believe in Jesus as Lord. The bible tells us that no one can say “Jesus is Lord” apart from the Holy Spirit. Therefore to resist or blaspheme the Spirit will put someone in a position where they will not be able to accept Jesus, which is the only way to be forgiven.
It is also the Holy Spirit that gives us the words to say when we are called to acknowledge who Jesus is. The cool thing about it is Jesus never asks us to do anything that He doesn’t empower us to do by His own Spirit.
Application:
How often are you in a position where you need to rely on the Holy Spirit for the right words to defend your faith in Jesus? If we are only living in our own power and a life of comfort, we will not need the Holy Spirit too much. It is only as we step out in faith do we need the Holy Spirit to help us to do that which we could not do on our own.
Also we not only disown or deny Jesus by our lips, but sometimes by our lifestyles. Sometimes we will say we are a Christian and then act like someone who doesn’t know Jesus. Another passage says, “Whatever you do in word or deed to everything in the name of the Lord Jesus giving thanks to God the Father through Him.” Colossians 3:17
Prayer: God give me courage and Holy Spirit power to acknowledge You before the world. Help me not to be ashamed of the Gospel for it is the power of God for the salvation of the world. In Jesus’ precious name, Amen.
8"I tell you, whoever acknowledges me before men, the Son of Man will also acknowledge him before the angels of God. 9But he who disowns me before men will be disowned before the angels of God. 10And everyone who speaks a word against the Son of Man will be forgiven, but anyone who blasphemes against the Holy Spirit will not be forgiven.
11"When you are brought before synagogues, rulers and authorities, do not worry about how you will defend yourselves or what you will say, 12for the Holy Spirit will teach you at that time what you should say."
Observation:
There are many challenging verses in this chapter of Luke. Out of all the gospels, I would say Luke has the most instances of Jesus being aggressive and confrontational about what it means to follow him.
In the verses above Jesus makes it clear that being His follower also means being willing to publicly acknowledge Him. And this was saying a lot given the context of when Jesus walked the earth. In many cases to acknowledge Jesus was to bring on persecution, and sometimes even death.
Verse 10 is especially challenging when Jesus says that those who say something against Him will be forgiven, but anyone who blasphemes (or misuses the name) of the Holy Spirit will not be forgiven. The only reasonable explanation I can give for this is that the Holy Spirit is the one who opens our hearts to believe in Jesus as Lord. The bible tells us that no one can say “Jesus is Lord” apart from the Holy Spirit. Therefore to resist or blaspheme the Spirit will put someone in a position where they will not be able to accept Jesus, which is the only way to be forgiven.
It is also the Holy Spirit that gives us the words to say when we are called to acknowledge who Jesus is. The cool thing about it is Jesus never asks us to do anything that He doesn’t empower us to do by His own Spirit.
Application:
How often are you in a position where you need to rely on the Holy Spirit for the right words to defend your faith in Jesus? If we are only living in our own power and a life of comfort, we will not need the Holy Spirit too much. It is only as we step out in faith do we need the Holy Spirit to help us to do that which we could not do on our own.
Also we not only disown or deny Jesus by our lips, but sometimes by our lifestyles. Sometimes we will say we are a Christian and then act like someone who doesn’t know Jesus. Another passage says, “Whatever you do in word or deed to everything in the name of the Lord Jesus giving thanks to God the Father through Him.” Colossians 3:17
Prayer: God give me courage and Holy Spirit power to acknowledge You before the world. Help me not to be ashamed of the Gospel for it is the power of God for the salvation of the world. In Jesus’ precious name, Amen.
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