Luke 18:28-30

Luke 18:28-30

And Peter said, “Behold!  After leaving our own things we followed you!”  And He said to them, “Amen.  I say to you, there is no one who leaves house or wife or siblings or parents or children for the sake of the kingdom of God who should surely not receive many times more in this time and in the age to come: eternal life.”

Thoughts for Today

First Thought:

Immediately, Peter hears what Jesus says and begins to apply it to himself.  We should love this quality in Peter.  In fact, we should try to emulate this quality in Peter.  When we hear Jesus’ teaching, we should begin to think about how it applies to us.  We should figure out if we are living out God’s truth in our life or if we are need of hearing the challenge and responding to it.  In fact, we can see this in Jesus’ response.  After Peter speaks, Jesus’ first word of response is “Amen.”  This means “truly.”  In other words, Jesus is asserting an absolute agreement with what Peter is doing and saying here.  Jesus is commending Peter’s desire to see His teaching applied in his own life.

Are you eager to apply Jesus’ teaching in your life?  What helps you become more eager to apply Jesus’ teaching?

Second Thought:

As we read through these words, we can definitely hear the theme of sacrifice.  When we choose to follow Jesus, we will leave things behind.  We will leave behaviors behind.  We will even leave people behind.  One of my favorite quotes along these lines is a quote from the book Cost of Discipleship by Dietrich Bonhoeffer.  He says, “When Christ calls a man, He bids him to come and die.”  Of course, Bonhoeffer doesn’t mean this literally – at least not all the time.  What Bonhoeffer means is that when we start to follow Christ, those things in our life that are not in line with Christ will fade away.  Sacrifice is going to happen when we pursue Jesus and His ways.

Does the idea of sacrifice inspire you or scare you?  What makes it exciting?  What makes it easy to feel fear?

Third Thought:

Jesus doesn’t just leave it with sacrifice, however.  Yes, sacrifice will be necessary.  But the reward will be far more superior.  When we give up the things of the world for the sake of Christ, we gain so much more in Him.  We gain brothers and sisters in Christ.  We gain a Father who created the world and knows what is best for us.  We gain eternal treasure that nobody can take away from us.  Each of these things are worth the sacrifice in our temporal world.  Yes, sacrifice will be required of us.  But it is not an empty sacrifice.  It is a sacrifice where we are trading things of this world that will fade for this of an eternal world that God can preserve for us.  That’s actually good news.

How can God’s promise make sacrifice easier to bear?  Why do we still fear sacrifice even though we know God’s promise of greater gain?

Passage for Tomorrow: Luke 18:31-34