not a club

Posted on April 20, 2017 by Jefferson Vann
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devotional post # 1,993

Luke 13:18-21

Luk 13: 18 So Jesus asked, “What is the kingdom of God like? To what should I compare it?
Luk 13: 19 It is like a mustard seed that a man took and sowed in his garden. It grew and became a tree, and the wild birds nested in its branches.”
Luk 13: 20 Again he said, “To what should I compare the kingdom of God?
Luk 13: 21 It is like yeast that a woman took and mixed with three measures of flour until all the dough had risen.”

not a club

Jesus had just faced the resistance of people who imagined the kingdom of God as a gated religious society—exclusive, rule‑bound, and carefully policed. In their minds, belonging to God meant mastering the right rituals, observing the right days, and proving yourself through strict obedience. Sabbath keeping became the badge of membership, the line that separated insiders from outsiders. When Jesus welcomed the broken, healed the suffering, and opened the kingdom to those who had never qualified under the old system, it threatened the entire structure they depended on.

In response, Jesus offered two brief but powerful parables. Both of them shift the focus away from external rule‑keeping and toward internal transformation. The mustard seed begins as something almost invisible, too small to impress anyone. Yet once planted, it grows into something expansive, reshaping the entire garden around it. The yeast works in a similar way—quietly, steadily, and irreversibly. Once it is mixed into the dough, the dough cannot go back to what it was. The yeast changes everything from the inside out.

That is how Jesus describes the kingdom. It is not a club you join by meeting the right standards. It is a life‑giving power that enters you and begins to reshape you. It does not wait for you to become worthy; it makes you new. It does not demand that you prove yourself; it produces fruit in you that you could never manufacture on your own. The kingdom is not about guarding boundaries but about unleashing transformation.

Jesus’ point is both freeing and sobering. The kingdom can indeed be entered—anyone may come, anyone may receive grace, anyone may step into the life God offers. But once you enter, the kingdom does not leave you as it found you. Grace is not passive. It works like seed and yeast—quietly, persistently, and permanently. It frees you not only from guilt but from smallness, fear, and the old patterns that once defined you. It frees you to become the person God envisioned when He first imagined your life.

So when Jesus invites us into His kingdom, He is not offering a new set of rules. He is offering a new kind of life—one that grows, expands, and transforms everything it touches.

LORD, we accept the freedom you offer. Here we are. Change us into who we were meant to be.

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seek freedom every day

Posted on April 19, 2017 by Jefferson Vann
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devotional post # 1,992

Luke 13:10-17

Luk 13:10 Now he was teaching in one of the synagogues on the Sabbath,
Luk 13:11 and a woman was there who had been disabled by a spirit for eighteen years. She was bent over and could not straighten herself up completely.
Luk 13: 12 When Jesus saw her, he called her to him and said, “Woman, you are freed from your debility.”
Luk 13: 13 Then he put his hands on her, and immediately she straightened up and praised God.
Luk 13: 14 But the president of the synagogue, indignant because Jesus had healed on the Sabbath, said to the crowd, “There are six days on which work should be done! So come and be healed on those days, and not on the Sabbath day.”
Luk 13: 15 Then the Lord answered him, “You hypocrites! Does not each of you on the Sabbath untie his ox or his donkey from its stall, and lead it to water?
Luk 13: 16 Then shouldn’t this woman, a daughter of Abraham whom Satan bound for eighteen long years, be released from this imprisonment on the Sabbath day?”
Luk 13: 17 When he said this all his opponents were humiliated, but the entire crowd was jubilant at all the wonderful things he was doing.

seek freedom every day

The synagogue leader could not bring himself to confront Jesus directly. Instead, he raised his voice to the crowd, scolding them for daring to seek healing and freedom on a day he believed should be tightly controlled by religious rules. His frustration was not really with the people; it was with the fact that Jesus was disrupting the system he depended on. In his mind, the Sabbath had become a day defined by restrictions, a day when suffering was supposed to wait its turn. What bothered him was not the miracle but the timing of the miracle.

Jesus exposed the contradiction immediately. The same people who insisted that the Sabbath was a day of strict limitation still untied their animals and led them to water. They made room for compassion toward livestock, yet denied compassion toward a woman who had been bent over in pain for eighteen long years. Jesus’ point was sharp and unavoidable: if even the legalists made exceptions for the sake of mercy toward animals, how could anyone object to mercy toward a human being made in God’s image? Their rules were not protecting holiness; they were preventing healing. That is why Jesus called it hypocrisy—not because they cared about the Sabbath, but because they cared about it selectively.

