Monday 31 Oct 2022

October 31: Luke 14:12-14

Key Verse: Luke 14:13
But when you give a banquet, invite the poor, the crippled, the lame, the blind,

Devotion:
When Jesus went to the house of a prominent Pharisee on the Sabbath, He watched the people around Him carefully. When a man in front of them clearly needed help with the abnormal swelling of his body, Jesus first asked the Pharisees if it was legal to heal on the Sabbath – He knew they had very strict rules about doing anything that may resemble work on the Sabbath… even though they would expect to be fed on the Sabbath!

When He saw the guests all striving to take the seats of honour, He told them they should not go to the best seat in the house in case the person who invited them had invited someone of greater stature than them; to save on the embarrassment of having to move! He could see they were more worried about what other people thought of them than the actual reason they were at the gathering!

He then told them they should not invite all the great people and honourable people but the poor, crippled, lame and blind – the people who were not seen with great honour in the community. His reasoning was they would be blessed greatly by inviting people who would not be able to pay them back… in other words we should be taking care of the people we know cannot pay us back!

If we simply go about doing things for people who we know will do something for us later on, then we are not really blessing anyone other than trying to gain blessing ourselves! God wants to bless those who are willing to give all and expect nothing in return. To Him those are the people who have genuine love in their hearts...

Points to Ponder:
Do you have parties to have more parties?

Will you try to help someone who cannot hope to pay you back?