JESUS’ LOST AND FOUND DEPARTMENT

Posted on May 13, 2015 by randscallawayffm

Luke and the Lost

Think of something you lost that was very valuable to you. I am thinking of that moment right now and my stomach still turns because of the incident of losing wallet, checkbook and other important items that aid others in stealing your very identity. The first place to go is the lost and found department with crying out to God that the items will be there safe. You search everywhere, hoping that it will turn up in a safe place. Sometimes the items are found and sometimes they are not.

Jesus has a lost and found department for our very souls. He comes to us, wanting to find us willing to be found. The beauty of His lost and found department is that we will always find what we have lost…life. And more Life. Are you lost? Are you needing to be found? In Him? Do you need to be lifted to the shoulders of our Savior and be carried back to the other found souls?

Luke 15, The Message
The Story of the Lost Sheep
15 1-3 By this time a lot of men and women of doubtful reputation were hanging around Jesus, listening intently. The Pharisees and religion scholars were not pleased, not at all pleased. They growled, “He takes in sinners and eats meals with them, treating them like old friends.” Their grumbling triggered this story.

4-7 “Suppose one of you had a hundred sheep and lost one. Wouldn’t you leave the ninety-nine in the wilderness and go after the lost one until you found it? When found, you can be sure you would put it across your shoulders, rejoicing, and when you got home call in your friends and neighbors, saying, ‘Celebrate with me! I’ve found my lost sheep!’ Count on it—there’s more joy in heaven over one sinner’s rescued life than over ninety-nine good people in no need of rescue.

The JOY of finding what was once lost, and now found, brings us feelings of elation and peace. Imagine the joy and celebration in heaven as a soul is brought back to Jesus, full and whole. Jesus was friend to sinners, so He could pull them away from sin and death, to life and more Life with Him.

Jesus invites

Dear Heavenly Father, This passage of lost but found touches our hearts, minds and souls deeply. We think of those who are lost who need to be found. Continue to look for them as You would lost sheep and bring them back to the found. Restore the joy of our salvation so that we do not miss the celebration of the lost being found. Continue to be with us, going after us, when we stray. I am that one in ninety-nine sometimes, Lord. Thank you for not letting go of me! In Jesus Name, Amen

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WHAT DOES IT COST?

Posted on May 12, 2015 by randscallawayffm

Luke and the Lost

Figuring out the cost of something always means make a choice. I can either have this or that. But I can’t have both. Teaching this to your kids and then later your grandkids at the local stuffmart becomes very interesting and is a good lesson to learn.

Choose well, says, Jesus. Figure the cost. Count on the cost.

Luke 14, The Message
Figure the Cost
25-27 One day when large groups of people were walking along with him, Jesus turned and told them, “Anyone who comes to me but refuses to let go of father, mother, spouse, children, brothers, sisters—yes, even one’s own self!—can’t be my disciple. Anyone who won’t shoulder his own cross and follow behind me can’t be my disciple.

28-30 “Is there anyone here who, planning to build a new house, doesn’t first sit down and figure the cost so you’ll know if you can complete it? If you only get the foundation laid and then run out of money, you’re going to look pretty foolish. Everyone passing by will poke fun at you: ‘He started something he couldn’t finish.’

31-32 “Or can you imagine a king going into battle against another king without first deciding whether it is possible with his ten thousand troops to face the twenty thousand troops of the other? And if he decides he can’t, won’t he send an emissary and work out a truce?

33 “Simply put, if you’re not willing to take what is dearest to you, whether plans or people, and kiss it good-bye, you can’t be my disciple.

34 “Salt is excellent. But if the salt goes flat, it’s useless, good for nothing.

“Are you listening to this? Really listening?”

Are we listening? There are small to large, life-changing, life transforming decisions that we face each day that lead to building on the foundation of our salvation of Jesus Christ or tearing it down block by block, and board by board. Who are we listening to? The cost is giving up to gain more. What?! This is not the world’s view of life!

Jesus says count the cost. He reminds us It WILL cost. Our faith and discipleship (following God’s commands) will cost us, at times, that awkwardness of being “different” at the office, at church, in the marketplace of life, in our thinking and actions. Are we listening, really listening? We must combat worldview thinking knowing there will be times we must stand up graciously and declare by our actions and behavior the choices we have clearly made to follow Jesus Christ.

