Luke 9, Part 7

Scripture: Luke 9:51-56

Observation: Jesus, on His way to Jerusalem, sends His disciples ahead to a Samaritan village to find lodging, but they are refused. The disciples wish to send down fire on the town, but Jesus rebukes them and continues His journey.

Application: In these few verses we see 2 sins: pride and ambition. The disciples' pride was injured when their Master was rejected, and their ambition was shown in their desire to bring harm. They couldn't see their sin; they felt theirs was zeal for the Lord. But Jesus came for a specific mission, which did not include harming people; it was a mission to do good. He knew the Samaritans were acting out of the prejudices of the day and not attacking Him in particular. Today, Christians are attacked and persecuted in many ways. To attack back, whether in word or action, is not being Christlike, but instead manifests pride. To be like Jesus we must pray for our enemies.

Prayer: Father, that is my request. Those that attack Christians, many like Saul before he became the apostle Paul, believe they're doing right. Others simply don't know better. Please open their eyes to Your truth, and help us to treat our attackers with love and compassion, not with anger and vengeance, so that Your Holy Spirit can do a work in the lives of our enemies and in ours also. In Christ Jesus' name, Amen.