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Luke 6:47 “Whoever comes to Me, and hears My sayings and does them, I will show you whom he is like:”

   Christianity is about a Person. It is not just some list of rules or rituals. It is not a culture or simply a way of thinking and doing things. It is a relationship with the Lord Jesus. The critical first step we see right here, ‘whoever comes to me’. We must come to Christ with a heart ready to listen, ready to follow. We must, as did His disciples, know that He alone has ‘the words of life’.
   And this coming and hearing and doing leads to a life in which He is the all in all. Everything else is done in connection with the focus on Him. It transforms the individual. Nothing else is like it. Nothing else is significant in comparison.

   Heavenly Father, thank You for having arms wide open to those who will seek Your Son. You have made salvation a plain proposition. We can see and know the way of life. You are so wise! In the Name of the Lord Jesus Christ I pray and praise You, Amen.

Luke 6:46 “But why do you call Me`Lord, Lord,’ and do not do the things which I say?”

   Why does Jesus repeat the ‘Lord’ here? He is reminding His hearers of the tendency to say a lot of God-honoring things without following it up with God-honoring deeds. Words and deeds are meant to go together. But just as the Jewish nation, so often people honor God with their lips while their heart is far from Him. We have all been guilty of it.

   Heavenly Father, thank You for Your mercy! And thank You for Your power! Though we get our worship out of order, You are indeed worthy of it. You alone are God and we are blessed to be a part of Your world. In the Name of the Lord Jesus Christ I pray and praise You, Amen.

Luke 6:45 “A good man out of the good treasure of his heart brings forth good; and an evil man out of the evil treasure of his heart brings forth evil. For out of the abundance of the heart his mouth speaks.”

   Again we see Jesus talking about good people and bad people. But we can see in other Scripture that before God we are all bad people. So how can we have good treasure in our heart? Is it just possible that some are born good and some are born bad? No, not quite.
   The key here is to understand that it is all a work of God. Only by the crosswork of Christ is it possible for us to be redeemed. Only by His righteousness may we have righteousness. We can have good treasure inside of us, but only because of our relationship with Him. It is dependent upon Him, and not us. We must respond in faith. There is a choice of the will on our part. But, even our choice is a gift. Without His grace, we would not be free to choose. And when we do, we are manifested forth as those good people that He describes here. And as good people, we are able to work out of our good treasure.

   Heavenly Father, thank You for Your grace! Thank You for the work You do in our hearts. Because of Christ, we may work good works. We may be generators of good things. We may throw the evil out of our lives. In the Name of the Lord Jesus Christ I pray and praise You, Amen.

Luke 6:44 “For every tree is known by its own fruit. For men do not gather figs from thorns, nor do they gather grapes from a bramble bush.”

   The emphasis here is on the fact that this rule applies to every tree. Every tree is known by its own fruit. It is impossible for the trees to hide and make themselves out to be something else, because the fruit they bear belongs to them. The same is true with people. In spite of any attempt at disguise, the fruit will reveal a person’s own characteristics. That which that person is intrinsically will come to the fore by virtue of the fruit evidence.

   Heavenly Father, You alone know our true nature. You alone know what we shall be like millions of billions of years from now. In this life we think we know so much, but You know us better than we know ourselves. We will bring all glory to You, for You so richly deserve it! In the Name of the Lord Jesus Christ I pray and praise You, Amen.

Luke 6:43 “For a good tree does not bear bad fruit, nor does a bad tree bear good fruit.”

   Jesus uses the illustration of trees to bring up the subject of nature. The nature of something is an intrinsic set of characteristics that are true about that thing in its very existence. The difference between an apple tree and an orange tree is intrinsic.
   The same applies here. The good tree and the bad tree are intrinsically different. But are any of us intrinsically good? How can this help illustrate anything real? Are people right when they say we should just try to be ‘good’ and that this will earn us a place in heaven? Or is Jesus telling His hearers something more?
   Jesus is speaking of something that is true of the tree from day one. It isn’t an orange tree one day and an apple the next. But, yet, we would say that the Christian is made the righteousness of Christ. By the blood we are cleansed and made to be ‘good’ trees in spite of our great and many sins. So do we then become that which is intrinsically different? Keep the result with the cause. We are what we are by the grace of God. If you become a child of God, this is retroactive. Though you wandered in sin lost without hope, yet you have been sanctified if you have tasted of that heavenly gift. And thus you are manifested forth as a good tree from the outset, and will bear good fruit.
   Just as the orange tree or the apple, it will take time for the fruit to show. But if it is a healthy tree, the fruit will show. And it will be consistent with the type of tree that it is.

