‘Sir,’ the man replied, ‘leave it alone for one more year, and I’ll dig around it and fertilise it’ (Luke 13:8).
Read Luke 13:1–9
The practice of digging around a tree is common when it is not growing well and, in turn, not producing the fruit it was planted for. When the soil around the tree is disturbed, the roots are damaged in the digging, and then the tree has to grow new roots, which, in turn, strengthen the tree to bear fruit for the next season.
Jesus tells a parable about a fig tree that doesn’t bear fruit. The owner says, ‘Well cut it down’, but the man taking care of it says, ‘Leave it alone for one more year, and I’ll dig around it and fertilise it’.
The tree doesn’t need to be destroyed but disturbed and fed instead.
We are like this tree. We were planted in the kingdom of God by faith in Jesus and given a purpose – to bear fruit. Yet it is easy to drift away from Jesus and begin to follow the way of the world and the way of ourselves. We find it easier to listen to the devil, tempting us with lies in the idea that ‘it is my life and my body; I can do what I like’.
But Jesus has chosen you as his own for his purpose. To bear fruit. The fruit of God’s love in action toward those around you. You are created to be a blessing to others. You are blessed to bless others with God’s love in action.
When the word of the Lord challenges you to live differently, it is like Jesus digging at your roots – the roots in self rather than in the word. You see, the word is the fertiliser of life, and the word of Jesus Christ will feed and sustain you in bearing the fruit of God’s love in action.
When Jesus digs at your roots, hear the word, and be ready for his word to guide, challenge, heal and restore you. Be prepared for his word to nourish your hungry soul, ready to go out into the world with new growth and fruit that blesses others.
Dear Jesus, dig into my roots of selfishness and worldly ways. Let me grow in you to bear fruit for others. Help me to be a blessing to everyone I meet today. Feed me, nourish me, and strengthen me daily in your holy word. Amen.
Pastor Mark lives with his two daughters aged 11 and 8 in Redcliffe, just north of Brisbane. He currently serves as a pastor in the LCANZ and is passionate about sharing Jesus’ love with those around him. Pastor Mark loves to travel with his family to see the wonders of God’s creation and meet people who share their stories of what God has done for them.
Why don’t you judge for yourselves what is right? (Luke 12:57)
Read Luke 12:49–59
Do you remember when you were young when you might have secretly taken something from your mum or dad after being told not to? Or perhaps you have memories of childhood where you did something wrong, like cheating on a test or lying to someone about something you had done by denying your involvement?
We know what is right and wrong in life. Although we live in a world where many wrong things are being sold as the right thing, we know, deep down, the right thing to do.
Even those who do not yet know Jesus support the idea that you do to others what you want them to do to you. So, are there things in your life that you know are wrong?
Many of us live in sin. We tell ourselves that the things we have done, knowing they are wrong, are just ‘life’, and we push down those feelings of guilt and shame and get on with living. Yet we know it is wrong.
Jesus invites us to come to him, all of us who are burdened with sin, guilt and shame, and he will give us rest for our souls. He does this through forgiveness. Jesus died on the cross for the things we do that are wrong, and the good news is if you no longer want to live with the wrongs in life, Jesus calls you to himself to set you free from sin, guilt and shame.
Jesus says to judge for yourself what is right, knowing that as you come to him in his word, and he speaks to you through that word, with power, you will know and continue to know what is right and wrong, and when you fail, you know who to come to for peace through forgiveness.
Jesus, show me day by day what I need to repent of. As I come to you, wash me and make me whiter than snow. Give me a deep peace, knowing you have died for my sins, and I am forgiven. Let me live in your word day by day, walking in the truth and doing what is right to honour and glorify you always. Amen.
Pastor Mark lives with his two daughters aged 11 and 8 in Redcliffe, just north of Brisbane. He currently serves as a pastor in the LCANZ and is passionate about sharing Jesus’ love with those around him. Pastor Mark loves to travel with his family to see the wonders of God’s creation and meet people who share their stories of what God has done for them.
Do not be afraid, little flock, for your Father has been pleased to give you the kingdom (Luke 12:32).
