Bible Chapter: Luke 1

Because the Bible is practical, here are some statements to get you thinking.

1.  Write one or two key thoughts that come from today’s reading.
    Luke was a careful historian who wrote this account of the life and ministry of Jesus for the Gentile believers in the early church.  It is the longest book in the New Testament.  Combined with the other book Luke wrote, Acts, his writings comprise more than one quarter of the New Testament.
    God knows what He is doing.  The first story in Luke is about the foretelling and birth of John the Baptist.  His parents were old and childless.  The Angel Gabriel came to Zechariah to tell him he would have a son who would be the one to point the world to the Messiah.  Everything happened exactly as God said it would in spite of their doubt and skepticism.
    One of the things prophesied about John was that he would turn the hearts of the fathers to their children.  The very first entity God established after creation was the family.  The first man and woman created came together as husband and wife and they had a family.  God’s plan for an orderly society is a strong family.  Part of John’s mission was to point out the sin of fathers who had failed to love their children and point them to God.  A strong relationship between a father and his children is one of the keys to living and living life for God.  Strong Christlike fathering today would solve many of our culture’s  problems.
    We see another major part of God’s plan in this chapter as Gabriel went to Nazareth to tell Mary that she would have a son.  Her response might surprise the modern world when she couldn’t figure out how she could have a son when she wasn’t married.  Mary and Joseph were pledged to be married, but the wedding hadn’t taken place yet.  They were being obedient to God’s plan and remaining virgins till the wedding.  It was because of their Godliness that God could use them.  Mary could be the earthly mother of Jesus because she was still a virgin.  God can use anyone who is willing to be used.

2.  What can I apply in my life from the reading?
    God knows what He is doing.  The prophet Jeremiah wrote that God knows the plans He has for each one.  Zechariah and Elizabeth had John according to God’s plan.  Yes, they were old and well beyond the years when they could have children.  That was no problem for God.  Mary was a virgin, but God was not perplexed as to how she could give birth to the Savior.  Both John and Jesus were born after God’s intervention.
    Since God knows what He is doing, He will work in my life and accomplish His goals when I let Him.  Part of Zechariah’s song at the birth of Jesus says: “To grant us that we, Being delivered from the hand of our enemies, Might serve Him without fear, In holiness and righteousness before Him all the days of our life.”  Luke 1:74-75 NKJV  We can serve Him in holiness and righteousness all the days of our lives.  There is deliverance in God’s hand.  I need to continue to trust Him.

3.  How can I help someone?
    I can help people see that God has a plan for individual lives.  In talking with people over the years it seems that many don’t comprehend the truth that God really has a plan for them.  I remember talking with a Christian man one time.  He expressed the thought that it would be amazing to know that he really was following God’s plan for his life.  The concept seemed foreign to him.  It is sad to live life just rambling along and not having any sense of God’s direction.  People can seek and find God’s plan for life.