Blessed are the Proactive

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Hi GAMErs,

Today’s passage is Luke 19:1-10. Let’s go!

Luke 19:1-3 (NIV) 
1  Jesus entered Jericho and was passing through. 
2  A man was there by the name of Zacchaeus; he was a chief tax collector and was wealthy.
3  He wanted to see who Jesus was…

On verses 1-3: In Jesus’ day, tax collectors had a reputation for being greedy and dishonest. Tax collectors were notorious for trying to collect more taxes from the Jews than they actually owed, pocketing the difference for themselves. As a chief tax collector, Zacchaeus was wealthy and unpopular. Ironically, Zacchaeus’ name means “righteous” or “pure one”, though Zacchaeus probably felt like he was anything but righteous and pure. Despite having much wealth, Zacchaeus’ relationships were a mess. One of the big lessons from Zacchaeus’ story is that you can have great material wealth, but if your relationships with God and with people are broken, you will feel empty, poor and stressed with life. It’s no wonder Zacchaeus wanted to see Jesus. Zacchaeus probably thought: “Maybe this guy has something that I’m missing.”

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3 Traits That Help You Experience God’s Power

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Hi GAMErs,

Today’s passage is Luke 18:31-43. Let’s go!

Luke 18:31-34 (NIV) 
31  Jesus took the Twelve aside and told them, “We are going up to Jerusalem, and everything that is written by the prophets about the Son of Man will be fulfilled.
32  He will be handed over to the Gentiles. They will mock him, insult him, spit on him, flog him and kill him.
33  On the third day he will rise again.”
34  The disciples did not understand any of this. Its meaning was hidden from them, and they did not know what he was talking about.

On verses 31-34: According to Jesus himself, the Old Testament (i.e. “the prophets” – v31) predicts that the Messiah (“the Son of Man”) would be handed over to be mocked and killed, but afterwards would rise again.

Notice that Jesus specifically says in verse 32 that he will be handed over to the Gentiles. One of Luke’s big themes is that Jesus came not just to save the Jews but to save the Gentiles (all non-Jewish people) as well. Other places in Scripture focus on how it was the Jews who handed Jesus over to be crucified (e.g. Acts 2:22-23). But here Luke emphasizes that Jesus would be given into the custody of Gentiles who would mock him, insult him, spit on him, flog him and kill him. It is not just Jews but Gentiles too – indeed all of humanity – that is ultimately responsible for Jesus’ death.

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The Jesus Way to View Money and Possessions

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Hi GAMErs,

Today’s passage is Luke 18:18-30. Let’s go!

Luke 18:18-27 (NIV) 
18  A certain ruler asked him, “Good teacher, what must I do to inherit eternal life?”
19  “Why do you call me good?” Jesus answered. “No one is good–except God alone.
20  You know the commandments: ‘Do not commit adultery, do not murder, do not steal, do not give false testimony, honor your father and mother.'”
21  “All these I have kept since I was a boy,” he said.
22  When Jesus heard this, he said to him, “You still lack one thing. Sell everything you have and give to the poor, and you will have treasure in heaven. Then come, follow me.”
23  When he heard this, he became very sad, because he was a man of great wealth.
24  Jesus looked at him and said, “How hard it is for the rich to enter the kingdom of God!
25  Indeed, it is easier for a camel to go through the eye of a needle than for a rich man to enter the kingdom of God.”
26  Those who heard this asked, “Who then can be saved?”
27  Jesus replied, “What is impossible with men is possible with God.” 

On verses 18-27: Is it necessary that a person must sell all their assets and give every material good they own to the poor in order to inherit eternal life? No.

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How to Approach God like a Child

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Hi GAMErs,

Today’s passage is Luke 18:9-16, but we’ll add verse 17 in there too, since it fits the context. Let’s go!

Luke 18:9-14 (NIV) 
9  To some who were confident of their own righteousness and looked down on everybody else, Jesus told this parable: 
10  “Two men went up to the temple to pray, one a Pharisee and the other a tax collector. 
11  The Pharisee stood up and prayed about himself: ‘God, I thank you that I am not like other men–robbers, evildoers, adulterers–or even like this tax collector. 
12  I fast twice a week and give a tenth of all I get.’ 
13  “But the tax collector stood at a distance. He would not even look up to heaven, but beat his breast and said, ‘God, have mercy on me, a sinner.’ 
14  “I tell you that this man, rather than the other, went home justified before God. For everyone who exalts himself will be humbled, and he who humbles himself will be exalted.”

On verses 9-14: Through this parable Jesus shows us the difference between those who justify themselves before God and those who look to God for justification. On one hand, those who try to justify themselves, like the Pharisee, take a position of pride and boasting before God. They list their resume of good deeds to show God how good they think they are and why they deserve God’s approval.

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Pray Persistently

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Hi GAMErs,

Today’s passage is Luke 18:1-8. Let’s go!

