Re: Verse reading–Luke 16:19-31 (day four)
One of the questions we would ask if we were doing an inductive study of this passage would be…”who was Jesus speaking to?” Look back at verse 14…”Now the Pharisees, who were lovers of money, were listening to all these things…” The Pharisees considered wealth to be a blessing from God and a confirmation of their privileged relationship with Him. The rich man in our story shared this common Jewish belief and was caught by surprise when he ended up in Hades. He had no change of heart though, even there, because he still saw Lazarus as a servant to meet his needs. He was also oblivious to the sufficiency of Scripture to call us to repentance.
Are we blinded to the obvious message of God’s Word in any area of our lives? Forgive others…be reconciled…it is better to give than to receive…love your enemy? Ask God to search your heart today so you will not be ‘caught by surprise.’ (Psalm 139:23-24)