Jesus counted the cost before leaving the comfort and power of heaven to lay down his life for us. He left HIS Father so that we might have eternal life if we choose Him.

Choose well. Know that the cost of a little humility and awkwardness and even physical death for many here on earth does not compare with life eternal with Jesus forever. He gave so that we might live. We were worth the cost to Him. Wow.

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Dear Heavenly Father, It will be worth all the cost here to be with You forever there. Help us build on the foundation you have laid in our hearts, minds and souls. Complete Your work in and through us. Continue to be with us, guiding and leading us around the traps and evil that lie in wait. Arm us with all we need to fight the battle to stay completely Yours that You have already won. In Jesus Name, Amen

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TRUTH BE TOLD…

Posted on May 11, 2015 by randscallawayffm

Luke and the Lost

This is a month of weddings for us! Four, on four separate weekends this month. It has been interesting to watch people who we know, those we know little and those we do not know at all come into these celebrations. Some come with attitudes of arrogance, expecting to treated well because of the gift of their presence at the event. Some come in loudly, wanting the attention of the bride and groom so badly to fulfill their own need of being noticed. Some come in quietly, regretting they came because of seeing others there who have hurt them in the past from broken marriages. Some just come for the party and the drink that will make them forget everything and act stupid. And some come to see two people who love each other be blessed in the sacred ceremony of marriage. Yes, it doesn’t take much observation to know “who’s who”.

Jesus was at a dinner of a rich and prestigious Pharisee. In Luke 14, he says, “all the guests had their eyes on him, watching his every move.” Jesus, as He does often, turns the tables on the host and guests by telling them stories that revealed the Truth of their attitudes and actions. Jesus does not hold anything back because of His love for God’s people who need to know what God wants and expects from all of us who say we love Him. He also reminds us that ALL should be invited to the table.

Luke 14, The Message
Invite the Misfits
7-9 He went on to tell a story to the guests around the table. Noticing how each had tried to elbow into the place of honor, he said, “When someone invites you to dinner, don’t take the place of honor. Somebody more important than you might have been invited by the host. Then he’ll come and call out in front of everybody, ‘You’re in the wrong place. The place of honor belongs to this man.’ Red-faced, you’ll have to make your way to the very last table, the only place left.

10-11 “When you’re invited to dinner, go and sit at the last place. Then when the host comes he may very well say, ‘Friend, come up to the front.’ That will give the dinner guests something to talk about! What I’m saying is, If you walk around with your nose in the air, you’re going to end up flat on your face. But if you’re content to be simply yourself, you will become more than yourself.”

12-14 Then he turned to the host. “The next time you put on a dinner, don’t just invite your friends and family and rich neighbors, the kind of people who will return the favor. Invite some people who never get invited out, the misfits from the wrong side of the tracks. You’ll be—and experience—a blessing. They won’t be able to return the favor, but the favor will be returned—oh, how it will be returned!—at the resurrection of God’s people.”

The Story of the Dinner Party
15 That triggered a response from one of the guests: “How fortunate the one who gets to eat dinner in God’s kingdom!”

16-17 Jesus followed up. “Yes. For there was once a man who threw a great dinner party and invited many. When it was time for dinner, he sent out his servant to the invited guests, saying, ‘Come on in; the food’s on the table.’

18 “Then they all began to beg off, one after another making excuses. The first said, ‘I bought a piece of property and need to look it over. Send my regrets.’

19 “Another said, ‘I just bought five teams of oxen, and I really need to check them out. Send my regrets.’

20 “And yet another said, ‘I just got married and need to get home to my wife.’

21 “The servant went back and told the master what had happened. He was outraged and told the servant, ‘Quickly, get out into the city streets and alleys. Collect all who look like they need a square meal, all the misfits and homeless and wretched you can lay your hands on, and bring them here.’

22 “The servant reported back, ‘Master, I did what you commanded—and there’s still room.’

23-24 “The master said, ‘Then go to the country roads. Whoever you find, drag them in. I want my house full! Let me tell you, not one of those originally invited is going to get so much as a bite at my dinner party.’”

Yes, there will always be ONE more to invite to the table of God’s Kingdom. Who is that one in our lives? This is a holy pause to reflect and think about who has not been invited to the Truth we know and cherish for ourselves and our family and close friends? Who needs to be invited?