   Heavenly Father, thank You for Your great mercy! Though we would all have been justly condemned before You, You have in Your great love made it possible for us to be good trees. Oh You are so wise! You are so much smarter than we are, or than the old devil. You alone understand the true measure of Your grace. We sing of it like we think we understand it, but we do not yet see it fully. You are truly magnificent Father! In the Name of the Lord Jesus Christ I pray and praise You, Amen.

Luke 6:42 “Or how can you say to your brother,`Brother, let me remove the speck that is in your eye,’ when you yourself do not see the plank that is in your own eye? Hypocrite! First remove the plank from your own eye, and then you will see clearly to remove the speck that is in your brother’s eye.”

  A hypocrite is ‘one who pretends’. How much does that fit us? How often are we really what we appear to be? Would there be more value in being less, only to be more genuine? Even constant introspection and reflection that produces no purity of motivation or absolute character is useless. Maybe we find the best when we show ourselves to genuinely be what we are even if it is not all that we shall ever aspire to.

   Heavenly Father, we seek to praise You out of a genuine heart. We wish to say ‘blessed be the Lord’ with every intention of meaning what we say with our very lives. We would love You in actuality. In the Name of the Lord Jesus Christ I pray and praise You, Amen.

Luke 6:41 “And why do you look at the speck in your brother’s eye, but do not perceive the plank in your own eye?”

   Is Jesus just ignorant of everyday life? Does He really expect an answer? It goes without saying that human nature is such that we tend to pick out faults in others we would never, or rarely, see in ourselves. But we see that Jesus was more than familiar with human nature. Our sinful nature is very well known to Him.
   So then why the question? Isn’t the answer too obvious for even a rhetorical stab to make His hearers feel guilty? Was that even His intention? I think not. Jesus was not trying to solicit guilt, but to highlight the brokenness of the human condition. He was calling out a flaw that we just assume cannot be fixed. And yet, He came to fix flaws, to heal our spiritual brokenness.

   Heavenly Father, could You make it any more obvious that Christ is the Savior? Is it just our stubbornness that keeps us from the truth? And we feel that we know the answer to that, even if we won’t admit it. We must have Christ. We need Him above all else. Thank You Father! In the Name of the Lord Jesus Christ I pray and praise You, Amen.

Luke 6:40 “A disciple is not above his teacher, but everyone who is perfectly trained will be like his teacher.”

   We cannot expect to be any better than those we learn from. Without being disciples of Christ, we have only a motley crew of the men of this world to choose from if we want a renowned teacher. Beyond that we may have a significant wise person in our lives that is not so well known. But in any case, short of Christ we get only to emulate another human being, who has not the words of life.

   Heavenly Father, thank You for Christ! I find myself saying it so often. There are so many things about Him to be thankful for. He is the Perfect Teacher. In the Name of the Lord Jesus Christ I pray and praise You, Amen.

Luke 6:39 “And He spoke a parable to them: “Can the blind lead the blind? Will they not both fall into the ditch?”

   There have been many teachers in this world. Many have claimed to have special knowledge. But, Jesus here reminds us that human teachers fall short because they are partakers of the same blindness that all of humanity shares.
  The followers of Christ are afforded something altogether different. Jesus is not just another teacher. Jesus is the Son of the Most High. He is the Word that has existed from eternity past. Thus He sees and imparts that vision to those whom He will.

   Heavenly Father, thank You for the Master! Jesus is so much more to us than any human person. He is before all in our hearts. His wisdom is a balm to our souls. Father, thank You for not just giving us Your written Word, but also the living Word. In the Name of the Lord Jesus Christ I pry and praise You, Amen.

Luke 6:38 “Give, and it will be given to you: good measure, pressed down, shaken together, and running over will be put into your bosom. For with the same measure that you use, it will be measured back to you.”

   It is no mistake that this follows a verse about mercy and forgiveness. As human beings we can harbor the most ugly hatred and putrid bitterness. We have invented the most sadistic selfishness and diabolical deception. Real mercy has a high price tag. And Jesus is assuring His followers that the mission of mercy and forgiveness is not without its own bountiful reward.

   Heavenly Father, thank You for Your great mercy! As we realize the sin that has torn this world apart in all of its horrific ugliness, we see the great beauty of Your mercy and truth. Give us a heart to share the love that You have so richly made available in the Person of Your Dear Son. In the Name of the Lord Jesus Christ I pray and praise You, Amen.