Read Luke 12:32–48
A particular teacher would start each school term by giving every student, in the class, an A. Only when students were not working to the best of their ability or their attitude toward learning was not positive would their grades begin to change. The students would lose the A grade at the beginning of the term, and it would be moved downwards.
This was a great system for those students who had never been able to achieve an A grade in school before because they could know what it felt like to have it all given freely without earning it. It also challenged those who were used to achieving an A grade on their own merits.
In Jesus Christ, we have it all. We have been bought with Jesus’ blood shed on the cross at Calvary, and by faith, we are forgiven and have eternal life. God has given you the kingdom – his kingdom – in Jesus’ name. God has given you an A, the highest grade you can get, and you don’t have to earn it. Instead, you have already received it by faith in Jesus. The only difference with God compared to the school teacher is that when you mess up, fail or sin, God doesn’t take away the A grade he has given you. He calls you in Jesus to repent and receive the gift of forgiveness again.
What peace this brings, knowing that as you believe Jesus died for your sins, you cannot ever lose what Jesus has won for you on the cross. Life in the kingdom of God now, here on earth and in heaven eternally.
Do not be afraid of the future. Do not be afraid to serve the Lord by going out into the world to love others. Do not be afraid, little flock, for God has given you everything you need for today, tomorrow and eternity.
Heavenly Father, you have not held back anything but give it all to me by sending your son Jesus to die for my sins and the whole world. You give me a fresh start over and over again, and when I sin, you don’t take away your kingdom but rather wrap me more and more in your love. Help me to live a life worthy of the call you have placed on my life to follow you and to love others as you have loved me. Amen.
Who of you by worrying can add a single hour to your life? But seek his kingdom, and these things will be given to you as well (Luke 12:25,31).
Read Luke 12:13–31 Are you a member of the 4 am club? Perhaps you haven’t heard of it. The club is for those members who regularly wake up around 4 am and begin to, well they say, think of things they need to sort out. In other words, they wake up not by choice but are woken by the worries of this world.
What do people do when they wake up during the night worrying? They either try to get back to sleep – which, if you have ever woken during the night, you will know the more you try to get back to sleep, the more you can’t – or they worry, trying to sort everything out in their life in the space of a few hours.
What if people wake because God has called them to wake? Not to worry, but to pray?
When God woke Samuel by calling his name, Samuel didn’t realise God wanted to talk with him (1 Samuel 3). What if when you wake up in the middle of the night, God wants to speak to you? What if God is calling you to give him all of your worries?
You see, God cares so much that he sent his only Son Jesus to die on the cross for sin, your sin and mine, so as we believe in him, we are forgiven, have eternal life and are saved from sin, eternal death and the power of the devil. God cares so much that he wants to hear about your concerns and worries and to wrap you in his love.
Jesus asks us this: ‘Who of you can add a single day to your life by worrying? Since you cannot do this why do you worry about the rest?’ If we can’t do that simple thing, to add an hour to our life, which God can – of course – then why do we worry about all things we have no control over?
When you begin to worry, stop, pray, and know that as you seek the kingdom or as you call on Jesus first, all other things will be sorted out. You have the word of the Lord on that.
Lord, I worry so much about the things I cannot change, and then I worry about how I should have changed them if I could. Help me to stop and be in you by your word of promise that you are always with me. Fill me with your love and peace as I look to you first, knowing that everything I need for this life and the next is mine already in Jesus’ name. Amen.
Pastor Mark lives with his two daughters aged 11 and 8 in Redcliffe, just north of Brisbane. He is currently a pastor in the LCANZ and is passionate about sharing Jesus’ love with those around him. Pastor Mark loves to travel with his family to see the wonders of God’s creation and meet people who share their stories of what God has done for them.
While they were still talking about this, Jesus himself stood among them and said to them, ‘Peace be with you’ (Luke 24:36).
Read Luke 24:36b–48
When last did you touch someone with the love of Jesus? When last do you remember being touched by Jesus’ love through someone else?
You might be at that place in your life where your daily walk has little meaning or love in it. You might have come to the point of crying out, ‘Are you real, Jesus?’.
