Today’s Scripture: Luke 6:47-49 (NRSV) (The Message)
As you read, consider: What might God be saying to me? Summarize your thoughts in a sentence or two.
My thoughts (Tyler Connoley):
Yesterday, we talked about two of the problems that face us as people who have eaten from the Tree of Knowledge of Good and Evil. The first problem is that even though we are “like God” in our ability to know right from wrong, we don’t always know what the best thing is to do. Sometimes we simply do bad things, knowing they’re bad. But, more often, we try to do good, and it turns out for evil, because our perspective is too small.
In today’s passage, Jesus tells us how he can help us with that problem.
The earliest disciples gathered around Jesus because they recognized him as a teacher of God’s Wisdom. In the Gospel of John, we’re told they thought of him as God’s Word made flesh — Holy Wisdom in human form.
Today, we can read Jesus’ teachings and find the same wisdom in them that his earliest followers did. Thanks to the writers of the Gospels, we can be Jesus’ disciples and he can be our teacher, even in the twenty-first century. This is how Jesus helps us with one of the big dilemmas of having eaten from the Tree of Knowledge of Good and Evil.
Instead of being stuck with our own small wisdom, we can build on the foundation of Jesus’ teachings. We can become wise people, who build our houses on rock. A house built on rock is more likely to be built well, and the same is true of our lives. If we build our lives on the rock of Christ’s teaching, we will more-consistently do good instead of evil, and our lives will be sturdier.
Now, I’m not implying that studying Jesus’ teachings is the only way to know how to do good more consistently. There are other teachers who teach us right from wrong. The Gospels are only four of sixty-six books in the Bible, and God has given us other wise people whom we should pay attention to. However, listening to Jesus certainly gives us a good foundation to build on.
Thought for the day: You are “like God” in your ability to know good from evil, but are you building on a good foundation so you can make sure you do good instead of evil?
We encourage you to include a time of prayer with this reading. If you need a place to get started, consider the guidelines on the How to Pray page.