Author: Bill Hall

But woe to you Pharisees! You give a tenth of mint, rue, and every kind of herb, and you bypass justice and love for God. These things you should have done without neglecting the others.

Luke 11:42

Here Jesus upholds the tithe, but reminds the Jewish people once again that it is no substitute for an obedient heart. Financial giving is not a means by which to buy into God’s good graces. It is simply one of many forms of worship.

Heavenly Father, thank You for Your justice and love! It is only because You are just and loving that we can be. I will seek to honor You by reflection, being just and loving. You are amazing! In the Name of the Lord Jesus Christ I pray and praise You, Amen.

But give from what is within to the poor, and then everything is clean for you.

Luke 11:41

This verse is often missed. Jesus was supplying the Pharisees with a short path to righteousness. They needed only to have a proper understanding of the purpose of the poor.

These Jewish elites believed that being rich was a sign of God’s approval. Thus, in their thinking, the poor were not holy because God had not blessed them with good things.

Heavenly Father, You are the Only One we can turn to! You are my protection. You help me every day, every moment. I will yeild to Your way, and it is perfect. You are holy, holy, holy! In the Name of the Lord Jesus Christ I pray and praise You, Amen.

Fools! Didn’t he who made the outside make the inside too?

Luke 11:40

To live in honor to God only in the externals of life is to miss at least half of everything. This was the foolish mistake of the Pharisees. They were on the right track in a lot of ways, but their inner thoughts were evil.

Living for the Lord only externally is a poor substitute for true spiritual living. The heart and soul of us must be governed by our spirit yeilded to the Lord God.

Heavenly Father, You are not a God who wants lipservice. You are looking for true followers, real disciples of Christ. You demand and deserve loyalty. You are worthy of our thanks and praise for ever and ever! In the Name of the Lord Jesus Christ I pray and praise You, Amen.

But the Lord said to him, ‘Now you Pharisees clean the outside of the cup and dish, but inside you are full of greed and evil.’

Luke 11:39

The Pharisees excelled at keeping up appearances. But, the inner man, where God looks upon the heart, was left to grow in evil.

We generally focus on the hypocrisy of the Pharisees. And we assume this means that their words and their actions did not match. However, we tend to oversimplify the situation. The Pharisees were not necessarily inconsistent. But they were consistently wrong.

Heavenly Father, Your wisdom is limitless! Your Word is perfect. Your grace is amazing. We can never praise You enough. Your love and holiness are awesome. In the Name of the Lord Jesus Christ I pray and praise You, Amen.

When the Pharisee saw this, he was amazed that he did not first perform the ritual washing before dinner.

Luke 11:38

This ritual was not the law of God, but a ceremonial law invented by the Jewish elite. The Pharisees though Jesus was trying to outdo them in the eyes of the people. In other words, because they were self-righteous hypocrites, they thought they everyone else was too.

Heavenly Father, thank You for Your mercy! It is a great joy to be able to have the righteousness of Christ. You are holy and just! In the Name of the Lord Jesus Christ I pray and praise You, Amen.

As he was speaking, a Pharisee asked him to dine with him. So he went in and reclined at the table.

Luke 11:37

Jesus seems to have a low opinion of Pharisees. And yet, He did not decline this invitation. Why? Well, His feeling towards Pharisees is actually compassion. Bringing their hypocrisy to light was a merciful thing to do.

Heavenly Father, You are the Wise One. It is so easy for us to forget that. You know exactly what we need, and You care for us more than we care for ourselves. You are a True Father. Thank You for giving us Christ, Who is The Way. In the Name of the Lord Jesus Christ I pray and praise You, Amen.

If, therefore, your whole body is full of light, with no part of it in darkness, it will be entirely illuminated, as when a lamp shines its light on you.

Luke 11:36

The Holy Spirit of God can, through the power of the Word of God, bring you to a place of complete illumination. Remember, in Christ we are a new creation. Thus, it is possible to live in the light of God’s glory even now. He gives us all that we need to live lives that are full of joy, peace, and grace.

Heavenly Father, You are so gloriously wonderful! You make everything different. A life lived with You on the throne of the heart is a life of purpose and contentment. Oh to enter the joys of your treasures of grace! To understand and know You intimately is to be the happiest of people. You are the rejoicing of our hearts. In the Name of the Lord Jesus Christ I pray and praise You, Amen.

Take care, then, that the light in you is not darkness.

Luke 11:35

There is no more awful thing than to think oneself enlightened, and yet be completely in the dark. The light of the truth is such a precious thing. And we, by default, feel the need to know what is real and thus, true. But, we can be deceived by counterfeits.

Heavenly Father, Almighty God, You alone can give us truth. You have chosen what to reveal to us. Thank You for Your grace to us! In the Name of the Lord Jesus Christ I pray and praise You, Amen.

Your eye is the lamp of the body. When your eye is healthy, your whole body is also full of light. But when it is bad, your body is also full of darkness.

Luke 11:34

Jesus is using a simple illustration here. Our eyes are the way that we perceive light. But Jesus is talking about more than just eyes. He is speaking of our perception, our ability to understand and process what is around us.

When our perception is broken, it profoundly impacts our lives. There are many things that can break our perception. Doubt, sin, worry, fear, depression, are all things that block our perception. These things make us dark and block the light from getting into us.

Heavenly Father, Your light is beautiful! It brings joy to my soul and health to my spirit. Thank You for Your light. You are so wonderful! In the Name of the Lord Jesus Christ I pray and praise You, Amen.

No one lights a lamp and puts it in the cellar or under a basket, but on a lampstand, so that those who come in may see its light.

Luke 11:33

Jesus uses this illustration of a lamp to talk about the spirit of human beings. There are many false paths to spirituality in this old world. To fall into them is like lighting a lamp and hiding its light.

Heavenly Father, to have spiritual life in Christ is so wonderful! You are worthy of endless praise! I will live in awe of the plan You made to bring evil men back to You. How can we thank You enough? In the Name of the Lord Jesus Christ I pray and praise You, Amen.