Luke 3:5-14 is the text and context for these devotional thoughts on the possibility of life-change as reflected in the preaching ministry of John the Baptist. Life change is a hopeful message since so many of us feel that we are stuck in our ruts.
Here is a sample. You can download the rest
Download devotionals_313192006.doc
Removing Impediments
Every valley shall be filled, and every mountain and hill
shall be brought low; and the crooked shall be made straight, and the rough
ways shall be made smooth; And all flesh shall see the salvation of God.
– Luke 3:5-6
God called John to be a smoother and a “straightener”. In
many ways, John’s role was nothing more than to clear away the obstacles that
might impede the message of the one who would come after him.
He was a voice.
He was a
voice in the wilderness.
And he
cried out with passion and conviction removing excuses and uncovering facades.
He was the
one to come before Jesus who could really move some mountains and clear some
paths. John was a co laborer with God as we are called to be and His mission
was simple:
To be an
agent through whom all flesh might see the salvation of God.
God has no
desire to hide His salvation. He wants all to see it. He wants all to receive
it.
We have the
task of removing the impediments.
What kind
of impediments are there? Sometimes mountains are too high, valleys are too low,
and roads are too crooked and rough. We can cooperate with God to change that.
One
impediment to people seeing God’s salvation is our tendency to speak religious
jargon that no one understands. We mask the grace of God in a jungle of
theological language and church talk.
Another is
our insistence on traditions that have lost their meaning. Or it may be our own
negativity or the contradictions of our lives – the dichotomy between what we
profess and what we practice.
We have to remove the obstacles that keep people from
coming to Christ or even hearing the Word of God. The problem is not so much
that people don’t want to hear as much as they sometimes cannot hear over the
irrelevant chatter. Remove the impediments and let everyone see the salvation of
God.