Keeping it real

Yesterday, we continued our series through the Gospel of Luke, and we looked with Alex at a passage where Jesus is at the peak of his popularity, but also when people begin to be really challenged by what he is saying. Jesus warns the crowds around him about the danger of hypocrisy and we were challenged to think about where we are hypocritical in our own lives; where do our statements not match our behaviour, or our words not match our actions?

It may well be that a huge number of the crowds supporting Jesus in this episode, would have been the same people some time later shouting, 'Crucify him!' But Jesus' popularity made no difference to who He was, to God the Father's love for Him, and it's the same for us.

It might not always be easy to publicly declare with our mouths and with our lives that we choose to follow Jesus, but the reaction from those around us does not make us any more or less loved by God. This verse reminds us that God is for us! We may know in our heads the truth of that, but do we really trust Him with all that we hold most dear?

Alex encouraged us that God knows and sees every part of our lives, and still loves us! This means that we don't have to try and find the words to explain how we're feeling or what we're going through. He knows. He sees. He loves. Let's be real, fully present and completely honest with God and with each other, allowing us to see ourselves in the light and allowing Jesus to forgive and transform us. 🐦