"Until
John the Baptist, the law of Moses and the messages of the prophets were your
guides. But now the Good News of the Kingdom of God is preached, and everyone
is eager to get in. But that doesn't mean that the law has lost its force. It
is easier for heaven and earth to disappear than for the smallest point of
God's law to be overturned. For example, a man who divorces his wife and
marries someone else commits adultery. And anyone who marries a woman divorced
from her husband commits adultery." Luke 16:16-18
God's Laws...The Ten Commandments
Meditate.
Jesus
was speaking to the Pharisees. He was once again clarifying Moses’ teachings—those
came from God anyway. God’s laws. He used the example of adultery and divorce.
It applied 2,000 years ago—and it applies to today. Although the divorce rate,
according to statistics on the ModernFamilyLaw website, has declined in the
last fifty years with currently only 2.4 divorces for 1,000 people, there are
still about one-third of Americans who have been married have experienced
divorce. Consider the stress and feelings associated with divorce. Jesus
reminds us that adultery is committed in remarriage. Here are more current
statistics: 64% of those divorcing get remarried with second marriages having a
60-67% divorce rate. Not much happily ever after there.
Jesus
wasn’t just addressing divorce. He was talking to the Pharisees about their
righteous appearance in public.
Then he said to them, "You
like to appear righteous in public, but God knows your hearts. What this world
honors is detestable in the sight of God." Luke 16:15
God knows
the hearts of everyone…not just the Pharisees during Jesus time. He knows ours,
too. We have the advantage of knowing and experiencing God’s grace.
God's law was given so that all
people could see how sinful they were. But as people sinned more and more,
God's wonderful grace became more abundant. So just as sin ruled over all
people and brought them to death, now God's wonderful grace rules instead,
giving us right standing with God and resulting in eternal life through Jesus
Christ our Lord. Romans
5:20-21
God’s
grace is sufficient for us. Because of God’s grace, are you eager to seek God’s
Kingdom and be part of it?
What do we learn about Jesus from
the Luke scripture passage today?
Prayer
– Lord God, You know my heart—my very thoughts and words before I even think or
speak. My thoughts can be rebellious, so thank You for loving me anyway. As
David wrote in Psalm 53…Create in me a clean heart, O Lord, and renew a right
spirit within me. Did the Pharisees ever get a clue that You loved them? Do
people, righteous and evil, today understand Your love? Help me to share the
message that You do love everyone. That’s why You came to be our Savior, Jesus.
I’m always thanking You!
Verse
of Salvation ~ When God our Savior revealed his kindness and love, he saved us,
not because of the righteous things we had done, but because of his mercy. He
washed away our sins, giving us a new birth and new life through the Holy
Spirit. He generously poured out the Spirit upon us through Jesus Christ our
Savior. Because of his grace he made us right in his sight and gave us
confidence that we will inherit eternal life. Titus 3:4-7
© 2026 Text, photos, and illustrations by Mickey M. Hunacek. All
rights reserved.
All scripture quoted from the New Living Translation (NLT) unless
otherwise noted.
New Living Translation copyright © 1996, 2004, 2007 by Tyndale
House Foundation.
Used by permission of Tyndale House Publishers Inc., Carol Stream,
Illinois 60188. All rights reserved.
Biblical search from Blue Letter Bible - http://v3.blueletterbible.org/search.cfm.
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