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This week we conclude our study of Luke chapter 17 and commence Chapter 18. Please read verses 17:25-37 and 18:1-8 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 17:32-33 (The Message)
‘“Remember what happened to Lot’s wife!
If you grasp and cling to life on your terms, you’ll lose it, but if you let that life go, you’ll get life on God’s terms.”’
Have you ever been to a circus? I’ve not been many times (at least not that I can remember), but on the odd occasion that I can recall, I loved seeing one particular act that was literally above all the others. The trapeze artists were amazing to see. They would swing from one side of the tent to the other holding on to a thin bar and then somersault into the arms of another artiste swinging in the opposite direction. Some tents had safety nets while others did not. Therefore, the timing and concentration required to do this was mesmerising for me and the slightest slip would mean serious injury or possible death.
I also enjoyed watching the tightrope artist make his way across the thin wire stretched from one side of the tent to the other. Inch by inch they would painstakingly progress across the wire. Some would be carrying items in an attempt to make the journey harder. I think it’s tough enough on its own without complicating things! Each person would try to wrap their feet around the wire and keep their eyes firmly fixed in front of them. Success or failure was all down to their ability to keep looking forward and maintain their balance.
Jesus words to end this chapter are chilling when we recall the story of Sodom and Gomorrah. Lot and his family had been warned by the angels that destruction was coming to the cities. God’s grace was being extended to them and they would be led away from impending justice toward safety and escape. The instruction to Lot was very simple: “If you have anyone who belongs to you, get them out of here, because we are going to destroy this place”. Lot told this to the men who were going to marry his daughters but they didn’t listen to him and thought he was joking! So, with the first light of dawn, Lot was ‘urged’ by the angels to take his wife and daughters and leave the city. The scripture says that Lot hesitated so the angels took them all by the hand and led them out. What amazing grace, mercy and patience we see in the actions of the angels. Salvation is a wonderful, wonderful thing.
Once they were out of the city, they were told to go to a nearby town and given one specific instruction: “Flee for your lives and don’t look back.” Unfortunately, Lot’s wife didn’t listen and she looked back and became ‘a pillar of salt’. Jesus is using this story to give every one of us a valuable lesson: Once we have been delivered from destruction or have been rescued from impending death, we are to keep looking forward. Just like the trapeze artist, our eyes should be completely on the arms of the one who is going to ‘catch’ us. There is nothing in our past that should warrant our attention. Jesus is enough for us.
If we try to hold on to anything in our past, then we are unable to move forward. By definition, we have to stay exactly where we are. God’s plan for all of our lives is to keep moving forward. He says that we are to be transformed into His image with ever increasing glory. If we do what Jesus says and leave go of the past, we will get life ‘on God’s terms’. And what a life that is! Full of purpose and promise.
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