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Dear Heavenly Father, You speak Truth through Your Words that convict us with repentance and challenge us to action that follow what we say we believe. Thank you for being the person of Truth for every situation we will encounter here on earth. Thank you, for salvation, protection, provision and a multitude of blessings. Continue to be with us still…In Jesus Name, Amen. I believe.

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UNTIL THEN…

Posted on May 10, 2015 by randscallawayffm

Luke and the Lost

It’s Mom’s Day today on the calendar. My mom and her mom and my dad’s mom meant the world to me. They taught me to love God with all my heart, mind and soul. They told me if I did, even though it would be hard at times to believe while others went their own way, the reward of being with Jesus would be great. They are gone. They are enjoying their reward with Jesus. I’m still here waiting, caring for dad who misses mom, as he waits for his reward.

But UNTIL THEN we do not just sit and wait. We cherish every moment we have who those who are waiting with us here on God’s earth. We travel together, love and laugh, work and play on the journey until we are called home. UNTIL THEN…a song my mom, dad, aunt and uncle used to sing in a gospel quartet often still rings in my ears today as I remember them…

My heart can sing when I pause to remember
A heartache here is but a stepping stone
Along a trail that’s winding always upward,
This troubled world is not my final home.

Chorus
But until then my heart will go on singing,
Until then with joy I’ll carry on,
Until the day my eyes behold the city,
Until the day God calls me home.

The things of earth will dim and lose their value
If we recall they’re borrowed for awhile;
And things of earth that cause the heart to tremble,
Remembered there will only bring a smile.

Chorus
But until then my heart will go on singing,
Until then with joy I’ll carry on,
Until the day my eyes behold the city,
Until the day God calls me home.

This weary world with all its toil and struggle
May take its toll of misery and strife;
The soul of man is like a waiting falcon;
When it’s released, it’s destined for the skies.

Chorus
But until then my heart will go on singing,
Until then with joy I’ll carry on,
Until the day my eyes behold the city,
Until the day God calls me home.

And then the next passage is Jesus, on earth, longing for people to turn back to God. He wants to gather all, “like a hen gathers her chicks”, but some turn away.

Luke 13, The Message
Jerusalem, Jerusalem, killer of prophets,
abuser of the messengers of God!
How often I’ve longed to gather your children,
gather your children like a hen,
Her brood safe under her wings—
but you refused and turned away!
And now it’s too late: You won’t see me again
until the day you say,
‘Blessed is he
who comes in
the name of God.’”

Jesus invites

Dear Heavenly Father, But UNTIL THEN, my heart sings for You, dear Lord. Blessed is he who comes in the Name of the Lord, God! UNTIL THEN with joy I’ll carry on…In Jesus Name, Amen
I believe.

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PICTURE IT!

Posted on May 9, 2015 by randscallawayffm

Luke and the Lost

The little boy sat at the Sunday School table surrounded by other Kindergarten kids. He was drawing and coloring feverishly, focused on his masterpiece. The teacher bent over to see what he was drawing. “Tell me about your picture,” she said. “I’m drawing a picture of God!” he said excitedly. The teacher replied, “But nobody knows what God looks like.” The little boy stopped and thought for a bit and then said, “Well, they will when I get finished!”

I think of that familiar story as we study the next passage where Jesus, our Master Storyteller, is trying to get us to use all that He has created within us to really SEE what He is talking about. He does it eloquently and perfectly with words. I imagine Jesus using jesters and nearby “props” to help the people to picture the Kingdom of Heaven…God’s Kingdom…in us. His brief life was the perfect example, however.

Luke 13, The Message
The Way to God
18-19 Then he said, “How can I picture God’s kingdom for you? What kind of story can I use? It’s like a pine nut that a man plants in his front yard. It grows into a huge pine tree with thick branches, and eagles build nests in it.”

20-21 He tried again. “How can I picture God’s kingdom? It’s like yeast that a woman works into enough dough for three loaves of bread—and waits while the dough rises.”

22 He went on teaching from town to village, village to town, but keeping on a steady course toward Jerusalem.

23-25 A bystander said, “Master, will only a few be saved?”

He said, “Whether few or many is none of your business. Put your mind on your life with God. The way to life—to God!—is vigorous and requires your total attention. A lot of you are going to assume that you’ll sit down to God’s salvation banquet just because you’ve been hanging around the neighborhood all your lives. Well, one day you’re going to be banging on the door, wanting to get in, but you’ll find the door locked and the Master saying, ‘Sorry, you’re not on my guest list.’

