Read
Ask, Search, Knock
(Luke 11.9-13)
7 Ask, and you will receive. Search, and you will find. Knock, and the door will be opened for you. 8Everyone who asks will receive. Everyone who searches will find. And the door will be opened for everyone who knocks.
9Would any of you give your hungry child a stone, if the child asked for some bread? 10Would you give your child a snake if the child asked for a fish? 11As bad as you are, you still know how to give good gifts to your children. But your heavenly Father is even more ready to give good things to people who ask.
12 Treat others as you want them to treat you. This is what the Law and the Prophets are all about.
Reflect
Reflections from a young man listening to the Sermon on the Mount
. . . I am a shepherd. It had been a hard week. I had been out on the hills with the sheep. Our best ewe had fallen in a crevice and died in the storm. I had just come into town last night. I had run out of food and was so hungry. I felt like I was a failure. After putting the sheep in the community pen I stumbled home, tired and very hungry.
We were a very poor family. We hardly had enough. I paused just outside the doorway and could see the table lit by a guttering lamp. The small meal had been set. The family was around the table. Father had given thanks to God and blessed the food. And then I walked in.
My father looked at my mom across the table. His eyes twinkled with joy as she jumped and hugged me. He pushed my younger brothers down the bench, and moved his plate and bowl in front of me. I was famished and wolfed it down.
My father told me excitably about this Rabbi Jesus that we were going to listen to tomorrow. And then I realized that my father had given me his food, and he had none.
I had fallen into bed exhausted, feeling embarrassed by my father’s love and generosity to me. And our best ewe had died.
Now I sat listening to Jesus telling me about the real love of God. About seeking after the true Father, about God reaching out to me when I was hungering for him. This Jesus was telling me about my God who was so much more generous, more loving, with true abundance, than my own father!
Respond
Jesus, I want to know you. I want to experience your love. I want to seek after you and understand you. I want to know your will and direction for my life. Give me faith to knock and ask. To search and wait for you. Please don’t let me down.
Wayne Johnson
Wayne’s passion is working with national leaders from around the globe, helping people develop leadership skills, and seeing them grow personally, spiritually and socially. He is President of World Relief Canada.