Today’s reading: Luke 16:1-18:17
My selection: Luke 16:30-31
30 And he said, ‘No, father Abraham, but if someone goes to them from the dead, they will repent.’ 31 He said to him, ‘If they do not hear Moses and the Prophets, neither will they be convinced if someone should rise from the dead.’ ”
My reflections: In Jesus’ parable (or was it a true story?) He describes a man who had lived selfishly and without belief. After death he was in torment in Hades, but he thought of his five brothers and had enough concern for them to ask Abraham to send Lazurus, his poor former neighbor now in heaven, to warn them to repent so as not to come to torment as well. Abraham tells him that if they do not hear Moses and the Prophets they will not believe even if someone should rise from the dead before them.
Unbelief is not reversed with mere signs and wonders, like someone rising from the dead. Indeed, Jesus Himself would soon rise from the dead and not everyone would believe. Without the regenerating work of the Holy Spirit in the heart, an unbeliever will not accept any kind of warning of the judgment to come.
My challenge: Are you resisting the obvious evidence that God has come to us in time and space as a human, lived a perfect life, died, been buried, and rose again from the grave to demonstrate His divinity? Do you ask for more signs than these to authenticate His identity and the truth of His teaching? If you do not believe, it is because you cannot believe without God’s work in your heart. You could end up like the rich man and his six brothers. Call to God for mercy and grace that His Spirit may transform your heart and turn you to belief.
Tomorrow’s reading: Luke 18:18-20:8
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