Scripture Reading: Luke 11.29-36 "Do you read these passages listed at the top of each Morning Briefing? God's Word is meant to be read,

to be studied so as to understand, and then to be devoured- Someone asked me what to do with these dailies. . .

PRINT them out. Ask God for understanding of His Word, then READ the Scripture. READ my commentary.

APPLY where you are able." Guaranteed growth if your heart has good soil.

Good Morning.

He is either God over all creation or He is not. . . at some point, you are required to believe that, or not. . . to take that step. . . or not.

To get where I'm going with this, maybe you could take 20 minutes and read the Old Testament book of Jonah, which is just four short chapters. In our Luke passage today, Jesus, the Master Teacher, weaves the familiarity of Jonah into His judgment of the people He was addressing. You see, God sent Jonah, His prophet, to the city of Nineveh to call the people to repentance because of their wicked and cruel ways. One problem--Jonah disobeyed God, and went in the exact opposite direction of Nineveh, because he was frightened at the notion of pronouncing verbal judgment on this carnal city. Thankfully, God was not through with His desire to see Nineveh redeemed or Jonah's obedience, so he caused a great fish to swallow Jonah whole, where Jonah had three days to rethink the direction of his travel! (How did Jonah get in the sea, allowing the fish to get him? Find the book of Jonah and read it! Yes, He is God over all creation.) "In my distress I called to the Lord, and He answered me," Jonah turns to God in prayer, while in the belly of the fish--"from the depths of the grave I called for help, and You listened to my cry." From the words Jonah uses, it is clear that he was very familiar with the wording of the Psalms, as David uses the same verbiage in his prayers. When Jonah is back on terra firma, (how did he get there? it has something to do with vomit--Jonah 2.10), he chooses to obey God, and believe it or not, Nineveh heeded his words, and fasted and repented of their evil ways, and God spared the city.

[You know, I was thinking. . . every prophet God sent out, including John-the-Baptist, went with the same message--in a word, "Repent. Turn around, take your life in the other direction-->toward God!" Whenever the people heeded this admonition, revival in the hearts of men and women swept the land. 'Repent of what?' Sin. Don't have any? How about the thoughts you are glad no one else can see or hear--judgmental, critical, harsh, unforgiving, haughty--do you ever have any of those? How about the half-truths you utter without thought? Remember, the litmus test is not you stacked up against a less-civil, allegedly more sinful person than you. . . it is you stacked up against the standard of a holy, righteous, perfect God. Hmmm. . . I think a holiness check would be a great way for me to start the New Year. . .

Jesus, knowing what the crowd is thinking, also references the Queen of the South, the Queen of Sheba, who sought out the wisdom of Solomon, and turned the trajectory of her life toward God. (1 Kings 10) Jesus calls the crowd 'a wicked generation', for asking Him for another sign to prove that He is the Messiah. 'Jonah was a sign to the Ninevites, Solomon a sign to the Queen of Sheba--and now One greater is here, and you do not believe Him. Both the queen and the people of Nineveh will judge this generation and condemn it, for it did not repent when the Son of Man came to it.' Jesus was a masterful Teacher, using these Old Testament illustrations to point out their hard heartedness toward Him.

These first-century dwellers believed the eye was the window to the soul--Jesus calls it "the lamp of the body". In Jesus' inimitable way, He tells the people that it was not another sign they needed to see, it was their vision that needed adjusting. Their spiritual eyesight needed to be refocused to accept the truth of the Gospel that Jesus had brought to them in spirit, truth, love, and the miraculous. They didn't need more signs, they needed to break up the hardness of their hearts to receive and believe what had already been demonstrated. I was talking to my friend, Jeff, the other day about the book More Than A Carpenter by Josh McDowell--a must-read for Christians. McDowell shores up the claims of the Gospel so well--so, Jeff said to me, 'How could anyone not believe in Jesus--especially after they read this?' Here's the thing--most people will not examine for themselves either the claims of the Gospel or the person of Jesus Christ--His miraculous birth, death, ministry, and resurrection. It is easier just to scoff at those who believe, calling them weak and narrow-minded; when, in all actuality, it is exactly the opposite--their hard heartedness and narrow thinking keeps them from coming to know and believe in Jesus Christ. Their 'eye' just can't see. Sad.

I pray you will take the time to see... well,

Christine