Luke 1:1-25
Tuesday, 29 September 2020
“Both of them were righteous before God, walking blamelessly according to all the commandments and regulations of the Lord.” -Luke 1:6
In the Gospel of Luke account, we have both the birth of Jesus and John the Baptist announced. Luke narrates the birth of John as promised through the Angel Gabriel to the childless priest Zacharias and his wife Elizabeth. In the key verse above you can see what God thought about Zacharias and Elizabeth- righteous and walking blamelessly! If it is God’s standard to see everyman blameless, would Jesus consider our walk as blameless before God?
God’s plan for man is to live a blameless (perfect life). In Genesis 17:1 God commands Abraham to walk blameless before God! When God first spoke to Abraham (Abram) he was 75 Years old (Gen.12:4) and after 24 years of association with him, at the age of 99 God has only one thing to instruct Abraham – walk blameless!! In Matthew 5:48 Jesus says “Therefore you shall be perfect, just as your Father in heaven is perfect.” As we read in 1 Cor.1:8 it is the Lord’s purpose to present us blameless before Him in His day! (ie. the Day of Judgement). Philippians 2:15 declares the grand picture of every believer – in a world that is crooked and perverted live blameless so that they will be seen as lights!! Oh, what a privilege – to be transmitters of the heavenly light in this dark world!!
Are we able to meet the standards set forth as above in the Word of God? If you have already started to live in that manner, then are you able to maintain it? Being sinful, we will always fall short of the standard of God – but, Colossians 1:22 gives us the way – Jesus reconciled us through His death, in order to present us before Him blameless! 1Thess. 5:23 explains that when God sanctifies our whole being – spirit, soul and body, we become blameless! In 1Thess. 3:11-13 gives us the practical way of maintaining our position - Lord Jesus will cause us to increase and abound in love for one another and for all people so that He will establish our hearts blameless!!
Our relationship with God was restored by God Himself though His love. We are now expected to demonstrate His love to our fellow humans especially to those in the body of Christ. Jesus gave us two simple commands based on love: “‘You shall love the Lord your God with all your heart, and with all your soul, and with all your mind. This is the greatest and first commandment. And a second is like it: ‘You shall love your neighbor as yourself.”(Matt.22:37-40).
Love can only be seen when it is demonstrated through the fruit of the Spirit. It involves a doing, for e.g. being at peace with each other, involves backing off in a conflict. We are warned of being in darkness if we do not love each other as given in 1 John 2:11: “But he who hates his brother is in darkness and walks in darkness…” 1 John 2:9 says that “He who says he is in the light, and hates his brother, is in darkness until now.” Divisions in the home and the church are due to the lack of love. We disrupt His power from flowing into our lives, our homes, our churches when we fail to demonstrate love. And love is practised through forgiveness and reconciliation!
Do we want to walk blamelessly before God and men?—let us walk in love!
Thought for the Day: “The best use of life is love. The best expression of love is time. The best time to love is now.” -Rick Warren
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