In that moment, Jesus reframed the entire meaning of the day. The Sabbath was never meant to be a cage. It was meant to be a gift, a weekly reminder that God sets people free. Jesus insisted that God’s liberating power is not limited to certain hours or certain days. The kingdom He brings is not open only during religious business hours. Grace does not close. Mercy does not take a day off. Healing is not postponed until the calendar approves. Every day is a day when God releases the bound, lifts the weary, and restores what has been broken.

This story invites us to examine our own assumptions about when God can act. Sometimes we quietly believe that certain moments are too ordinary, too busy, too inconvenient, or too late for God to break in. But Jesus insists that the door of grace is always open. The invitation to freedom is always active. The power of God is always available.

LORD, we celebrate your grace and power — open 24/7.

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left alone time

Posted on April 18, 2017 by Jefferson Vann
marmsky-devotions-pics-april-2017-18

devotional post # 1,991

Luke 13:6-9

Luk 13: 6 Then Jesus used this illustration: “A man had a fig tree planted in his vineyard, and he came looking for fruit on it and found none.
Luk 13: 7 So he said to the employee who had tended the vineyard, ‘For three years now, I have come looking for fruit on this fig tree, and each time I inspect it I find none. Cut it down! Why should it continue to use up the soil?’
Luk 13: 8 But the worker answered him, ‘Sir, leave it alone this year too, until I dig around it and put fertilizer on it.
Luk 13:9 Then if it bears fruit next year, okay, but if not, you can cut it down.'”

left alone time

That fig tree had no awareness at all of what was hanging over it. It wasn’t trembling under threat or shrinking under judgment. It was simply standing there, year after year, producing nothing, unaware that its long season of unfruitfulness had already placed it under a sentence it could not see. What kept it alive was not its own merit but the compassion of the vineyard worker—the one who stepped in, pleaded for more time, and committed himself to digging, nourishing, tending, and hoping. He wanted that tree to flourish. He wanted fruit to appear where none had appeared before. He wanted to spare it from destruction.

Jesus takes that quiet, almost tender picture and applies it to his own generation with sobering clarity. The verdict had already been rendered. Their rejection of God’s Messiah had already placed them under judgment. But they were living in that deceptive in‑between space—the space between the sentence and the execution, between the truth and the consequences. From the outside, life looked normal. The temple still stood. The routines of religion continued. The crowds still gathered. But spiritually, they were living on borrowed time, unaware of how close they were to the end of their opportunity.

And then Jesus turns the parable toward us—not to frighten us, but to awaken us. If you are someone who has been waiting a long time for God to act, waiting for him to fix something, answer something, or intervene in some long‑standing struggle, this text invites a different angle of reflection. What if the waiting is not only yours? What if God is also waiting? What if this “left alone time” is not abandonment but mercy? What if the delay is not neglect but grace—grace that gives space for repentance, for transformation, for fruit to grow where there has been none?

It is possible to misread God’s patience as indifference. It is possible to assume that because nothing dramatic is happening, nothing important is happening. But Jesus suggests the opposite. The quiet seasons may be the most spiritually urgent ones. The years that feel uneventful may be the very years in which God is giving us room to turn, to soften, to change, to finally bear the fruit he has been longing to see.

LORD, change us, so that we do not waste this time which you have graciously given us.

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general warnings

Posted on April 17, 2017 by Jefferson Vann
marmsky-devotions-pics-april-2017-17

devotional post #1,990

Luke 13:1-5

Luk 13: 1 Now there were some present at that time who told him about the Galileans whose blood Pilate had mixed with their sacrifices.
Luk 13: 2 He responded to them, “Do you think those Galileans were worse sinners than all the other Galileans, because they suffered these things?
Luk 13: 3 No, I tell you! But unless you repent, you will all be destroyed as well!
Luk 13: 4 Or those eighteen who were killed when the tower in Siloam fell on them, do you think they were worse violators than all the others who live in Jerusalem?
Luk 13:5 No, I tell you! But unless you repent you will all be destroyed as well!”

general warnings

Every time disaster erupts or a life ends without warning, something deep within us reaches for meaning. The human heart instinctively asks why such things happen, why the world can shift so suddenly, why a life can be here one moment and gone the next. Jesus does not ignore that ache or dismiss the question as unspiritual. Instead, he speaks directly to it. He makes it clear that sudden tragedy is not a sign that the victims were singled out for divine punishment. Their suffering is not evidence that they were worse sinners or that God was targeting them. That kind of cause‑and‑effect thinking is too small for the kingdom Jesus proclaims.

