Day 98 Bible Reading - Luke 12: 22-23 (ESV)

Deuteronomy 9-10, Luke 12: 1-34, Psalm 54

Luke 12: 22-23 (ESV)

“And he said to his disciples, “Therefore I tell you, do not be anxious about your life, what you will eat, nor about your body, what you will put on. For life is more than food, and the body more than clothing.”

Verses 22 through 23 from Luke 12 remind me of how I used to be many years ago before my faith become very important to me. I was very anxious about my job because the company I was with at the time was struggling financially since the 2008 recession. VPs came and went if they didn’t perform and we even had a work stoppage of two weeks. Then came the layoffs every two to three years, which were small at first with the last one being a 10% reduction in force across the board. I was so afraid of losing my job, always wondering if I was going to be in one of the layoffs for several years. It was a stressful environment to work in and I hated it. But Holy Spirit urged me to stay in that job until one day, I got the inspiration to move to be closer to family. I moved without a job and found another one within six months in my new city. That job was okay for awhile until it wasn’t, then I got the message from Holy Spirit to leave that job. Quitting a job because I wasn’t happy was a bucket list item for me, so I was happy to leave that job and thereby fulfilling a lifelong wish. I was only able to  quit the new job, because I listened to the Holy Spirit about staying in the old job. When I quit the old job, I walked away with a nice chunk of change. Not being anxious about my job situation led me to focus more on God, and I can honestly say that I am more rich in God now than I’ve ever been before in my whole life. I owe all of this to listening to the Holy Spirit and following most of the advice I was given. God has truly taken care of me even when I was so far away from him because I was too worried about having money in my life.

Day 97 Bible Reading - Luke 11: 35-36 (ESV)

Deuteronomy 6 – 8, Luke 11: 33-54, Psalm 53

Luke 11: 35-36 (ESV)

“Therefore be careful lest the light in you be darkness. If then your whole body is full of light, having no part dark, it will be wholly bright, as when a lamp with its rays gives you light.””

Verses 35 through 36 from Luke 11 is a warning from Jesus of having darkness within ourselves. Jesus could perceive it and others can as well. If you live without the light of Jesus within you, the light within you will not be bright. Not having the light of God within you will also make you spiritually blind. You will be blind to the miracles of Jesus and live as a hypocrite. In my life, I’ve had people come up and tell they see so much light within me. Or they look at a photograph of me and tell me, “you have so much light in your eyes.” When I look at myself in the mirror, I cannot see the light that they see. I wonder if it’s because I am so used to looking at my own face, I cannot see any difference. I’ve had a relationship with God since I was a child. The most touching thing to me is when old people tell me I have so much light. They come up to me and they want to touch me, and they smile and tell “I can tell you are a good person. Do you go to church?” When I answer yes, they smile and go on their way. I had an older woman say to me when I was sitting outside of a store resting with my mask on during the COVID mask days, “I can tell you are smiling because of your eyes. You seem like such a nice person.” Even under my mask, my light shone. Does the light of God shine within you so much that random people tell you how much light you have? If not, why not?

Day 96 Bible Readings - Luke 11: 2-4 (ESV)

Deuteronomy 4: 15-49, Deuteronomy 5, Luke 11: 1-32, Psalm 52

Luke 11: 2-4 (ESV)

“And he said to them, “When you pray, say: “Father, hallowed be your name. Your kingdom come. Give us each day our daily bread, and forgive us our sins for we ourselves forgive everyone who is indebted to us. And lead us not into temptation.””

Verses 2 through 4 from Luke 11 shows Jesus teaching his disciples to say the Lord’s Prayer. I still remember a sermon I heard about the Lord’s Prayer when I was in junior high. The catholic priest at my childhood church was crying as he was talking about the Lord’s Prayer. He told us we should pray this prayer like we really meant it, and when we did we would feel tears streaming down our faces as we thought about each line we were saying especially the part about forgiveness. He said if we really thought about what it mean about God forgiving our sins and us forgiving everyone, we would cry at the power of God’s love and its ability to work through us because forgiveness was only possible with God’s help. The tears of our priest was so shocking to me. I remember my mother saying she had never seen Father Turgeon cry during a sermon because he was so moved. I remember him as a very kind, middle-aged man, with a wry sense of humor who always had a cigarette in hand after church. I remember trying to cry like he did when I said the Lord’s Prayer in my bedroom and being so proud of myself when I succeeded. It’s been a long time since I’ve cried saying the Lord’s Prayer, but I know someday the tears will come again as I recite the words about forgiveness and ponder on the power of God’s love to work through me.

Day 95 Bible Reading - Luke 10: 41-42 (ESV)

Deuteronomy 2: 24-37, Deuteronomy 3, Deuteronomy 4: 1-14, Luke 10: 25-42, Psalm 50: 10-19

Luke 10: 41-42 (ESV)

“But the Lord answered her, “Martha, Martha, you are anxious and troubled about many things, but one thing is necessary. Mary has chosen the good portion, which will not be taken away from her.””

I love the story of Mary and Martha. In verses 41 and 42 from Luke 10, we see Christ’s answer to Martha when she complains about her sister Mary not helping her to serve. I know what it’s like to be Martha, when you feel like you need to serve and play the good host. I’ve never been a “Mary” who can just seemingly drop everything to just and listen to a guest. From reading several bible commentaries, Jesus was praising Mary’s simple devotion to him by sitting at his feet and listening to him. Mary shows a continued focus on Jesus. Her submission to him brings her peace. She is gifted with strength. By listening to Jesus, she gains wisdom and learns not to sin. Martha tries to serve Christ, but without a continued focus on him which resulted in frustration. Martha needed to diligently serve and keep her focus on Christ, and if she did that, she wouldn’t have complained about Mary. We need to remember that as we serve God – to always keep our focus on him.