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Luke 14:1-6
Jesus, while being in the house of a Pharisee on the Sabbath, was being watched closely (Luke 14:1). We are not informed if the Pharisees were watching Him in an excited and anxious way in which they could learn from Him, or if they were seeking to find fault in Him as to disapprove of Him. Jesus asks the question if it is lawful to heal someone on the Sabbath day (Luke 14:3), but there was no reply. As Jesus healed a man of dropsy (also called edema; a disease where the tissue of the body retains too much water and could lead to death, Luke 14:4) and then made a statement that put everything into perspective for His onlookers. He stated that if a man had a donkey or an ox and that animal fell into a pit on the Sabbath day, would they not all go and rescue that animal (Luke 14:5)? In Luke 14:6 the Pharisees were all left silent, which leads us to believe that they were not watching Him critically as to learn from Him, but to find fault with His teaching.
This is an example of how Satan can blind us to the love of Jesus by keeping our attention on the things of this world. Satan is the father of all lies and deception (John 8:42-47), and if he can keep our focus tied up in seeking the bad instead of the good, we will never believe in Jesus.
The Pharisees were so tied up with seeking to find fault with Jesus that they were blinded to the miracle that He performed in the healing of this man with dropsy. Satan attempts to keep us blind to Jesus and the miracle of salvation that He is waiting to perform in each of our lives.
The only way to overcome the sinful nature of this world is to ask Jesus for help. We live in a sinful world that leads us to have a negative attitude toward all that is in it, but God created the world and all that is in it to bring glory to Him. We can break the negative attitude of this world through putting our faith and trust in Jesus if we will sincerely ask, trust, and believe in Him.
Dear Lord,
We do not have to look far to find negativity in this sinful world in which we live, but You sent Your one and only Son to save the world from sin so we could be reunited with You and receive life as You intended for us to have (John 3:16-17). Your love for us is the greatest thing we will ever experience, and we thank You for offering us a way to receive it through salvation in Your Son, our Savior, Jesus Christ. In Jesus name I pray, amen.