Yet Jesus does not soften the moment. He takes the rawness of tragedy and turns it into a mirror for everyone else. While these events are not specific punishments, they are general warnings. They remind us that life is fragile, that time is short, and that the opportunity to turn toward God is not guaranteed forever. Jesus insists that judgment is real, but it is not happening today. Today is the day of grace, the day when God is still calling, still welcoming, still urging people to turn and live. But woven into this age of grace are moments that shake us awake. Earthquakes, accidents, sudden losses—these are not God striking people down; they are God shaking the rest of us up.

Such events expose how easily we drift into complacency. We assume we have endless time to sort out our priorities, to mend relationships, to seek God, to pursue what matters. Then tragedy interrupts the illusion. It reminds us that repentance is not merely a religious word but a life‑preserving invitation. It reminds us that the kingdom Jesus offers is not an abstract idea but a present, urgent reality. And it reminds us that ignoring God’s call is the only true danger.

So when disaster strikes, the question is not “Why them?” but “What about me?” How will I respond to the warning embedded in the world’s brokenness? How will I live differently today, while grace is still extended and the door to the kingdom stands open?

LORD, give us wisdom to respond appropriately to the general warnings all around us.

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an age of conflict

Posted on April 16, 2017 by Jefferson Vann

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devotional post #1,989

Luke 12:57-59

Luk 12:57 “And why don’t you judge for yourselves what is right?
Luk 12:58 As you are going with your accuser before the magistrate, make an effort to settle with him on the way, so that he will not drag you before the judge, and the judge hand you over to the officer, and the officer throw you into prison.
Luk 12:59 I tell you, you will never get out of there until you have paid the very last lepton!”

an age of conflict

Jesus had been preparing His followers for a hard truth: loyalty to Him would not shield them from conflict. In fact, the entire stretch between His first coming and His return would be marked by tension, misunderstanding, and opposition. And when we look at the world—its divisions, its hostilities, its constant churn of conflict—we can see that His prediction has unfolded exactly as He said.

But Jesus does not tell His followers to meet conflict with more conflict. His counsel is surprisingly gentle, deeply practical, and profoundly countercultural: seek reconciliation.
Not because the other person is always right. Not because reconciliation is always easy. Not because peace is guaranteed. But because refusing reconciliation traps us in a cycle of bondage—resentment, retaliation, and relational decay that can swallow whole communities and whole lives.

Jesus knows that if we insist on remaining enemies with everyone who disagrees with us, we will live in a prison of our own making. And He knows that earthly courts—though sometimes necessary—are unreliable as instruments of justice. Even when we are right, the verdict may not fall in our favor. So He urges us to pursue peace before the conflict escalates, before the judge is involved, before the damage becomes permanent.

This is not weakness. It is wisdom.
It is courage.
It is the way of the kingdom in an age of conflict.

Reconciliation does not erase truth or minimize harm. It simply refuses to let hostility have the final word. It seeks the dignity of the other person, even when they oppose us. It mirrors the heart of the One who reconciled us to Himself while we were still His enemies.

LORD, give us the wisdom and courage to seek reconciliation and peace with all those who oppose us in this age of conflict.

Posted in conflict, discernment, peace, persecution, reconciliation | Tagged | Leave a comment

significant signs

Posted on April 15, 2017 by Jefferson Vann

marmsky-devotions-pics-april-2017-15

devotional post # 1,988

Luke 12:54-56

Luk 12:54 Jesus also said to the crowds, “When you see a cloud rising in the west, you say at once, ‘A rainstorm is coming,’ and it does.
Luk 12:55 And when you see the south wind blowing, you say, ‘There will be scorching heat,’ and there is.
Luk 12:56 You hypocrites! You know how to interpret the appearance of the earth and the sky, but how can you not know how to interpret the moment you are in?

significant signs

The earthquakes in New Zealand years ago offered a vivid reminder of how fragile life can be. Buildings shook, communities were disrupted, and even though the loss of life was small, the impact was enormous. The next day, every news outlet focused on the unfolding response—neighbors helping neighbors, rescue teams working tirelessly, communities rallying to rebuild what had been broken.

Even the weather forecast shifted its tone. Meteorologists talked about wind and rain not as interesting data points but as potential obstacles to rescue efforts. They could predict the weather with precision, but no one could predict the exact moment the earth would give way. Some things in life announce themselves; others arrive without warning.

Jesus used that same contrast to speak to His generation. They were experts at reading the sky—knowing when a storm was coming or when the heat would rise. But they were blind to the spiritual signs unfolding right in front of them. The kingdom of God was breaking in, the Messiah was standing among them, and yet most would miss the moment that mattered most. They could interpret clouds, but not Christ. They could predict weather, but not recognize salvation.