26-27 “You’ll protest, ‘But we’ve known you all our lives!’ only to be interrupted with his abrupt, ‘Your kind of knowing can hardly be called knowing. You don’t know the first thing about me.’

28-30 “That’s when you’ll find yourselves out in the cold, strangers to grace. You’ll watch Abraham, Isaac, Jacob, and all the prophets march into God’s kingdom. You’ll watch outsiders stream in from east, west, north, and south and sit down at the table of God’s kingdom. And all the time you’ll be outside looking in—and wondering what happened. This is the Great Reversal: the last in line put at the head of the line, and the so-called first ending up last.”

THE POINT OF FOCUS: ““Whether few or many is none of your business. Put your mind on your life with God. The way to life—to God!—is vigorous and requires your total attention.”

HOW? Let God’s Kingdom thinking permeate our hearts so that like the yeast, it rises up within us, guiding us to live our lives more and more like Jesus, the Bread of Life eternal.

We grow from the seed planted in us by those before us, then we open the doors of our enlarged hearts, giving God Kingdom ways the control to enlarge HIS territory of our minds, reaching to core of our souls with unconditional love for Him and for others.

Yes, PICTURE GOD’S KINGDOM, as an active, undying, eternal force working in us and through us to show others what God’s Kingdom is like by the lives we live each day. We won’t quit drawing our picture of God! We will show others what He looks like by our lives!

Don’t know what God looks like? Maybe you will when I get finished! Still working on it…

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Dear Heavenly Father, You are amazing, Your Word is gloriously about You and Your Kingdom residing in us IF we allow You to have control. I say Yes, Lord. Take my life and use it for Your glory, honor and praise. Use it to enlarge Your Kingdom in all of us.
In Jesus Name, By His Power living in us, Amen. I believe.

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THE LORD’S WORK, DON’T GET IN THE WAY!

Posted on May 8, 2015 by randscallawayffm

THE LORD’S WORK, DON’T GET IN THE WAY!.

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THE LORD’S WORK, DON’T GET IN THE WAY!

Posted on May 8, 2015 by randscallawayffm

Luke and the Lost

Do we sometimes get in the way of what God wants to do in and through us? Worse still, do we get in the way of what God wants to do in the lives of others because of our idea of what worship should be? Yikes. Fortunately, God is God and we are not. He will do what He wants, when He wants and in His way…in spite of us. Let us all be alert and ready to move or get out of the way when God acts with His power in our lives with love, mercy and grace with healing and restoration as only HE can do.

This is what I think about as I read this next passage, after years in previous pastoral ministry, watching many be saved and healed from many kinds of afflictions in many different ways with us having little to do with it. Our work was to provide the environment for God to work so people could be helped, healed and restored to Life. It’s an attitude and condition of the heart. Jesus knows our hearts.

Luke 13, The Message
Healing on the Sabbath

10-13 He was teaching in one of the meeting places on the Sabbath. There was a woman present, so twisted and bent over with arthritis that she couldn’t even look up. She had been afflicted with this for eighteen years. When Jesus saw her, he called her over. “Woman, you’re free!” He laid hands on her and suddenly she was standing straight and tall, giving glory to God.

14 The meeting-place president, furious because Jesus had healed on the Sabbath, said to the congregation, “Six days have been defined as work days. Come on one of the six if you want to be healed, but not on the seventh, the Sabbath.”

15-16 But Jesus shot back, “You frauds! Each Sabbath every one of you regularly unties your cow or donkey from its stall, leads it out for water, and thinks nothing of it. So why isn’t it all right for me to untie this daughter of Abraham and lead her from the stall where Satan has had her tied these eighteen years?”

17 When he put it that way, his critics were left looking quite silly and red-faced. The congregation was delighted and cheered him on.

And “the congregation cheered him on”! Don’t you love that? Worship follows healing and restoration!

Matthew Henry comments, “Our Lord Jesus attended upon public worship on the sabbaths. Even bodily infirmities, unless very grievous, should not keep us from public worship on sabbath days. This woman came to Christ to be taught, and to get good to her soul, and then he relieved her bodily infirmity. This cure represents the work of Christ’s grace upon the soul. And when crooked souls are made straight, they will show it by glorifying God.

