Today’s reading is Luke 3-4.
There were a number of things that struck me with this text. What really caused some reflection was 3:7-14. John is working to turn these people back to the Lord (1:17) and finds many who he regards as vicious snakes coming with the crowds.
What was the difference that set these apart from the others who came to hear John and be baptized? They came to do the right things, but their heart wasn’t in them. John didn’t require miraculous revelation to recognize this because they did not show fruit “in keeping with repentance.” (3:8) They likely had fallen into the trap of doing the right things, but not with the right motivation or concern for why they were done.
When we feel that we are comfortable in our relationship with God and that we have all of the answers, it is easy for us to be motivated by fear of consequences for leaving some thing undone. This also leads to – sometimes – false conclusions about what God desires of us because we are so concerned with being “right” that we try to choose a “safe” path that doesn’t approach the boundary defined by God.
Instead, we need to have the heart of the tax collectors and soldiers who knew they were hopeless without God and needed to change in order to please Him. Their fervent desire was to change – they had willing hearts and wanted to know what fruit they should bear in keeping with repentance.
They were given simple answers. Do good to others with the possessions that you have and be content with the blessings you’ve been given. John’s standard of rich blessing was much lower than ours. If you have more than one change of clothes, share with him who has none. If you have food to eat, share with him who has none. In these two simple areas, those of us who live in the USA are going to be hard pressed to meet people with no clothes or no food, but that doesn’t negate the principle that we are to help others.
We are richly blessed. If we want to have a heart that God desires, we should look for ways to serve others. Sometimes, this requires effort on our part to find someone who has a need we are able to meet. If we want to continually turn from devotion to this world to our Heavenly Father, we need to bear fruit in keeping with repentance.
