Greetings on this Sunday,
Read Luke 6
As Jesus does ministry in Luke 6, we see him clashing with the religious leaders over proper sabbath keeping, which unsurprisingly people still argue over today about what is allowed or not on the sabbath. We also get Luke’s version of Jesus’ big sermon, this time it’s on a plain instead of a mount like in Matthew, but the content is eerily similar. (You could have fun comparing Luke 6 with Matthew 5-7).
But the passage that stands out to me in this chapter, is found in verses 12-16. Again, Jesus goes off to pray with God. And this time the point was to pray and discern who to call as his closest disciples. We’ve read stories of Jesus calling some of the first disciples to follow him in Luke 5, but here Jesus calls a special group from all who had been following him to a closer, deeper, intimate master/disciple relationship.
Jesus models for us prayerful discernment. I wonder if we give enough time in our prayer lives to discerning what God is calling us to? I wonder if we were to pray about who God wants us to invest our discipling energies into, who God would reveal to us?
Picture what it was like as one of the chosen 12, to hear Jesus call your name that morning. Pray about who God is calling you to disciple. Making disciples takes intentionality and preparation, just like Advent and getting ready for Christmas. How can you use the next few weeks of Advent to not only prepare for Jesus’ birth, but also to prepare yourself to disciple others about the way of Jesus and the good news of great joy that has come into the world for all people?
Grace and peace,
Matt