Friday 18 Dec 2020

December 18: Luke 7:31-35
 
Key Verse: Luke 7:34
The Son of Man came eating and drinking, and you say, “Here is a glutton and a drunkard, a friend of tax collectors and sinners.”
 
Devotion:
What do you really think Jesus was like? Did He stand out from the crowd? Well, obviously He did at times when He was surrounded by people trying to get healed or blessed, but what happened early in His ministry? We don’t get to hear about all His days of growing up learning carpentry or what He used to do in His home town at the time...
 
To me, Jesus would not have stood out from the crowd as we think of it nowadays – but He would have stood out because of the way He acted toward others. Too many times in our lives we do things because it seems like that is what is expected, or we do something because someone else has done it. We copy and emulate others. Jesus did not. He did things because that is what was required! He was purposeful!
 
In His brief comparison to His life and that of John the Baptist, He shows the meanness of human ways. When we see someone acting differently, we have got to find a cause... we blame them or their lives for what they are doing because it is different to the normal. I like being different. I like to show people they can be different. I don’t stand up and shout about it, but try to be persistent in my ways to bring attention to God and not to me...
 
People talked badly about John because he lived outside the city and dressed and ate very differently from others. People spoke badly of Jesus because He dared to reach out to the marginalised in society – something we should be proud of doing, not shying away from doing just because it may look odd.
 
Points to Ponder:
How do you treat people around you?
 
Are you willing to try to treat all people as equal?