Time with Jesus: Luke 8:1-18
When we walk with Jesus we have to be prepared for the frustrating experience of people misunderstanding. We also have to be prepared for the inevitable fallout from those misunderstandings. The Parable of the Sower and Jesus’ words to his disciples remind us that those who desire to follow Jesus above all else will have him. Those who have ears to hear him will hear his voice. Those who long to live in his presence will have his presence. The message of the Gospel and the Kingdom are shockingly simple in their meaning—follow the path of Jesus and trust his way.
If we follow the path of Jesus, and trust his way over the lies of the devil, the pleasures and stressors of the world, if we allow his way to take root and grow, then we will bear the fruit of being made new. Being a follower of Jesus, being a “Christian,” means to be a “little Christ.” It means to live the way he lived, to suffer the way he suffered, and perhaps even to die the way he died so that you may be raised the way he was raised and made new the way he was made new. If you want Jesus above all else, you will receive him and no power in heaven or on the earth, no sin you commit nor doubt you might have can take him from you or you from him.
For he is making all things new. Amen.