Luke 18:1-8 (NIV) 
1  Then Jesus told his disciples a parable to show them that they should always pray and not give up. 
2  He said: “In a certain town there was a judge who neither feared God nor cared about men. 
3  And there was a widow in that town who kept coming to him with the plea, ‘Grant me justice against my adversary.’ 
4  “For some time he refused. But finally he said to himself, ‘Even though I don’t fear God or care about men, 
5  yet because this widow keeps bothering me, I will see that she gets justice, so that she won’t eventually wear me out with her coming!'” 
6  And the Lord said, “Listen to what the unjust judge says. 
7  And will not God bring about justice for his chosen ones, who cry out to him day and night? Will he keep putting them off? 
8  I tell you, he will see that they get justice, and quickly. However, when the Son of Man comes, will he find faith on the earth?”

On verses 1-8: Jesus’ parable about the persistent widow teaches us an important lesson about prayer: that praying with faith means praying with perseverance. If we want to see God move powerfully in response to our prayers, we must learn to be persistent and persevering in prayer. Persistence shows that we’re serious.

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Keep Your Life and Lose It, Lose Your Life and Keep It?

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Hi GAMErs,

Today’s passage is Luke 17:31-37. Let’s go!

Luke 17:31-32 (NIV)
31  On that day no one who is on the roof of his house, with his goods inside, should go down to get them. Likewise, no one in the field should go back for anything. 
32  Remember Lot’s wife!

On verses 31-32: What happened to Lot’s wife? In Genesis 19:26, when Lot and his family were fleeing from the city of Sodom as it was being destroyed, against God’s command Lot’s wife looked back. In focusing too much on the material things that she left behind, she was stopped in her tracks and became a pillar of salt. Similarly, Jesus warns that when he comes again, material possessions should be the least of our concerns.

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Don’t Be So Future-Focused That You Miss God’s Will For Today

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Hi GAMErs,

Today’s passage is Luke 17:20-30. Let’s go!

Luke 17:20-21 (NIV) 
20  Once, having been asked by the Pharisees when the kingdom of God would come, Jesus replied, “The kingdom of God does not come with your careful observation, 
21  nor will people say, ‘Here it is,’ or ‘There it is,’ because the kingdom of God is within you.”

On verses 20-21: When the Pharisees asked Jesus when the kingdom of God would come (v20), what they were referring to was the end times when God would judge the world. In response, Jesus warns the Pharisees against thinking that the kingdom of God was just some future event, when in fact the kingdom of God is already here and is working. As Jesus says, “the kingdom of God is within you” (v21). 

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Faith Unlocks God’s Power in Your Life

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Hi GAMErs,

Today’s passage is Luke 17:11-19.  Let’s go!

Luke 17:11-14 (NIV) 
11  Now on his way to Jerusalem, Jesus traveled along the border between Samaria and Galilee. 
12  As he was going into a village, ten men who had leprosy met him. They stood at a distance 
13  and called out in a loud voice, “Jesus, Master, have pity on us!” 
14  When he saw them, he said, “Go, show yourselves to the priests.” And as they went, they were cleansed.

On verses 11-14: Notice that Jesus doesn’t touch the lepers or command their healing out loud. Instead, Jesus simply tells them to go show themselves to the priests. Why? It’s because when a leper was cleansed of his leprosy, he would show himself to a priest who would examine him and if satisfied that the leprosy was gone, would announce that the leper was now reinstated back into society. So when Jesus tells the ten lepers here to go and show themselves to the priests without having touched them or prayed for them, Jesus was expecting these ten lepers to go in faith and rely simply on Jesus’ word alone to heal them. And as they went, they were healed. 

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Serve with an Attitude of Gratitude and a Heart of Humility

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Hi GAMErs,

Today’s passage is Luke 17:1-10.  Let’s go!

Luke 17:1-3a (NIV) 
1  Jesus said to his disciples: “Things that cause people to sin are bound to come, but woe to that person through whom they come. 
2  It would be better for him to be thrown into the sea with a millstone tied around his neck than for him to cause one of these little ones to sin. 
3  So watch yourselves…

On verses 1-3: From Jesus’ words here we can know that God watches the way we influence others, especially the generation coming after us. Do we encourage others to obey God or to sin against Him? God will hold us accountable for the way we affect the next generation, so let’s be careful to set the best example we can and to offer the best leadership we can by God’s grace.

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Don’t Try to Justify Yourself

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Hi GAMErs,

Today’s passage is Luke 16:15-31. Let’s go!

Luke 16:15 (NIV) 
15  He said to them, “You are the ones who justify yourselves in the eyes of men, but God knows your hearts. What is highly valued among men is detestable in God’s sight.

On verse 15: What does it mean to “justify yourselves in the eyes of men”? To justify yourself means to do things or say things with the goal of showing God or others how good, righteous and godly you are. 

The Pharisees were famous for justifying themselves. They would boast about the things they had done as a way to show how spiritual they were. They would even point to their wealth as evidence that they were righteous in God’s sight. That is why just prior to this verse Jesus speaks against the Pharisees’ love of money.

Today people try to justify themselves also, whether they realize it or not. For example, when I ask people whether they think they will go to heaven when they die, the conversation will often go like this:

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