When Jesus appears to his disciples on the beach after his resurrection, he begins with these beautiful words of comfort, ‘Peace be with you’.
Asking them, ‘Why are you troubled, and why do doubts rise in your minds?’, Jesus knows their hearts, and the disciples are troubled and frightened, thinking they have seen a ghost.
Jesus knows your heart, too. He knows your thoughts, your dreams, your feelings of failure. He knows your disappointments and your hurts. He knows you. But maybe you wonder if he is real. Sometimes, the more you pray and seek Jesus, the further away Jesus feels.
But Jesus comes to us. He comes and says, ‘Peace be with you!’ When you feel Jesus is so far away, he is closer than you realise. For Jesus lives in you by his word. Jesus is the word that is planted in your hearts and grows by the power of the Holy Spirit.
When you are feeling lost, alone, scared and in need of comfort, call on the name of Jesus, who answers prayer. As you pray, know that the Lord has answered your prayer even before you finish praying, and he knows exactly what you need even when you can’t put it into words. You might find you will meet Jesus in the people he sends your way to encourage you and share words and acts of love.
Jesus works in us and through us, and as we grow in Jesus, spending time in his word, he sends us out to those around us who are feeling lost, alone and hurt to share the same love of Jesus that comforts and heals us. Know this peace Jesus gives you, and know that as you love others in Jesus’ love, they too will come to meet Jesus and know just as you do that Jesus is real.
Dear Jesus, come and be with me and bring your words of peace. Comfort me and show me how real you are in all I do and in the people around me you have blessed me with. Help me be your hands and feet, Jesus, by showing your love to others you have sent me to. Amen.
Answer me when I call to you, my righteous God. Give me relief from my distress; have mercy on me and hear my prayer (Psalm 4:1).
Read Psalm 4
I have always loved the Psalms. According to Martin Luther’s introduction, we find prophecy, instruction, comfort, prayer and thanks in the Book of Psalms. You can find a publication of Luther’s summaries of the Psalms in one helpful volume (Concordia Press, 2007). My journey with Psalms began with receiving my individual Good News from the Psalms for confirmation. I loved having them in one volume with an index showing me where to look at different moments.
Here, we have a psalm we can use in distress. The psalmist does a great job of putting the words together for us that we may need when suffering at the hands of others and waiting for physical restoration. We pray for God’s light to shine on us and can go to sleep at night (the time we may often suffer most with these thoughts of difficulty) in peace:
In peace I will lie down and sleep, for you alone, Lord, make me dwell in safety (verse 8). Another comprehensive psalm for times of trouble, and one worth memorising, is Psalm 20. We are told by Jesus that, in this world, we will have trouble: ‘I have told you these things, so that in me you may have peace. In this world, you will have trouble. But take heart! I have overcome the world’ (John 16:33).
In the Psalms, we often see the psalmist lamenting their trouble and then finding rest for their soul in the promise of God’s victory and the peace that only he can bring. Memorise the beginning or end of today’s psalm – or Psalm 20 – and use it when you need a prayer in times of distress. One mark of our faith is not that we do not suffer; it’s that, through Christ, we have victory over that suffering. Don’t forget to get to know the praise psalms for those hilltop moments, too!
Lord, thank you for the peace and safety I have in you. Help me to trust in you when I suffer or am anxious. May your word be hidden in my heart so I may not sin against you (Psalm 119:11). In the saving name of Jesus, Amen.
Be on your guard against the yeast of the Pharisees, which is hypocrisy. There is nothing concealed that will not be disclosed or hidden that will not be made known. What you have said in the dark will be heard in the daylight (Luke 12:1b–3a).
Read Luke 11:53 – 12:12
There has been a theme of hypocrisy running through the teachings of our readings this week.
This is the yeast of the Pharisees. It is something we must be very sensitive to – in ourselves and the body of Christ, of which we are members and ambassadors.
Have you ever heard the church be accused of hypocrisy? Perhaps, sometimes, critics have got a point. Have you ever asked for help and been made to feel small? Or have you had a lot of good reasons why you couldn’t help someone? Perhaps you think you are only allowed to share good news with those around you. Maybe you even avoid church coffee because you don’t want to admit what is going on in your life. It might be suffering … or it might be sin.
