Week 2, Day 4

Reading for Today:  Luke 17-18

Some thoughts from yesterday’s reading…

At the end of chapter 16, we have the account of the Rich Man and Lazarus.  This is a story that I think is so valuable when we are teaching the gospel message.  How many times have we tried to study with some one who is hesitant to obey the plain gospel message because they believe they are condemning some loved one who has passed on, who did not obey the gospel?  It is not surprising that many people have an idea in their minds that says if they obey the gospel, they are condemning some loved one who was a good person, but did not listen to the gospel.

This account gives us an almost eerie view into the mind of a person who was lost.  The rich man found himself in torment–he was lost!  His first thoughts were to provide for his family so that they did not have to come to the place he was at!  He begged Abraham to send Lazarus back to his brothers so that he could convince them to change so that they could go to heaven, instead of going to torment.  He didn’t want his relatives to have to suffer like he was.  We can be quite sure that those who have died separated from God do not wish their punishment on anyone else.  They would do all that they could to convince their family that are still among the living to make changes, and serve God so that they could go to the reward that Lazarus received.

It seems to me that people think that their relatives who have passed on would not want them to become Christians because it would condemn them.  It is our responsibility to try and show them that any actions they might take do not condemn their relatives.  They cannot affect the judgment of one who has gone on, no matter what they might do.  Those who have gone on will be judged by God, and He will be just.  We must do what we find in the scriptures, even if that is contradictory to what our family and friends have said or believed.  We can be sure that those who have gone before us feel the same as this rich man.  They would do anything to convince us to be obedient to God.  They want us to be saved, and certainly don’t want us to be in punishment with them!

Finally, consider the last part of this account.  Many act as if they would be obedient if something more was done for them.  The rich man said that if a person came back from the dead, surely his brothers would believe.  Notice that Abraham’s response is that they had Moses and the Prophets.  If they wouldn’t listen to them, why would they listen to someone coming back from the dead?  Too many people need something more than what God has given, and yet God has given all that is needed for our salvation.  Those who are looking for an excuse will find it somewhere.  If God gave every person that “something more” that they request, they would just come up with another excuse.

Grace and peace be multiplied to you in the knowledge of God and of Jesus our Lord, as His divine power has given to us all things that pertain to life and godliness, through the knowledge of Him who called us by glory and virtue, by which have been given to us exceedingly great and precious promises, that through these you may be partakers of the divine nature, having escaped the corruption that is in the world through lust.
–2 Peter 1:2-4

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