Focus

Slow your breathing and become aware of the taking in and letting out of your breath. Focus on putting things aside so you will be open to what God is saying to you today.

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Read

Luke 17:20-37 (NRSV)

Once Jesus was asked by the Pharisees when the kingdom of God was coming, and he answered, “The kingdom of God is not coming with things that can be observed; nor will they say, ‘Look, here it is!’ or ‘There it is!’ For, in fact, the kingdom of God is among you.”

Then he said to the disciples, “The days are coming when you will long to see one of the days of the Son of Man, and you will not see it. They will say to you, ‘Look there!’ or ‘Look here!’ Do not go, do not set off in pursuit. For as the lightning flashes and lights up the sky from one side to the other, so will the Son of Man be in his day. But first he must endure much suffering and be rejected by this generation. Just as it was in the days of Noah, so too it will be in the days of the Son of Man. They were eating and drinking, and marrying and being given in marriage, until the day Noah entered the ark, and the flood came and destroyed all of them. Likewise, just as it was in the days of Lot: they were eating and drinking, buying and selling, planting and building, but on the day that Lot left Sodom, it rained fire and sulfur from heaven and destroyed all of them —it will be like that on the day that the Son of Man is revealed. On that day, anyone on the housetop who has belongings in the house must not come down to take them away; and likewise anyone in the field must not turn back. Remember Lot’s wife. Those who try to make their life secure will lose it, but those who lose their life will keep it. I tell you, on that night there will be two in one bed; one will be taken and the other left. There will be two women grinding meal together; one will be taken and the other left.” Then they asked him, “Where, Lord?” He said to them, “Where the corpse is, there the vultures will gather.”

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Reflect

Hurricane Matthew, which devastated Haiti and many areas on the East Coast of the United States several weeks ago, was a terrible tragedy. According to some estimates, the death toll was as high as 1,000 people. Property damage has been estimated in the hundreds of billions of dollars. In Florida, the governor, countless meteorologists, indeed, almost everyone encouraged residents in the path of the storm to evacuate immediately, not to look back, and not to waste time in leaving. One of the worst things we can do in response to any natural disaster is to be lazy, complacent, or wait until the last minute to take action. Being complacent leads to even greater tragedy.

In Luke 17 we see even in our faith lives that complacency leads to tragedy and death. Jesus mentions both the people of Noah’s time, and Lot’s wife. Noah’s friends and neighbors refused to listen and prepare as Noah tried to tell them what was coming. They went on living their lives as if nothing could ever go wrong, and we know what their attitude got them. Lot’s wife looked back because she longed to hang on to her old life.

When we are happy with our lives, we get comfortable. We get entrenched in our clothes and cars and houses and TVs. Those things aren’t necessarily bad, but Christians aren’t supposed to be tied down with these earthly blessings. They aren’t inherently bad, but they do lead us to be less willing to follow where God is calling us to go. And following God’s call in our lives is ultimately what living a Christian life is about.

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Pray

Loving Savior, we are complacent. We are wishy washy. We would rather sit in our comfortable lives than step out and do the work of your kingdom. Make us uncomfortable. Take away our complacency and create in us a burning desire to do your will in our world. Amen.

Go with God.