teaching with authority... yesterday and today

Today we read from Luke 4:31 to 5:11 in the One Year Bible. We read about Jesus teaching "with authority", which the leaders of His time didn't do.

I really like the picture above! Kudos to the painter from the Lutheran church who created it!

Jesus taught with authority when He spoke in the New Testament, because He was God Himself and could speak with the ultimate authority into our lives. But there is a cool thing about that speaking. The words of the Bible were written down by inspiration of the Holy Spirit... and that Holy Spirit is in you, as well (if you've been baptized), applying His words to your life. So when you read His words, they DO mean what He intended them to mean to His audience in the time He was speaking, and it's important for us to learn those things. But He's ALSO speaking into your life today. So don't limit Him to only meaning what He originally meant to the people He spoke to 2000 years ago.

A thought though: if you feel that He's teaching you something unusual or scary, run it past someone you know who is close to Jesus and see what they say. If it's from Him, they will probably agree with your "message", and if it's not, they will probably encourage you to try again. :)

God, thanks for speaking to us through the Bible. Please help us understand.