lifting a finger

Today in the One Year Bible, we read from Luke 11:37-12:7. Jesus is talking to the religious leaders and He gives us in 2019 some very important advice. He says that the religious teachers of His time laid heavy burdens on people, but "don't lift a finger to help them."

And that brings up the moral teaching of the church. Christianity teaches some very difficult things. Love your enemy. Don't have sex with anyone but your spouse. We're even commanded to "be perfect, like God is perfect." How in the world can we do all of that? It's impossible!

It's an impossibly high standard, and one that is intentionally so high that no one can achieve it alone. We HAVE to have God's help to reach those heights of holiness. But He DOES help us. He gives us the desire to do it. He enables us. He lifts us up, time after time when we fall, so that we can try for that high standard once more.

So we've seen two examples here of "lifting a finger". The religious leaders didn't lift a finger. They told people about the really high moral standards of Judaism, but they didn't help them to meet those requirements at all. God, on the other hand, does lift a finger. He helps us to meet those impossible goals. He enables us.

Now we come to what YOU are going to do. When you lay out the church's teachings on gay marriage, are you going to lift a finger to help? When you tell people that they need to love their enemies, are you going to drop the truth bomb and walk off?

Who are you going to be like.... God or the religious leaders?

God, thanks for teaching us to lift a finger.