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This week we turn our attention to Luke chapter 17. Please read verses 1-19 every day this week and, if possible, use a different translation each day, asking God to open your eyes to fresh revelation from His Word
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Luke 17:1 (New International Version)
‘Jesus said to his disciples: “Things that cause people to sin are bound to come, but woe to that person through whom they come.’
Some years ago, at my place of work, there was a new employee starting in my department. He was a young lad and my manager asked me to spend some time with him, showing him the ropes and to “teach him all you know”. Well, it appears that I took that last instruction a little too seriously and after a few years, he had acquired a lot of my bad habits and mannerisms. To my shame, I was always doing things to wind people up and this new employee had taken things to a whole new level.
One day, he upset someone by saying something that was way over the line of acceptability. Instead of my manager taking him to task, she actually called me into a meeting room to discuss the situation. She went crazy with me and blamed me for everything. It had been my responsibility to train the new guy and I had given him all the wrong ‘tools’ for the job. I should have been setting a good example, but in fact had provided the worst possible foundation for a successful career. It was one of my lowest points as I began to think about my own life and analysed the things that I considered important for the job.
Jesus brings some teaching to us today that is far more serious than the story I have recounted above. He is talking about people being enticed or encouraged to sin and therefore put their souls at jeopardy. Over the past year or so that we’ve being compiling these devotions, we have talked about many, many issues as they are presented in Luke and the presented the challenges that follow. We live in a society that is increasingly ‘comfortable’ without God. There have been key people who have led the way in moving society from a position of a realisation of their sin to a confident stance of unashamed pronouncement of their sin as being acceptable. Jesus has said that things like this will surely come but it’s going to be very, very tough for the people who champion this kind of thing.
Having a poor spiritual attitude can also lead people into sin. There are some individuals I know who deliberately did worse things just because they knew that they were already condemned by their Christian friends and family. While not condoning sin in any way, I believe that, as Christians, we need to rise to new levels of love and grace. May we never give encouragement to sin but constantly give an opportunity for people to come into a relationship with an amazing Saviour. My prayer is that every one of us know the truth of the scripture: ‘There is now no condemnation to those who belong to Jesus’.
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