Year 7, Day 221: Luke 12

Theological Commentary: Click Here

When I read Luke 12, I think about the interaction between an individual and the community.  I think the core of this chapter is Luke 12:8-12.  In this section, Jesus tells us that we need to acknowledge God before humanity.  We need to live a life that demonstrates our faith.  If we live in such a way, we will be demonstrating our relationship with God to the people around us and opening up opportunity for conversation.  As Jesus says, we need not fear the conversation – even if it has potentially dangerous conversations.  If we don’t live in such a manner, we will be demonstrating to God that our relationship with Him isn’t really the priority that we claim it to be.

How does this play out in the rest of the chapter?  First of all, it demonstrates where we consider our wealth to lay.  Some consider their wealth to be literally wealth: money in the bank account, retirement accounts, cash in hand, etc.  Other people consider their wealth to be their relationships around them and the opportunities at their doorstep.  Keep in mind that none of these things are inherently bad.  We need a certain amount of money to live.  It’s good to have relationships and opportunity.  But Jesus tells us that our wealth should be in heaven.  This goes back to acknowledging God before mankind.  When we live in such a way as to acknowledge men before mankind, we will live in such a manner that our treasure is found in heaven.

Take the teaching about not being anxious.  If God is our focus, why should we have anxiety?  If we live in such a manner as to proclaim God, why would we think that God would fail us?  If we are living as though our treasure is in heaven, we realize that God cannot fail us because He is the master of the place where our treasure resides!

We can keep going.  There is the teaching about the servants of the master.  The blessed servants are doing the work of the master until the master returns.  In other words, the servant who is blessed is proclaiming God before others by living in such a way as God desires.  However, when the servant is convinced that God isn’t coming back imminently, they start to live for their own desires.  They begin to abuse the people around them.  They take advantage of others.  They aren’t proclaiming God before others, they are proclaiming their focus on themselves!

It shouldn’t surprise us to hear that our witness to the community around us should be at the forefront of our life.  It affects how we treat others.  It affects the decisions we make.  It affects the anxiety and stress in our own life.  It affects our goals and aspirations.

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