Today’s Life Journal Reading is from:

Genesis 12,13,14:Luke 5

Scripture

³⁰ And their scribes and the Pharisees complained against His disciples, saying, “Why do You eat and drink with tax collectors and sinners?”
³¹ Jesus answered and said to them, “Those who are well have no need of a physician, but those who are sick. ³² I have not come to call the righteous, but sinners, to repentance.” (Luke 5:30-32, New King James Version)

Observation:

I remember hearing this from my pastor and he shared the importance to not keep within our “safe zones” of just ministering to those who know the Word of God, but that we need to widen our circle and go beyond for those who know the Word of God, maybe have accepted Christ as their Saviour, or are just starting their journey or are at whatever point it is in their journey, there is a point that it becomes a matter of God is working on and in and through them, and often, we, as fellow believers, need to remember that He wants us to reach out and share the word among those who don’t know Christ or maybe fleeting but are in need of love and ministering in their lives.

The analogy he just as our Heavenly Father provides is a powerful one.

Doctors are there not really for those who are well and healthy; Yes they guide us but the truth is, they know as well as we know, when we are healthy, we are capable of taking the necessary steps to keep us healthy and do not to be treated as children.

However, the real purposes of doctors are for those who are in real need of them: the sick, the injured, the deeply wounded. It is they who needs to be ministered and guided back to health or to health.

Keeper of the Home shared this great quote,”Remember, brothers and sisters – it’s not our job to save people. It’s just our job to tell them how to be saved. After that, it is between God and them.”

How often do our focus is too much on those who are well or who are well enough to know, by free will, what is good for them, but rather seek to minister those who are not well enough or are lost and seeking for help, we too often focus our attention on the wrong sights, maybe out of good intentions and maybe out of blind intentions.

In Luke 5:30-32, the Pharisess are in an uproar of the company that Jesus keeps and questions why those people, not them and Jesus replies to them that they know who He is and what He is about and yet, they are more focus on keeping appearances then  they are concerned about keeping Him in their heart.

Their focus is on everyone else, while they, themselves unwittingly strays and ignores the needs of those of a hurting world around them.

It’s like a doctor who walks through the corridor of those who are crying out in sickness and skips them to help the healthy person who is checking out of the hospital and leaving to rejoin the world outside.

In MHC, it is shared:

Levi called, Christ’s answer to the Pharisees.

It was a wonder of Christ’s grace, that he would call a publican to be his disciple and follower. It was a wonder of his grace, that the call was made so effectual.

It was a wonder of his grace, that he came to call sinners to repentance, and to assure them of pardon. It was a wonder of his grace, that he so patiently bore the contradiction of sinners against himself and his disciples. It was a wonder of his grace, that he fixed the services of his disciples according to their  strength and standing.

Reading Luke 5:30-32, this is just a pointedly reminder that there is a time and place for everything and in a broken and hurting world, as we encourage each other, as fellow believers and followers of Christ, we must not forget, either the bigger picture, that there are many who don’t know Christ, who don’t call His name and, we are called to share the Good News with them, but the rest belongs to our Heavenly Father.

He, in His perfect time and way, working in and through us, will soften the hearts, change the hearts and lead the hearts, but that is not our job to do His job. Our job is to be an example, an imitation of Christ, our personal Lord and Savioiur who seeks, in and through each of us, to change us, to liken us to His image, and to use us to be His ambassadors to a world that needs Him.

Application:

Reading the actions of Jesus as He walked among those who dearly needed Him the most and how the Pharisess, rather than seek to heal and deliver, instead judge and condemn and burden with legalism,  ignore the most cargo of all,their own hearts, reminds me that we live in a complicated and burden world where people need Him and sometimes we may find them in our own church, but majority of the time, we will find them in our everyday life and walk.

Our greatest missions, isn’t just overseas, but in our own backyards, our neighbors, our community, our town; The people whom we have the most contact with, often are the ones who know Him the least and it is there we need to remember, as we go out and about our day, to share His word, if not directly by Scripture, definetely by actions.

It could be a manager who not by his words but just his mere actions of allowing Christ to work in and through him, and in Service to Him, just be the best he can be and let Christ be reflected in his work, who, without saying a word, can lead and guide others to wonder what it is that leads him, and in turn be lead to Christ without a word being spoken at all.

As a follower of Christ, we lead by love and example, not by force and persuasion. As an anonymous quoter had said,”“Live in such a way that those who know you but don’t know God, will come to know God because they know you.””

Just by sheer example can make or break a personal testimony and can encourage or discourage a person to come to know Christ better.

This is a reminder for me, for all of us, to live our lives in a way that when people see us, they see Christ and will know something is there, without us having to speak a word.

God bless you, Gentle Readers!

Prayer:

Heavenly Father,

Thank You for Your Word and Your love and I pray and hope that others continue to be encouraged this new year and just everyday to seek You, to come to know You and to allow You to work in and through their lives without any fear or reservations.

You are an Awesome God and I thank You that You came into my life and You are my Lord and Saviour.

Amen.

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****Purpose of this post****

Gentle Readers, There are days that I will read a verse or passage and just feel pulled to share here, but there are days when I will read something and just feel, I need to spend the day, in personal contemplation of what is being convey and may just post via Twitter, what passages I have read that day and post nothing on here.

That is what bible reading is about; It’s not about having to write something down everyday; There maybe days when you are reading say, Numbers and it’s just lineages, but other days, you may find yourself dealing with a “powerhouse verse” of the moment and have to just go “WOW” and seek God in personal time and prayer to understand what He is sharing.

I will try to post daily, but particularly on weekends, if I’m sick or I’m just completely in awe of what I’m reading or maybe I am trying to understand what I am reading, I may not post here, I may just write in my Life Journal (hardcopy), because I will find myself having to seek His Word and/or the Commentary and just seek in prayer to understand what our Father in Heaven is seeking to reveal.

Either way.

Reading His Word, is about getting to know Him better and developing your Christian growth and maturity. Do what is right and good for you.

If you do use the Life Journal and participate in the daily readings, I would like to hear from you and your perspective on each day’s reading, when I do have a post up, or feel free to comment on a previous “Daily Bible Reading post” or send me a quick email.

Please feel free to join in the linky that I post below, so others too, who uses the Life Journal/or SOAP method to read the bible can participate.

Don’t feel obligate to have to blog about each passage to be read, but if anything, feel free to share those passages that have the most impact on you that day.

There maybe some days that you may read your daily reading and find nothing to jot down in your journal or on your blog and that’s okay, but there maybe other days, that you will find yourself inspire.

This is about you being encouraged to have a personal relationship with our Heavenly Father, and spending each day with Him, You and Him.

It is my prayer and hope that this will be an encouragement to establish a personal daily reading as well.

To find out more about using the S.O.A.P. method, here’s a link to an ehow article and here’s the link to the Life Journal to find out more what it is, and how you can use it for your own daily bible readings. If you don’t want to order the journal or if it’s not available through your local church, another method is simply, buy a journal or notebook or even blog about your life journal readings.

Disclaimer: I am not personally affiliated with the church that the link goes to, but merely share it as a resource of what the Life Journal is, how to order it.

 The Lord trains up his people gradually for the trials allotted them; we should copy his example in dealing with the weak in faith, or the tempted believer.

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