October 26, 2012 … Be Thou My Vision

Chronological Bible Reading Plan - Day 300

Blogger’s Note: To prepare your heart for my journal entry this AM, hearing and taking in the great old hymn, Be Thou My Vision performed in this You Tube piece by the group, 4 Him … Use this link ... 

Passage of the Day: Reference of Today’s Chronological Bible Study: Luke, Chapters 14-15 To study these chapters, go to this link - 
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Highlight Passages: Luke 14: 25-27 : [NLT] … { On several occasions in the Synoptic Gospels, as Jesus traveled the country sides in Galilee, Jesus is recorded by the gospel writers teaching about the cost of being His disciple. Besides this quotation by Luke in his 14th chapter, you can note this particular message twice in Matthew 10:38 & 16:24; and in Mark 8:34; and earlier repeated by Luke in Luke 9:23. And the redundancy of any lesson from God’s word, especially from the mouth of the Living Word, Jesus, signals the importance of that lesson. Hence my journaling about this lesson today.} 25 Great crowds were following Jesus. He turned around and said to them, 26 “If you want to be my follower you must love me more than your own father and mother, wife and children, brothers and sisters—yes, more than your own life. Otherwise, you cannot be my disciple. 27 And you cannot be my disciple if you do not carry your own cross and follow me." …
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Highlight Passages: Luke 15 – use the link above : [NLT] … {Luke 15 is loaded with Jesus and his often repeated PARABLES, … stories with a meaning, which the Pharisees and religious leaders found confounding, because of their spiritual blindness, and those seekers after Jesus found compelling because of their open hearts. That’s the essence of how Jesus will be received by the world, … if/when they seek Him, they will find Him; but when the world can only see self, they will never find the Savior. Again, please use the link above to read, study, and meditate on Jesus’ parables in Luke 15. }

My Journal for Today: As Luke records in these two chapters of his gospel accounts, Jesus walked and taught in the countryside of Galilee during His earthly ministry, confounding the religious leaders and Pharisees and calling out to the seekers after His truth with His parables and His miraculous healings and miracles. The religious leaders couldn’t receive Jesus’ messages because they were blinded by their traditions and their unwillingness to see past their own laws and legalistic religious practices. But to those with open and contrite hearts, … those who were really seeking truth, … Jesus’ enigmatic parables were revealing of the truth that Jesus was Whom He said He was … their Messiah and the Son of the Living God.

And if you have an open heart today, reading Luke 14 & 15 and my journal entry here, the song to which I’ve linked you above, with the group 4Him singing, Be Thou My Vision, will be particularly meaningful. We all need to be doing all we can in our walk on this earth to seek out Jesus as our vision, … as our light, … our path in life. And that’s why the lesson on discipleship which Jesus repeated often as He taught the people during His walk on earth is so important.

If you go back to this lesson from my memory verse of Luke 9: 23, which is repeated and quoted above in Luke 14: 26-27, Jesus gives a three-point homily on the cost of being His disciple. I call it Jesus’ discipleship sandwich, because the meat of life (i.e., dealing with the crosses we bear – i.e., the circumstances of life) is sandwiched between the bread of life, which is denying self and following Christ.

 But the question for any of us – and for you, if you’re reading with me today – is … JUST HOW WILLING ARE WE TO DENY SELF AND SEEK THE SAVIOR? Because, like the Pharisees, if we don’t have a seekers heart for the Living Truth, Jesus, we will never be able to deny ourselves, follow our Lord, and deal with the crosses of life.

I’ll leave Jesus’ sermon on discipleship for you to ponder this AM; because I made my decision long ago; and will repeat it here today that I want Jesus to be my vision; and I will choose to do all I can to deny my self and seek out my Savior.

How about you?

My Prayer Today: … Lord, as I so often pray, “Be Thou My Vision!” Amen