Christ knew that this ruler had a real enmity to him and to his gospel, and that he did but cloak it with a pretended zeal for the sabbath day; he really would not have them be healed any day; but if Jesus speaks the word, and puts forth his healing power, sinners are set free. This deliverance is often wrought on the Lord’s day; and whatever labor tends to put men in the way of receiving the blessing, agrees with the design of that day.”

Come, no matter what. Expect God to speak. Worship Him.

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Dear Heavenly Father, The way You work amazes us every time we acknowledge Your mighty acts. Open our eyes to the subtle ways You work each day. May our days be filled with Your glory and praise for all You are and what You provide for us. Thank you! We love You because You first loved us. Thank you for restoration, healing when needed, and constant watch and care over our lives. May we always learn to get out of the way with our own “rules” when necessary. In Jesus Name, Amen

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THE DECISION I’M ASKING YOU TO MAKE–JESUS

Posted on May 7, 2015 by randscallawayffm

Luke and the Lost

At the end of yesterday’s passage, Jesus closes his teaching with the “alter call” of repentance, of making the decision of a lifetime to following God. “You don’t have to be a genius to understand these things”, He says. You’re lost. Be found by God through Me. Then follows a discussion about the levels of sin to which Jesus responds with “unless you turn to God, you too will die.” There is no middle ground. We are either with God or against God. We are all sinners in need of a Savior.

Mention was made to Christ of the death of some Galileans. This tragic story is briefly related here, and is not mentioned by in any other historians. In Christ’s reply he spoke of another event, which, like it, gave an instance of people taken away by sudden death. Towers, that are built for safety, often prove to be men’s destruction.

He cautioned his hearers not to blame great sufferers, as if they were therefore great sinners. As no place or employment can secure from the stroke of death, we should consider the sudden removals of others as warnings to ourselves. On these accounts Christ founded a call to repentance. The same Jesus that bids us repent, for the kingdom of heaven is at hand, bids us repent, for otherwise we shall perish.

Luke 13, The Message
Unless You Turn to God
13 1-5 About that time some people came up and told him about the Galileans Pilate had killed while they were at worship, mixing their blood with the blood of the sacrifices on the altar. Jesus responded, “Do you think those murdered Galileans were worse sinners than all other Galileans? Not at all. Unless you turn to God, you, too, will die. And those eighteen in Jerusalem the other day, the ones crushed and killed when the Tower of Siloam collapsed and fell on them, do you think they were worse citizens than all other Jerusalemites? Not at all. Unless you turn to God, you, too, will die.”

6-7 Then he told them a story: “A man had an apple tree planted in his front yard. He came to it expecting to find apples, but there weren’t any. He said to his gardener, ‘What’s going on here? For three years now I’ve come to this tree expecting apples and not one apple have I found. Chop it down! Why waste good ground with it any longer?’

8-9 “The gardener said, ‘Let’s give it another year. I’ll dig around it and fertilize, and maybe it will produce next year; if it doesn’t, then chop it down.’”

Jesus is the Gardener who stands before God, our Heavenly Father, and says, “let’s give them a little more time…maybe they will produce next year…”

Is that person me? Is that person you? A brother, sister, aunt, uncle, dear friend? God is patient with unconditional love, mercy and grace…but there will be a time when there is no time left to make the decision of life eternal, the decision Jesus is asking us to make…to turn to God. Repent and be saved. Live forever with Him!

PAGE-Jesus_Fig

Dear Heavenly Father, We are not the judge of the severity of sin. All sin is just that…sin. We are all sinners. I repent of those things that have broken your heart in my thinking and in my actions. May Your Holy Spirit guide us today in all things. May we listen and obey with enthusiasm, bearing Your fruits of love, gentleness, goodness, longsuffering and quick forgiveness for others who disappoint us, extending mercy and grace as you have given to us. In Jesus Name and by His power within us, Amen. I believe.

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STIR THE FIRE!

Posted on May 6, 2015 by randscallawayffm

Luke and the Lost

We love building fires, contained in our fire pit in the backyard. There is something relaxing as you watch the glowing embers and feel the nice gentle heat. Then Randy comes along and disturbs my peaceful gaze by stirring the fire with a poking stick! He lifts up some of the logs that have settled into a comfy place together in the dying fire. This causes fresh oxygen to ignite the embers, causing the fire to flame up, sending ashes everywhere. The heat rises to a temperature that is so hot I have to move back my chair a bit. Smoke fills the area until the fire settles back down again. Are we too comfortable? Are we a dying fire or a roaring blaze for God and with God?

