Luke 12:32-40
Be Ready
TEXT:
Luke 12:32-40
(Contemporary English Version)
32-34 My little group of disciples, don't be afraid! Your Father wants to give you the kingdom. Sell what you have and give the money to the poor. Make yourselves moneybags that never wear out. Make sure your treasure is safe in heaven, where thieves cannot steal it and moths cannot destroy it. Your heart will always be where your treasure is.
35-40 Be ready and keep your lamps burning just like those servants who wait up for their master to return from a wedding feast. As soon as he comes and knocks, they open the door for him. Servants are fortunate if their master finds them awake and ready when he comes! I promise you he will get ready and let his servants sit down so he can serve them. Those servants are really fortunate if their master finds them ready, even though he comes late at night or early in the morning. You would surely not let a thief break into your home, if you knew when the thief was coming. So always be ready! You don't know when the Son of Man will come.
REFLECTIONS:
If heaven exists, I don't know a single person that doesn't want to experience it. But our modern imaginations of heaven often lead us into passivity and inactivity.
Jesus seems to have a different vision: the heaven reality comes through our own participation in its creation. We can't just wait around for it. We've got to look for it, be prepared for it, and live in ways that make it more and more of a possibility!
And this too: our way of living depends a lot on our motivations. And our motivations depend a lot on what we desire.
In this text, Jesus seems to be suggesting that it is possible to actively choose to desire a world that looks more and more like heaven. And as we desire heaven, we begin to act in ways that look heavenly. And the more we act, the more we discover our reality adjusting, and ourselves enjoying the good things we seek.
PRACTICE:
Outward Mindset Application For one day this week, refrain from complaining or saying anything negative about any one else.
Pathways Toward Centeredness Sensationalism (Loving the world with our senses):
If you find yourself sitting in one location for 10 minutes this week, close your eyes and pay attention only to what you hear around you. What do you notice that you usually miss?
Questions for Consideration What is your most prized possession?
What is one thing you own that you should really throw out?