These are sobering passages, and here is a stark warning. What you have said in the dark will be heard in the daylight. What is hidden will be made known.
Jesus is the Light of the World. It shines in the darkness. Jesus is truth. The truth will be made known. Jesus knows the condition of our souls. Nothing we can put on will hide it.
‘You will know the truth, and the truth will set you free’ (John 8:32).
Lord, may we be distinct and set apart for you, walking in the light, living the truth, and living obediently in your word – whether others are watching or not. Lord, expose the darkness and remind us who we are to fear – you and no other. In Jesus’ name, Amen.
Sal is married to Pastor Matthew Huckel, and they live in Victoria with their six children. Music, theology, literature and languages are passions the family share and explore together. Sal loves writing, speaking and walking to the beach at every opportunity.
Woe to you experts in the law, because you have taken away the key to knowledge. You yourselves have not entered, and you have hindered those who were entering (Luke 11:52).
Read Luke 11:37–52
We continue in a week of hard words to hear. It’s not a popular thing, is it, to deliver the bad news? Of course, that’s an oversimplification. We might discuss law and gospel; one cannot receive the gospel without first hearing the law. The law is the diagnosis of our sin, of our state. The gospel is the amazing news of what Jesus’ death on the cross means for us.
We can’t celebrate the death and resurrection of Jesus without knowing why we need it. We cannot live in our baptism daily if we don’t know what that means or why we need to. In a passage like this, we hear Jesus’ law for the experts in the law. We must also hear this law for ourselves. What can we pick out? (Read the passage if you haven’t yet. I’ll wait …)
In the text, we find:
- Don’t neglect justice and the love of God.
- Don’t seek out the most important seats for yourselves.
- Don’t load people down with burdens and refuse to help them.
- Don’t keep knowledge for yourselves and the key to that knowledge from others.
How might that look for us? Love others, and love justice. Share the burdens of others and help them understand the gospel message – most importantly – by living it out. Stay humble and teachable.
What we know of the Pharisees is that they were experts in all of this knowledge of the law – but it was more important to them than people. Our knowledge must never be exclusive or more important than loving people and living the gospel. This does not mean sugar-coating God’s truth to make it acceptable to others. It means being prepared to use the law to diagnose the issues and share the gospel message of love and salvation through Jesus’ perfect sacrifice.
Lord, help me to use the law as a mirror to remind me of my sins, live your gospel message and love others in response to the freedom and forgiveness I have through Christ’s once-for-all sacrifice on the cross. In Jesus’ name. Amen.
He replied, ‘Blessed rather are those who hear the word of God and obey it’ (Luke 11:28).
Read Luke 11:24–36
Do you read the whole passage or just the focus verse? I would encourage you to read the entire passage each time you see these devotions, whether on social media or by email. There is so much richness in the passages, and today, like many days, it’s a hard choice settling on the focus verse. Today, our passage has a message running through it – don’t just hear the word of God (or read in your inbox, on your newsfeed, or in your Bible – how many places we can access it!).
Hear it and respond.
Do you remember the wickedness of Nineveh? At least they repented – and put their houses in order! Jesus says that they will stand in judgement over those who do not repent and turn from their ways in response to the gospel.
We ensure that our light is put on a stand and remains full of light, not darkness. We are encouraged through baptism to shine with the light of the world, Jesus.
We may feel the world is dark. We are the light. Back to that newsfeed … how are we filling our souls? Are we feeding our soul and mind with the word of God, the Light of the World, and how is that light shining out from within us?
‘Blessed rather are those who hear the word of God and obey it’ (Luke 11:28).
Lord, thank you for the many opportunities I have to hear, read and obey your word. I pray that you will continue to shine through me, that your light will guide those around me to the truth, and that others will come to know you. In Jesus’ name, Amen.
Sal is married to Pastor Matthew Huckel, and they live in Victoria with their six children. Music, theology, literature and languages are passions the family share and explore together. Sal loves writing, speaking and walking to the beach at every opportunity.