- And they said many other things against him, blaspheming him. Luke 22:65 – Through my time volunteering at the local prison, I’ve heard inmates share with me how other people in the prison have pushed them to exhibit bad behavior. Maybe it was another inmate, or a guard having a bad day, but someone would say something or do something or take something from them to elicit from them an explosive reaction. In prison, “explosive reactions” aren’t handled well by the authorities there and the end result is a punishment no one desires, expect maybe the person that was pushing the inmate’s button. Here the guards are pushing Jesus to have His own version of an explosive reaction. They are beating Him, blindfolding Him, mocking Him, and even blaspheming Him. For anyone else this would have be the exact ingredients for a nuclear reaction, yet Jesus stayed calm. Jesus taught to love your enemies, now He was displaying it. Jesus taught to trust God’s will, now He was displaying that trust. Jesus taught to have patience, now Jesus was exhibiting the greatest patience one could. Jesus, while still in the flesh like us, showed us that we can choose a better option than the explosive reaction the enemy is trying to elicit from us. Anger and degrading words don’t have to be our reaction. We have the option to choose love, patience, and holiness even in times like what Jesus faced. Will that be easy? No way! But Jesus showed us it’s possible with Him. When life and people are seeking to provoke a reaction from you that would not be honoring to the Lord, remember the example Jesus set and remember that Jesus is with you in that heated moment. I love you, but Jesus loves you more – Mac – Daily DEVO 3551
- And he said to them, “When I sent you out with no moneybag or knapsack or sandals, did you lack anything?” They said, “Nothing.” Luke 22:35 – Focusing too long on the past can really mess with our ability to live well for God in the present. Yet, a little look back can go a long ways. Taking a moment to see how God has taken care of you over and over again in the past can be such an encouragement to trust Him deeper in the struggle you are facing today. Don’t allow yourself to camp out in the past, but a little visit to remind you how faithful your God is to you can be that motivation to follow Him that you’ve been praying for. I love you, but Jesus loves you more – Mac
- He said to them, “Behold, when you have entered the city, a man carrying a jar of water will meet you. Follow him into the house that he enters and tell the master of the house, ‘The Teacher says to you, Where is the guest room, where I may eat the Passover with my disciples?’ And he will show you a large upper room furnished; prepare it there.” And they went and found it just as he had told them, and they prepared the Passover. Luke 22:10-13 – Check out the whole passage to really get what’s going on, but it’s so clear here how Jesus just knew everything that the disciples needed to know and knew clearly how to lead them. Same goes for you. Sometimes we can get so confused in life, what job to do, who to call our bae (if that word is used anymore), or what to do next in our life. But what I see here in scripture is if we listen to Jesus, He knows what’s ahead, knows how to direct us, and has actually been preparing everything for us in advance. Let’s just begin to trust Him more rather than worry so much about our next step. I love you, but Jesus loves you more – Mac
- And when he came to the place, he said to them, “Pray that you may not enter into temptation.” Luke 22:40- Jesus here is giving us the means to how to overcome the temptations in our life. On how to not keep falling into the same traps we seem to always fall into. Jesus says to pray about it. Don’t blow that off as just too simple, this is your only way of overcoming the temptations in your life. You know you’re not strong enough to always say no to temptations. That’s why you’ve found yourself many times back in that trap again. Jesus is sharing the strength we need in life against temptation is not from us but from God. So, pray to God and ask for help with the temptations that arise in your story. God is your means of never falling into those temptations ever again, nothing else will do that for you. I love you, but Jesus loves you more – Mac – Daily DEVO 627
- And he withdrew from them about a stone’s throw, and knelt down and prayed, 42 saying, “Father, if you are willing, remove this cup from me. Nevertheless, not my will, but yours, be done.” Luke 22:41-42 – We are about to step into Luke’s account of the crucifixion and we get a glimpse of Jesus’ heart prior to the horrific events that were about to take place. Jesus prays to the Father to “remove this cup from me.” We must understand this is not Jesus changing His mind about His love for us or His desire for the world to have forgiveness and salvation. He is asking the Father here if there was any other way than the pain that He knew He was about to go through that salvation and life could be bought for the world. Nevertheless, Jesus was willing to go through it all for us and for the Father. Where my heart settles with a passage like this is if Jesus was willing to follow the Father like this, however we then are directed by God we should follow. What we are going to be asked of the Father may be heavy and may be heard. We may be asked to leave a path we love or step into a season we know is going to be challenging. We may be asked to sit in discomfort a little longer and we may be asked to get up from a place of comfort. What we see through the story of Jesus is that however the Father may direct us, we should follow and have confidence God will be faithful in making something beautiful out of our obedience. While that “beautiful” thing won’t be salvation for the world like with Jesus, it very well may be the opening of the doors for someone to finally hear about the salvation being offered to them by Jesus. I love you, but Jesus loves you more – Mac – Daily DEVO 2339
