Don't Throw Jesus Out!

Today's reading is found in Luke 4:14-30. It tells the story of Jesus going to a synagogue in Nazareth on the Sabbath. He stood up and read from the scroll of the prophet Isaiah. The passage He chose was: "God's Spirit is on me; he's chosen me to preach the Message of good news to the poor, sent me to announce pardon to prisoners and recovery of sight to the blind, to set the burdened and battered free, to announce, 'This is God's year to act!'" When He finished reading, He told the people that the Scripture had been fulfilled right then and there. But to my amazement, the people got upset, they threw him out and banished him from their town!

Today I've learned that the story back then is quite similar to ours today. We used to allow prayer and Bible reading in schools. But somebody thought that Jesus did not belong there and so they threw Him out by banishing these actions. We used to allow the Ten Commandments to be posted on our courts and some other public buildings. But someone got upset and they sued our government who in turn decided to remove these important reminders of God's law. We threw Him out of our cities and towns!

Now we are appalled to see so much violence in schools. Children becoming seriously angry, picking up guns and killing others. We are surprised to see how crime has increased in our Country and how terribly unfair our government's judicial system has become. It seems as though money talks and determines how much justice a person gets. Still, we have to determine what it is that we will do with Jesus in our homes and in our lives. If we throw Him out, we will reap anger, bitterness, sadness, depression, loneliness, disappointment, violence, unrest, etc. We will never know what it is to be fully pardoned. We will never experience true freedom. We will always walk through life blind to His admirable light. Heed the consequences of those that threw Him out over 2,000 years ago. Don't throw Jesus out!