Jesus Raises a Widow’s Son (Luke 7: 11-17)
11 Soon afterward Jesus went with his disciples to the village of Nain, and a large crowd followed him. 12 A funeral procession was coming out as he approached the village gate. The young man who had died was a widow’s only son, and a large crowd from the village was with her. 13 When the Lord saw her, his heart overflowed with compassion. “Don’t cry!” he said. 14 Then he walked over to the coffin and touched it, and the bearers stopped. “Young man,” he said, “I tell you, get up.” 15 Then the dead boy sat up and began to talk! And Jesus gave him back to his mother.
16 Great fear swept the crowd, and they praised God, saying, “A mighty prophet has risen among us,” and “God has visited his people today.” 17 And the news about Jesus spread throughout Judea and the surrounding countryside.
Though this story may be short, it shows three important aspects of being a Christian. The first is that we need to die to the sinful nature and rise again to a life in the Spirit. Just as the boy in the story died and was raised, we too should die to our old self and be raised in Christ! This is not a one-time thing. This should be a daily, or multiple times a day, thing. Every single day we should bury our “yesterdays” and raise up to have a “today” in Christ.
The second aspect outlined in this story is that when the boy was raised from the dead, he didn’t just simply sit up. The scripture says the boy sat up and “began to talk”. This is a part of this story that is so easily over looked. As soon as the boy was raised up, he was proactive. We too should be a Christian that is proactive in our new lives. We should be a Christian that is alive and not just living. We should strive to always be proactive and never to grow lukewarm.
The third aspect of this scripture is that great fear swept over the crowd. This reminds us that we should not only love and worship God but that we should also fear Him. Fearing Him too reminds us how powerful He truly is.
This week RLM would like to challenge you to die to your old self and to be raised in Jesus Christ. Do this multiple times this week so you can truly see what God has in store for you. Also be proactive in your new life in Christ. Never allow yourself to become lukewarm. Lastly remember to also fear Christ; helping you to never forget His wonderful power.
Prayer: Dear God, I pray that everyone this week remember you and remember what it truly means to be a Christian. I pray they will be able to die to their old selves, be proactive in their new lives with You, and they may always fear You to never forget Your great power. In Your name, Amen.
You bring up some great points here, Michaela. We too often forget to surrender every part of our lives to Christ. Honestly, most of us do not even know how to do it or believe it is even necessary. It requires a great deal of diligence to live out the "routine" of our lives for the glory of Christ. It is scary when you realize the extent that Jesus wants to reign in your lives. I have to constantly check myself to see if i am even willing to do that.
ReplyDeleteIt is great that you bring up the aspect of the boy talking. We often think that somehow we can live a Christian life without engaging the world; that we have an internal faith that is not involved with other people and how we live it out. The fact is we have been saved into the body of Christ, which is what God has chosen as being the means by which He reaches the world. Too often we seek out some mystical "experience" of God, when that experience takes place through living out our faith.