Tuesday, March 08, 2016

In our last visit I pointed out that good communication is not always appreciated. That, however, is not an excuse for our not being careful to let our conversation always to be full of grace, seasoned with salt, so that we might know how to answer everyone. Jesus often did that by telling stories. One day Jesus was praying. When He finished his disciples ask Him to teach them to pray. Jesus gave them what we call the Lord’s Prayer. Then He went on in Luke 11 to tell them a story: A person had an unexpected guest show up late one evening. His pantry was empty, so he went to his friend and asked him to lend him three loaves of bread. His friend was already in bed and said, “Don’t bother me!” Jesus went on and said, “Though he will not get up and give him the bread because he is his friend, yet because of the man’s persistence he will get up and give him as much as he needs.” Everyone who heard the story got the point – when you pray be serious. He continued making this point by saying, “Ask and it will be given to you; seek and you will find; knock and the door will be opened to you.” The full impact of Jesus’ words are lost in most translations. The verbs ask, seek and knock are in the present tense in the original language, so they should be translated, “keep on asking…keep on seeking…keep on knocking...” He is pointing out that God is more desirous of giving what you ask for than a friend would be, but He wants to know you really want and expect His best for you.