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Luke 11:29-36

Divine proofing

Whenever I write an article for the newspaper I always get someone to proof read it for me. The reason for this is that I’m all too aware that I find it hard to identify spelling, grammatical mistakes and expressions that lack clarity. One of the reasons for this is that I know what I mean because what I’m writing is in my head. Even though I read over my article it makes sense to me and mistakes are overlooked.

It is the same with my life. I’m living my life from the perspective of ‘me’ and it makes sense to me. It is easy for me to overlook flaws of character and behaviour because I’m used to being me. Christ has come to proof read my life and highlight parts of me that are sinful, harmful, unwise and unloving. Christ likes to put me in situations that expose my weaknesses to myself, my family and my Christian friends so that they can also help me identify where and how I need to grow.

Before I can be open to this painful process of having my flaws exposed and worked on I must first accept Christ’s greatness over me. If I think of myself as being great then I don’t really need Christ’s or your help. Complacency is another trap that I easily fall into. My familiarity with the stories in the Bible can tempt me to think I know enough about Christ. But the Bible is not written for me to know about God. It is written so that I know God not just as a subject in a text book but as someone I’m having a relationship with. Christ came to make it possible for me to live my life under His greatness. In this way I will undergo a process of Divine Proofing.  the Rev

Luke 11:29-36 Look into Christ - Christ is the Greatest

Exercises

• Discuss the futility and trap of Christ trying to pass their test v29-30. Share in what way you have treated Christ as a kitchen appliance.

• Discuss on what basis the Queen of the South will condemn ‘them’ v31. Share in what functional way you don’t live according to Christ’s counsel/wisdom.

• Explore how Jonah pointed forward to Christ v32. Share in what way you are going to submit to Christ’s greatness in the specifics of your relationships and daily life.