WOE TO (PART 4)

Can I pray for you in any way? Send any prayer requests to OurChristianWalk@aol.com.
In Christ, Mark

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

** Follow The Christian Walk on Twitter @ThChristianWalk

** Like posts and send friend requests to the author of The Christian Walk, Mark Cummings on Facebook at https://www.facebook.com/mark.cummings.733?ref=tn_tnmn

** Become a Follower of The Christian Walk at http://the-christian-walk.blogspot.com

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

The scriptures. May God bless the reading of His holy word.

“Woe to you when everyone speaks well of you, for that is how their ancestors treated the false prophets.”

Luke 6:26

This ends this reading from God's holy word. Thanks be to God.

Woe to.

Over the past three devotions, we have looked at how Jesus promised woe on those who relied on their riches for happiness, those who were well fed by the world’s standards with no regard to their spiritual nourishment, and those who revel in all the pleasures of the world and then find they have no one to comfort them when the time comes to mourn.

Today, we cover the last of these four “woe” statements of Jesus, looking at those who are held in high regard, those who never experience any negative input from anybody. Look again at these words:

“Woe to you when everyone speaks well of you, for that is how their ancestors treated the false prophets.”  Luke 6:26

In Old and New Testament times, there was no shortage of people who spread falsehoods, even posing as messengers of the Lord with information from Him that had never been given. Jesus had this to say about them:

“Watch out for false prophets. They come to you in sheep’s clothing, but inwardly they are ferocious wolves.” Matthew 7:15

Jesus tried to warn the people to be careful so they would not be deceived but unfortunately, there was little to none identification and calling out of false prophets found in the scriptures by the people Jesus was talking about, the ancestors of His audience. Instead, we get a sense that those people just accepted the false prophets and even commended them for their work in the name of the Lord, unbeknownst that the work was illegitimate and sinful.

How could that happen?

Easily because the people of God were not as well versed in the word of the Lord as they needed to be. For if they had spent the time to educate themselves about the scriptures, then they would have been able to easily see when falsehoods were being spread and could have spoken out against the manifester of the lies.

So what does this have to do with our scripture verses from Luke and the final mentioned woe?

Jesus was warning people to watch out if they found themselves in a place where they were never criticized or convicted of the wrongs they committed in life for this wouldn’t be an indicator that they were living right. Rather, it would show that they were living wrong but no one would be able to alert them to the errors of their ways, like the false prophets who weren’t fingered by the people they were deceiving.

So is it alright to be criticized by others?

It is if the correction is intended to warn us of our sins and help us confess, repent, and get back on the right path?

Need an example?

Go back to the story of David after he had committed adultery with Bathsheba and then made arrangements to have her husband, Uriah, killed so he would be able to marry her and hide the fact that she was carrying his baby, an end result of the infidelity. David must have thought he had gotten away with murder, literally, that is until a messenger named Nathan came to him with the following words from God Himself:

Then Nathan said to David, “You are the man! This is what the Lord, the God of Israel, says: ‘I anointed you king over Israel, and I delivered you from the hand of Saul. I gave your master’s house to you, and your master’s wives into your arms. I gave you all Israel and Judah. And if all this had been too little, I would have given you even more. Why did you despise the word of the Lord by doing what is evil in his eyes? You struck down Uriah the Hittite with the sword and took his wife to be your own. You killed him with the sword of the Ammonites. Now, therefore, the sword will never depart from your house, because you despised me and took the wife of Uriah the Hittite to be your own.’”

“This is what the Lord says: ‘Out of your own household I am going to bring calamity on you. Before your very eyes I will take your wives and give them to one who is close to you, and he will sleep with your wives in broad daylight. You did it in secret, but I will do this thing in broad daylight before all Israel.’” 2 Samuel 12:7-12

David was called out for who he was (a sinner) and what he had done (the sins he committed). How did he respond? Simply by saying:

Then David said to Nathan, “I have sinned against the Lord.” 2 Samuel 12:13

David was blessed when his sins were exposed as that event led him to a place of confession and repentance. Had it not happened, he would have been left to carry the weight of his transgressions, a weight that he admitted had began to crush his bones, such was the depth of his inner guilt and sorrow.

In David’s story, we see a glimpse of what Jesus was getting at with his warning. Perhaps we should keep it in mind as we go through life and never find ourselves never being questioned or challenged by others for our wrongs, that woe could be knocking on our door. I think David would tell you that despite the difficulty he had to face in being exposed, in the end, he was blessed because Nathan helped him get right again with the God he loved, the God his heart was after.

Amen.

In Christ,

Mark

PS: Please share this with anyone you feel might be blessed by it.
Send any prayer requests to OurChristianWalk@aol.com