Thursday Reflection – February 20, 2020Doers of God’s WordBlessed are those who hear the word of God and obey it! Luke 11:28
 The truest indication that learning has taken place is if one can put into practice what they have learnt. Our verse for today is quite a unique one. The verse is actually part of a larger context beginning at verse 14. Jesus had cast out a demon from a man who couldn’t speak. After the demon was cast out the man was able to speak. There were some persons from the crowd that accused Jesus as receiving his power from Satan to cast out demons. Jesus immediately rebuff this notion in verse 17 by stating, “Any kingdom divided against itself will be ruined, and a house divided against itself will fall. 
Jesus further stated anyone who wasn’t with him was against him. If you’re not living for God then you are against him. In other words there is no middle ground with Jesus. This set the platform for our verse today and what transpired after. Jesus continued, after an evil spirit leaves a person it goes into the desert searching for rest. If it doesn’t find rest then it returns to the person. If it realizes that it cannot enter the person, then it goes and find seven other demons more powerful than itself and they go and live in the person making the persons condition worse than before. As Jesus was saying this a woman in the crowd cried, Blessed is the mother who gave you birth and nursed you. Jesus responded, blessed are those who hear the word of God and obey it.
As I reflect on this passage there are a couple points I want to highlight from Jesus’ response: 1. Hearing the word of God doesn’t make you a Christian.There are many people who hear the word of God and it does absolutely nothing for them and there are those who hear the word of God and do not act on it. As we look throughout society and even within the church, there are many people who have not become TRANSFORMED by the word of God, yet they hear the word of God on a regular basis. These people can be likened to some of the people in the crowd that followed Jesus. Jesus was a spectacle to them and so they followed what they considered to be the excitement of Jesus. I want to posit that if we hear the word and do not act on the word, all we see Jesus as is a spectacle–someone who peaks our interest but nothing more.

2. God requires obedience to his word. The truest indication that learning has taken place is when one put into practice what they have learnt. The word of God is not to be treated like a story book. The word of God is to TRANSFORM and SHAPE our way of living that is REFLECTIVEofJESUS. Jesus requires us to be obedient to what we have heard and learnt about him. Obedience is what truly pleases the Lord and when we are obedient to God, learning has taken place. Notice how Jesus quickly identifies who is blessed. The woman stated that Jesus’s mother was blessed, because she gave birth and nurtured him to be so full of wisdom. Also it would have been a sense of pride for the mother to see her son full of so much wisdom. But that is not what causes you to be blessed. It is when we are obedient to the word of God then we are truly blessed.  Until next week, be doers of God’s word and not only hearers.ShalomChristopherEuphfa