What must you do to inherit eternal life!

12/6/2019

And behold, a certain lawyer stood up and tested Him, saying, “Teacher, what shall I do to inherit eternal life?” Luke 10:27 NKJV

This is the opening verse of the story of the Good Samaritan. The Samaritan is not the central character of the story. Neither is the man who fell among thieves. The lawyer is.

The lawyer was not asking Jesus what he must do to be saved. He was testing Jesus. He did not call Jesus “teacher” out of respect. Pride and arrogance filled his heart!

Jesus answered the lawyers question by asking, “What is written in the law? What is your reading of it?”

The lawyer answered and said, “You shall love the Lord your God with all your heart, with all your soul, with all your strength, and with all your mind, and your neighbor as yourself.”

And Jesus said to him, “You have answered rightly, do this and you will live.” The lawyer seeking to justify himself asked Jesus, “And who is my neighbor?”

The lawyer did not ask because he was unsure. He was justifying his failure to obey God’s commands. He understood the law. He chose not to obey it!

Arguing and disputing the law was the lawyers business. He could defend criminals or prosecute debtors with equal zeal. He could not argue his way into the kingdom of God. He could not defend himself before the Lord. He was determined to try!

The world is full of people justifying their behavior by arguing and disputing with the Word of God. Some of us are familiar with the scriptures and hold other people to account for their disobedience but justify our own. I have done it. So have you!

Who is your neighbor? Why should you care?

Our neighbors are not just the people who live next door to us. They are not just the people who look and act like us. They are not just the people we like and who like us.

Our neighbors are people of different colors races and ethnic groups. They are people who speak different languages than us. Some of them hate us for our relationship with Christ. Some of them hate us because of our color race and ethnicity.

We should care about our neighbors because Jesus does. The lawyer in this story is going to argue and dispute his way into hell. We can follow Jesus into eternal life!

We cannot save the world. We can love our neighbors. We can do that by loving Jesus!

How can you inherit eternal life? Surrender your heart and mind to the Word of God. You will sin. You will make mistakes. We all do. Love covers a multitude of sins. Love the Lord God with all of your heart, soul, strength and mind. Love your neighbor as yourself!

http://www.joyfor2day.com
https://twitter.com/JoyFor2day
#Joyfor2daydailydevotional

0 Comments

Louie Garcia

Joyfor2day daily devotional goes out over the internet to thousands of people all over the world five days a week

Jesus can use you to shake the foundations of the prison and set people free!

Now it happened, as we went to prayer, that a certain slave girl possessed with a spirit of divination met us, who brought her masters much profit by fortune telling. This girl followed Paul and us, and cried out, saying, “These men are servants of the Most High God, who proclaim to us the way of salvation.” And this she did for many days. But Paul, greatly annoyed, turned and said to the spirit, I command you in the name of Jesus Christ to come out of her. And he came out that very hour. Acts 16:16-18 NKJV

The slave girl was speaking the truth. She was possessed by an evil spirit. The evil spirit was drawing people away from Christ!

This attack came as God’s servants went to prayer. The enemy of our souls attacks when we step out in faith. Satan seeks to distract us. He wants us to focus our attention on things other than Jesus.

The devil perverts the truth. He uses it against us. No one can serve two masters. This girl was speaking the truth about Paul and his companions while practicing witchcraft. When people claim to speak for God we must consider how they live.

The girl followed the disciples for several days before they cast the demon out of her. It is important for us to wait on the Lord before stepping out in faith. The bible tells us Paul was greatly annoyed by this girl. Paul was not fearful. The Lord was with Him!

Paul and Silas were put in jail. The owners of the slave girl were angry at the loss of income when the demon was cast out of her. While Paul and Silas were in jail they shared the gospel with the jailer. His entire household was saved.

God uses Satan’s attacks for His glory and our salvation!

Satan is a real being. He takes people captive to do his will. There really are demons who seek to destroy God’s people and bring destruction to our world.

We have nothing to fear from the devil or his demons when we live according to God’s will. We have nothing to fear from anyone or anything when we step out in faith to serve Jesus!

Jesus wants us to fear Him and Him alone. He wants us to know His power and authority are unequaled in all of creation.

God wants you share the gospel of Jesus Christ with the people in your life. Jesus wants you to walk in great boldness because He is with you everywhere you go!

Jesus can use you to shake the foundations of the prison and set people free!

What must you do to inherit eternal life!

Leave a Reply.

Louie Garcia

Archives

Categories