We face the same danger. Life is full of noise, full of urgent things that demand our attention. But the most important realities are often quiet, easily overlooked unless God opens our eyes. The signs of His kingdom—grace, repentance, compassion, justice, humility—are all around us, but we can be just as unaware as the crowds who heard Jesus.

LORD, give us eyes to see the things that really matter.

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when passion divides

Posted on April 14, 2017 by Jefferson Vann

marmsky-devotions-pics-april-2017-14

devotional post # 1,987

Luke 12:49-53

Luk 12:49 “I have come to bring fire on the earth– and how I wish it were already kindled!
Luk 12:50 I have a baptism to undergo, and how distressed I am until it is finished!
Luk 12:51 Do you think I have come to bring peace on earth? No, I tell you, but rather division!
Luk 12:52 Because from now on there will be five in one household divided, three against two and two against three.
Luk 12:53 They will be divided, father against son and son against father, mother against daughter and daughter against mother, mother-in-law against her daughter-in-law and daughter-in-law against mother-in-law.”

when passion divides

When I was a kid, my family was passionate about American football. We loved to watch the high-school and professional games, and even talking about football entertained us — particularly because our family was divided between those loyal to the Miami Dolphins and the Dallas Cowboys.

Passion creates identity, and identity creates division. Whether it’s Dolphins vs. Cowboys or any other rivalry, the things we care about most inevitably shape our relationships. They draw some people closer and push others away.

Jesus understood that dynamic far more deeply than we often admit. He knew that loyalty to His kingdom would not simply inspire devotion—it would provoke conflict. Not because His kingdom is violent or divisive in itself, but because allegiance always reveals what matters most, and not everyone shares that allegiance. When someone chooses Christ, they are choosing a new center of gravity for their life. And when that center shifts, relationships shift with it.

Jesus wasn’t celebrating conflict; He was preparing His followers for the reality that devotion to Him would sometimes cost them peace with others. Families would feel the strain. Friendships would feel the tension. Communities would feel the fracture. Anything that captures the heart—sports, politics, culture, religion—can divide. But the kingdom of God, because it demands ultimate loyalty, exposes those divisions more clearly than anything else.

Yet Jesus never calls us to seek conflict. He calls us to seek Him. He calls us to live peaceably, gently, humbly—as far as it depends on us. But He also calls us to stand firm when loyalty to Him creates friction. The goal is not unnecessary conflict; the goal is unwavering allegiance.

LORD, we do not want unnecessary conflict with others, but we do want to stand for You and Your kingdom.

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the other slaves

Posted on April 13, 2017 by Jefferson Vann

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devotional post #1,986

Luke 12:45-48

Luk 12:45 But if that slave should say to himself, ‘My master is delayed in returning,’ and he begins to beat the other slaves, both men and women, and to eat, drink, and get drunk,
Luk 12:46 then the master of that slave will come on a day when he does not expect him and at an hour he does not foresee, and will cut him in two, and assign him a place with the unfaithful.
Luk 12:47 That servant who knew his master’s will but did not get ready or do what his master asked will receive a severe beating.
Luk 12:48 But the one who did not know his master’s will and did things worthy of punishment will receive a light beating. From everyone who has been given much, much will be required, and from the one who has been entrusted with much, even more will be asked.

the other slaves

In her book about the marginalised referred to in the Bible, Marianne Bjelland Kartzow comments on the commentators of this text: “It is striking that commentaries on Luke have nothing to say about the beaten male and female slaves mentioned in verse 45, as if these slaves, or servants as they are often called in modern translations, had no relevance” (Destabilizing the Margins: An Intersectional Approach to Early Christian Memory, 33).

Marianne Bjelland Kartzow’s observation is painfully accurate. It is striking how often commentators glide past the beaten male and female slaves in Jesus’ parable, as though their suffering were merely background scenery rather than the moral center of the story. But Jesus does not treat them as irrelevant. He places them at the heart of the warning.

The whole force of the parable rests on this truth: how the steward treats the other servants reveals whether he truly belongs to the master.

The steward who abuses, neglects, or exploits those under his care shows that he has no real allegiance to the master at all. His violence exposes his heart. His selfishness unmasks his hypocrisy. And Jesus makes it clear that the master’s return will not be gentle for those who used their authority to harm the vulnerable.

This is not a side point. It is the point.

Those of us who follow Christ are entrusted with His people. We are responsible to nurture, protect, strengthen, and honor those He has placed in our care—whether that care is formal leadership, informal influence, or simply the shared responsibility of belonging to the same body. We can proclaim readiness for Christ’s return, we can speak confidently about our theology, we can claim loyalty to Him—but if our treatment of fellow believers contradicts His heart, then His return will expose us.

