Observations from the Doctor, Day 24 Authority. Read Luke chapter 20. When it comes to understanding Jesus, we have to understand his authority. You see, he was completely God while also being completely human. So while he walked this Earth, he still walked the Earth with the authority. We saw glimpses of this when we read about Jesus as a boy in the temple back in one of the early chapters of Luke. Here we see and understand it to its fullest extent. Throughout this entire chapter, we see the interplay between the authority of Jesus and the authority of the religious leaders and the rulers of the day. The…

Observations from the Doctor, Day 23 What does it mean to be worthy of worship? Read Luke chapter 19. I grew up singing an old hymn called “Worthy of Worship.” It was a really neat song that talked about the incredibleness of God and how he was worthy of our praise and worship. The lyrics are: “Worthy of worship, worthy of praise. Worthy of honor and glory. Worthy of all the glad songs we can sing. Worthy of all the offerings we bring. You are worthy, Father, Creator. You are worthy, Savior, Sustainer. You are worthy, worthy and wonderful. Worthy of worship and praise.” This incredible song is exactly what…

Observations from the Doctor, Day 22 Persistent Humility. Read Luke chapter 18. As I read through Luke, chapter 18, these 2 words stand out. The stories and parables and lessons that Jesus teaches us about and that Luke shares in this chapter, they can be summed up in those two words: persistence and humility. The question becomes, how do those 2 go together? We can look at the examples of persistence in the chapter and think, “Wow, they were so bold and so arrogant is to think that they would be helped.” They were persistent in calling out to the Lord. Then we see the examples of the importance of…

Observations from the Doctor, Day 21 What do we value? Read Luke 17:20-37. As we read through this second half of the chapter, we get a picture of what the coming of the kingdom of God will look like. It’s interesting to see how many people talk about the coming of the kingdom of God, but are not actually wanting to see the kingdom of God come. Do we focus on the importance of our priorities? If we are a follower of Jesus Christ, there is nothing better for us than to see him face-to-face and for him to return. However, we haven’t seen with heaven looks like, so it’s…

Observations from the Doctor, Day 20 As… such a tiny word with huge implications. Read Luke 17:1-19. Reading through the first half of Luke chapter 19, we see more discussion about faith. What does that mean to truly have faith? And how do we live out faith? We see this demonstrated very clearly in this story of the ten lepers. Ten people afflicted with this horrible disease sought out Jesus and asked him to heal them. Jesus tells them to go show themselves to the priest. Now in that day and time, they would have known that you only did that once you had been cleansed from your leprosy. Then,…

Observations from the Doctor, Day 17 Meh Christianity. Read Luke chapter 14. The English language continues to change and morph. New words are added every year as we find new ways to express ourselves. One of my favorite recent additions is “meh.” It’s the perfect descriptor for a variety of circumstances where you just don’t really have a strong opinion. “Where do you want to go eat?” Meh “How is your day going?” Meh “What did you think of that movie?” Meh In so many ways, we have become a society that isn’t strongly passionate about many things. We just sort of relax back and go with the flow. And…

Observations from the Doctor, Day 16 The choice. Read Luke chapter 13. Every single person has a choice to make when it comes to Jesus. Unfortunately, a lot of people choose no. In Luke chapter 13, we see the results of the choices that people have made. Jesus gives several examples that speak to the results of these choices. Jesus spoke about a fig tree that didn’t give figs or people are choosing the wide path instead of the narrow one. Throughout this entire chapter, we see Jesus’s desire for people to make the choice to follow him. However, as we see in our key verse today, Luke 13:34, Jesus…

Observations from the Doctor, Day 14 Does the inside match the outside? Read Luke 11:33-54. I cut into an avocado the other day. It was a beautiful color on the outside, but when I cut into it, it had already started to go bad on the inside. Over the years I have had similar experiences with multiple fruits or vegetables and that has always been a frustrating experience. However, it’s not nearly as frustrating as when the same thing happens with a person. How many times have we experienced a situation where we had one view or impression of a person, and then something happens and we end up seeing…