Thoughts From Luke - Day 55

                                                     Luke 11:47-54

“Woe to you, because you build tombs for the prophets, and it was your ancestors who killed them. ⁴⁸ So you testify that you approve of what your ancestors did; they killed the prophets, and you build their tombs. ⁴⁹ Because of this, God in his wisdom said, ‘I will send them prophets and apostles, some of whom they will kill and others they will persecute.’ ⁵⁰ Therefore this generation will be held responsible for the blood of all the prophets that has been shed since the beginning of the world, ⁵¹ from the blood of Abel to the blood of Zechariah, who was killed between the altar and the sanctuary. Yes, I tell you, this generation will be held responsible for it all.
⁵² “Woe to you experts in the law, because you have taken away the key to knowledge. You yourselves have not entered, and you have hindered those who were entering.”
⁵³ When Jesus went outside, the Pharisees and the teachers of the law began to oppose him fiercely and to besiege him with questions, ⁵⁴ waiting to catch him in something he might say.


         How do you respond to being told you are wrong? It grates on you doesn't it? It bothers me a lot. My wife is constantly pointing out to me that I'm doing things wrong from where and how I park, how I make the bed, how I take out the garbage, how I pack the dishwasher, packing the car, etc. I call it micromanaging but in effect it's telling me how I'm doing things wrong. My first red flag about marrying her, believe it or not while we were still dating , was as I was washing a car she told me that I was doing it wrong! I mean, is there one right way? I knew that my life would be filled with ,"there is one right way to do things and I know what that is." I had to decide if I could live with this and the answer was I couldn't live without her. It's amazing how after 35 years of marriage this still surfaces on a regular basis. Why does this bother me so much and why did it bother the Pharisees and people of the Old Testament? This is why they were going to kill Jesus, right? This is why they killed the Old Testament prophets, right?

        Christianity is unique to modern thinking. We have come to a point where, in order to get along (because no one wants to be told that they are wrong) we tell everyone that they are right. You believe what you believe and I'll believe what I believe and as long as it works for you and you are sincere it's good. We both have our own truths. Jesus comes into that and says, "I am THE way, THE truth, THE life. No one comes to the Father except through Me." Wow! You mean if you don't believe in Jesus you are wwwwwwrong?  Yes! It appears I'm not the only one who doesn't like being told that they are wrong. The prophets, like Zechariah, told King Joash that he was wrong so he had Zechariah killed. John the Baptist told Herodius she was wrong so she had him beheaded. Jeremiah told people that they were wrong so he was thrown into a well. Elijah told Jezebel she was wrong so she scowered the country looking to kill him. Jesus tells the Pharisees that they are wrong so they are looking for a way to kill him.

       Why do we all hate being told we are wrong? It's a pride thing. We all have this need inside us to be important, to be significant, to be worthy, and so, like my Christmas inflatables, we blow ourselves up. Statements like, "You are wrong" in effect stick a knife in us and let the air out. Suddenly we are flawed. Suddenly we are inferior to the one who is right. Suddenly, the way we reason, the way we have come to do things throughout our whole life, the way we understand reality is wrong. That hurts. That deflates. That makes you less than the one who informed you of this. And this is the crux of salvation that people including the Pharisees stumbled over - admitting we are wrong.

      We must admit that our lives have been wrong - we are sinful. We are not good people but deep inside we are evil to the core. I guess if you have a problem with that, you could ask yourself, "Do I like being told that I am wrong?" That should expose your rottenness if you are denying and repressing it. Not only must we admit we are sinful but we must admit that our efforts to get to Heaven are wrong. Christianity is counter intuitive. Christianity says that trying to be good doesn't get you any closer to Heaven than trying to be bad. Being a good person in order to get to Heaven is wrong. Ouch! You mean my whole philosophy on how I live my life is wrong? Yes. Proverbs says, "There is a way that seems right to man, but the end leads to destruction." Jesus came down from Heaven and paid the price of sin for us and by faith takes us to Heaven. It's not our efforts climbing up Jacob's ladder (Huey Lewis got that one wrong), but Jesus climbing down the ladder and carrying us up.

       People get offended by Christians saying we are right and they are wrong. The fact of the matter is that in order to become a Christian, we have already had to say we are wrong. We beat them to it. We say, "Welcome to the club. Stop hating on me, humble yourself so that He can inflate you."