AUG 15

Luke 13:31-33
Memorise 2 Corinthians 5:7
“For we walk by faith, not by sight”

The Pharisees in the passages of today’s reading resorted to cunning and deception in order to get rid of Jesus. They approached Jesus as if to be on His side to warn Him that King Herod Antipas would have Him killed if He did not leave. In reality, they were actually in collaboration with Herod in a scheme which they thought would get Jesus to leave the city. Herod had to resort to getting the Pharisees to trick Jesus into leaving because he knew that he could not openly murder Jesus due to His great popularity.

Of course, they thought that their plan would work and on the surface it did appear to be a very clever way to achieve their objective of getting rid of Jesus without causing a public backlash. However, Jesus had other ideas. In fact, Jesus simply continued to do the Heavenly Father’s will in complete obedience and did not let any of the fear-mongering tactics of Herod and the Pharisees affect Him or cause Him to make any detours. His response to the Pharisees was simply to tell them what He planned to do for the next few days – simply to faithfully keep to God’s schedule and do His will.

It can be difficult to not allow circumstances to influence us or to dissuade us from doing what we know to be right before God. Jesus being human knew this all too well, but Jesus being the Son of God was also sinless and demonstrated to the world that no matter what His enemies could conjure up from their dark and evil minds, He could always count on God to help Him accomplish the work He had to do, as long as He remained steadfast and faithful.

Are you sometimes tempted to sin “a little” in order to achieve a “greater good”? We must realise that compromise is compromise. A sin is a sin, and it is never right. To resort to our own wisdom and not trust in God displeases Him, and is an act of faithlessness and sin. The best way is always God’s way even when it does not appear to be so by our own imperfect estimation of things. If we are to truly follow Jesus, we must walk by faith and not by sight.

Thought: Our faith may be feeble but God will not allow us to stumble if we let Him guide us every step of the way.
Prayer: Heavenly Father, walking by faith and not by sight can sometimes seem impossible but with You, nothing is impossible!