Thursday,
February 28 Luke
13:31-35
Layne
and Derek Bryant
It is amazing how
growing up and having children of your own can change your perspective of your
younger self. One of us (we will not
name names) spent the majority of the adolescent and teen-aged years rebelling
against loving and well-intentioned parents.
They would counsel me to make better choices, discipline me for
disobedience, and cry over my determination to ignore all of their guidance and
advice. Through these struggles, it
became clear that they could not force me to accept their love and help – I
would have to make that choice myself.
It took one infamous semester in college and a heaping dose of tough
love to make me realize my own unwillingness to be loved and guided was all
that stood in my way.
In Luke 13:31-35, we learn of
Jesus’ lament over Jerusalem:
“Jerusalem, Jerusalem, the city that kills the prophets and stones those
who are sent to it! How often have I desired to gather your children together
as a hen gathers her brood under her wings, and you were not willing!” I know that my parents shared Jesus’
frustration, as would anyone who has ever loved someone deeply but been unable
to protect them. Now that we have
children of our own, we can easily understand this metaphor and the heartache
that Jesus must have felt. It also makes
his willingness to die for the people who would not accept his love even more
amazing.
In our busy and privileged
lives, we have seemingly endless agendas, distractions, and excuses that keep
us from accepting Christ’s love. We must
make the decision to not only accept his love willingly, but to respond by
extending that same unconditional, nurturing love to others.
Prayer: Dear
God, thank you for offering your unconditional and persistent love for us, even
when we turn away from you.
Daily Challenge: Respond to Christ’s nurturing and protecting
love for us by being patient and loving to someone else today.
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