For a full description of the (Y3) reading plan, see the “About” page.
- What attributes of God’s character does this passage reveal?
- How does the passage point to Jesus?
- How should the truth of this passage change me?
- How do the events of today’s reading help you better understand the grand narrative of Scripture?
Matt. 12:22-50
One message I hear in Jesus’ words to the religious leaders here is that, at the final judgment, our words will reveal our true hearts. For now, we can hide behind our words. People skew them all kinds of ways to make the evil in their hearts look like something good. But God isn’t fooled. If our words don’t come from a good heart, they are like that rotten fruit on the bad tree and God will one day expose them for what they are. Thus, being careful about what we say isn’t just about choosing our words wisely. It is about making sure that our hearts are in the right place.
Luke 11:5-54
Jesus said some hard things to the religious leaders. He didn’t sugar coat any of it, and their defenses, not surprisingly, went up. So instead of facing the hard truth and responding to it, they plotted how to eliminate it. Such is the human way. When we don’t like the truth, we sweep it under the rug and ignore it, twist it around in an effort to justify ourselves, or flat out fight against it. Yet all of these reactions are at best damaging and at worst, completely destructive.
Nobody likes being attacked, and when the truth confronts our way of doing and being it feels like an attack. Which makes this an area that especially reveals where our hearts are. The human response to attack is to do as the religious leaders did. We throw up our defenses and react in one of those very human ways. The heart that belongs to God, however, will run to Him as a refuge. We will know that we don’t need to defend ourselves against perceived verbal attacks. If they aren’t true, they shouldn’t change our way of living. If they are, however, we need to respond, not react, to that truth and allow God to set us right.