Luke 12, The Message
To Start a Fire
49-53 “I’ve come to start a fire on this earth—how I wish it were blazing right now! I’ve come to change everything, turn everything rightside up—how I long for it to be finished! Do you think I came to smooth things over and make everything nice? Not so. I’ve come to disrupt and confront! From now on, when you find five in a house, it will be—

Three against two,
and two against three;
Father against son,
and son against father;
Mother against daughter,
and daughter against mother;
Mother-in-law against bride,
and bride against mother-in-law.”
54-56 Then he turned to the crowd: “When you see clouds coming in from the west, you say, ‘Storm’s coming’—and you’re right. And when the wind comes out of the south, you say, ‘This’ll be a hot one’—and you’re right. Frauds! You know how to tell a change in the weather, so don’t tell me you can’t tell a change in the season, the God-season we’re in right now.

57-59 “You don’t have to be a genius to understand these things. Just use your common sense, the kind you’d use if, while being taken to court, you decided to settle up with your accuser on the way, knowing that if the case went to the judge you’d probably go to jail and pay every last penny of the fine. That’s the kind of decision I’m asking you to make.”

May the Master stir the fires of our souls, breathing new life and restoring the flames that burn within us.

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Dear Heavenly Father, Thank you for Your encouragement through Your Word, our Holy Manna, each morning. Thank you for salvation, restoration, provision, protection and help all along the way so that Your fire in us is kept alive. May we pass it on as You have commanded and given us the authority to do. Give us the right words at the right time in the right Holy Spirit of love.
In Jesus Name, Amen

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WHEN YOU LEAST EXPECT IT…EXPECT IT!

Posted on May 5, 2015 by randscallawayffm

Luke and the Lost

“When you least expect it, expect it!”, Randy would say to those of us who would play a prank on him or needle and tease him. You knew you were going to be paid back, you just didn’t know when. This was Randy’s favorite phrase. All our kids and now grandkids know it well. Apparently, Jesus wants us to be on our toes, at attention, and alert to how we live our lives and says something similar about waiting on his return. When you least expect it…expect HIM!

Luke 12, The Message
When the Master Shows Up
35-38 “Keep your shirts on; keep the lights on! Be like house servants waiting for their master to come back from his honeymoon, awake and ready to open the door when he arrives and knocks. Lucky the servants whom the master finds on watch! He’ll put on an apron, sit them at the table, and serve them a meal, sharing his wedding feast with them. It doesn’t matter what time of the night he arrives; they’re awake—and so blessed!

39-40 “You know that if the house owner had known what night the burglar was coming, he wouldn’t have stayed out late and left the place unlocked. So don’t you be slovenly and careless. Just when you don’t expect him, the Son of Man will show up.”

41 Peter said, “Master, are you telling this story just for us? Or is it for everybody?”

42-46 The Master said, “Let me ask you: Who is the dependable manager, full of common sense, that the master puts in charge of his staff to feed them well and on time? He is a blessed man if when the master shows up he’s doing his job. But if he says to himself, ‘The master is certainly taking his time,’ begins maltreating the servants and maids, throws parties for his friends, and gets drunk, the master will walk in when he least expects it, give him the thrashing of his life, and put him back in the kitchen peeling potatoes.

47-48 “The servant who knows what his master wants and ignores it, or insolently does whatever he pleases, will be thoroughly thrashed. But if he does a poor job through ignorance, he’ll get off with a slap on the hand. Great gifts mean great responsibilities; greater gifts, greater responsibilities!

This passage says a lot about our integrity and the condition of our hearts as we wait on our Bridegroom to return. Are we whining and complaining? Are we doing what is right even if no one (we think) is watching? Are we working hard at doing His best through us as if it were our last day on earth? These are all questions of reflection and meditation for today. How about you?

Jesus invites

Dear Heavenly Father, Forgive us where we are slacking and whine about being too tired to finish the work. Be our strength and our resolve. Be our wisdom, insight and understanding and most of all, help us to know that You will complete the work You began in us years ago. For You are God and we are not. We look to You, being alert and ready, EXPECTING Your return. In Jesus Name, Amen. I believe.

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