Knowing the Master’s will is a privilege. But in Jesus’ teaching, privilege always comes paired with responsibility. The more clearly we understand His heart, the more accountable we are for how we treat His people. And the ones most easily overlooked—the ones on the margins, the ones without power, the ones who can be harmed without public consequence—are precisely the ones Jesus places at the center of His warning.

LORD, show us how to care for those You have placed in our charge.

Posted in authority, consideration of others, faithfulness, second coming | Tagged | Leave a comment

prioritising people

Posted on April 12, 2017 by Jefferson Vann

marmsky-devotions-pics-april-2017-12

devotional post # 1,985

Luke 12:41-44

Luk 12:41 Then Peter said, “Lord, are you telling this illustration for us or for everyone?”
Luk 12:42 The Lord responded, “Who then is the faithful and wise manager, whom the master puts in charge of his household servants, to give them their allowance of food at the proper time?
Luk 12:43 Blessed is that slave whom his master finds at work when he returns.
Luk 12:44 I tell you the truth, the master will put him in charge of all his belongings.

prioritising people

Peter’s question is so relatable. He hears Jesus’ parable about servants, responsibility, and the master’s return, and he wants clarity: “Is this for us, or for everyone?” It’s the kind of question any good student asks when the stakes feel high. And Jesus’ answer, though indirect, is unmistakable: both. The disciples are included, and so is the wider crowd. But the disciples carry an added weight—they are the present faithful who will shepherd the future faithful.

Jesus reframes responsibility in a way that would have startled His listeners. Those who believe the gospel are entrusted with people, not possessions. They are stewards of souls, not barns. They are caretakers of those being drawn toward the kingdom. And the measure of their faithfulness is not how much they accumulate but how well they care for those entrusted to them.

If they are faithful with people, the Master will entrust them with “all His possessions”—a breathtaking promise that stretches into eternity. But if they mistreat people, exploit them, ignore them, or use them for their own gain, the Master’s return will not be a moment of reward but of reckoning.

Jesus is teaching a new economy of gain. Under the old perspective, wealth is something to chase, protect, and worry about. Under the new perspective, people are the treasure. People are the investment. People are the inheritance. The kingdom grows not through accumulation but through love, service, and faithful stewardship of those God places in our care.

This is the shift Jesus wants to form in us: to see people not as obstacles or resources but as sacred trusts. To measure success not by what we own but by how we love. To live with the Master’s return in view, knowing that what matters most to Him must matter most to us.

LORD, show us how to live in Your new perspective, prioritising people.

Posted in commitment, consideration of others, discipleship, kingdom of God, money, servanthood | Tagged | Leave a comment

surprise insurance

Posted on April 11, 2017 by Jefferson Vann

devotional post # 1,984

marmsky-devotions-pics-april-2017-11

Luke 12:37-40

Luk 12:37 Blessed are those slaves whom their master finds alert when he returns! I tell you the truth, he will dress himself to serve, have them take their place at the table, and will come and wait on them!
Luk 12:38 Even if he comes in the second or third watch of the night and finds them alert, blessed are those slaves!
Luk 12:39 But understand this: If the owner of the house had known at what hour the thief was coming, he would not have let his house be broken into.
Luk 12:40 You also must be ready, because the Son of Man will come at an hour when you do not expect him.”

surprise insurance

Jesus’ analogies here all point in the same direction: the ones who remain faithful in the ordinary, the quiet, the uneventful stretches of life are the ones who are ready when the moment of revelation comes. The faithful slave keeps working even when the master is gone and the house is silent. The vigilant homeowner stays alert even when the night seems calm and no threat appears. In both cases, the danger is not chaos—it is complacency.

And that is exactly Jesus’ point about His return. It will be a surprise. Not one of the prophecy experts, chart‑makers, or date‑setters will have it right. The second coming will not reward those who think they have decoded the timetable. It will reward those who have remained loyal through the long dark night—those who kept serving, kept loving, kept obeying, kept hoping, even when nothing dramatic seemed to be happening.

Faithfulness is the only insurance against surprise.

Jesus is not asking for frantic activity or anxious striving. He is asking for steady allegiance. He is shaping servants who do not need constant signs, constant excitement, or constant reassurance to stay true. He is forming people whose loyalty is rooted in love, not in spectacle. When the Master returns—and He will—He will delight in finding His servants doing what He entrusted to them, even if the world around them had grown sleepy or cynical.

LORD, build us into faithful servants.

Posted in commitment, perseverance, second coming, Uncategorized | Tagged | Leave a comment