Reflective Bible Study Gospel Adventure

Why Focus On the Future: Matthew 24:26-35

Published March 12, 2025 in Written Journal Entries

Focus Passage: Matthew 24:26-35 (NIV)

²⁶“So if anyone tells you, ‘There he is, out in the wilderness,’ do not go out; or, ‘Here he is, in the inner rooms,’ do not believe it. ²⁷For as lightning that comes from the east is visible even in the west, so will be the coming of the Son of Man. ²⁸Wherever there is a carcass, there the vultures will gather.

²⁹“Immediately after the distress of those days

“‘the sun will be darkened,
and the moon will not give its light;
the stars will fall from the sky,
and the heavenly bodies will be shaken.’

³⁰“Then will appear the sign of the Son of Man in heaven. And then all the peoples of the earth will mourn when they see the Son of Man coming on the clouds of heaven, with power and great glory. ³¹And he will send his angels with a loud trumpet call, and they will gather his elect from the four winds, from one end of the heavens to the other.

³²“Now learn this lesson from the fig tree: As soon as its twigs get tender and its leaves come out, you know that summer is near. ³³Even so, when you see all these things, you know that it is near, right at the door. ³⁴Truly I tell you, this generation will certainly not pass away until all these things have happened. ³⁵Heaven and earth will pass away, but my words will never pass away.

Read Matthew 24:26-35 in context and/or in other translations on BibleGateway.com!

While reading Matthew 24:26-35 for this journal entry, a verse or phrase didn’t really stand out like with other passages in other journal entries. But what did stand out is a big theme that spans the broad teaching that this passage concludes.

Probably more single space is given to Jesus teaching us about what will happen in the end time than most any other teaching Jesus gave in the gospels. Three of the gospel writers include it, and most give it a very prominent place right before crucifixion week.

It is as though, knowing that the time He can spend with His disciples is growing to a close, Jesus begins to shift the topics that He talks about onto teaching about what to pay attention to after He is gone.

I believe Jesus knew that there would be thousands of years of history after His return to heaven, but instead of saying that directly, He described the condition of the world as it would be during those years. In the conclusion, our passage for this journal entry, He describes how He will return again, and what that would be like.

Using grand language and earth shattering imagery, Jesus wants us to know that His return will be nothing like His first appearance, and He does not want us to be deceived. He wants us to be ready, to see the world events that are happening around us, and to know that God’s kingdom is near. (Luke 21:31)

The big theme that I see listed here is this: God does not want us to be scared or surprised when we see bad things happen in the world. Instead, He wants us to focus on His character, on the truth that He is in control, and on the promise that Jesus is returning.

This thought was inspired by studying the Walking With Jesus “Reflective Bible Study” package. To discover insights like this in your own study time, click here and give Reflective Bible Study a try today!

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Seeing Through Healthy Eyes: Luke 11:33-36

Published March 11, 2025 in Written Journal Entries

Focus Passage: Luke 11:33-36 (NIrV)

³³“No one lights a lamp and hides it. No one puts it under a bowl. Instead, they put a lamp on its stand. Then those who come in can see the light. ³⁴Your eye is like a lamp for your body. Suppose your eyes are healthy. Then your whole body also is full of light. But suppose your eyes can’t see well. Then your body also is full of darkness. ³⁵So make sure that the light inside you is not darkness. ³⁶Suppose your whole body is full of light. And suppose no part of it is dark. Then your body will be full of light. It will be just as when a lamp shines its light on you.”

Read Luke 11:33-36 in context and/or in other translations on BibleGateway.com!

Part way through Jesus ministry, He shared an illustration about lighting a lamp and the importance of letting the lamp’s light shine. In this illustration, Jesus gives us an interesting comparison that is incredibly relevant and profound when we stop to think about it.

In the middle of this message, Jesus tells those listening, “Your eye is like a lamp for your body. Suppose your eyes are healthy. Then your whole body also is full of light. But suppose your eyes can’t see well. Then your body also is full of darkness.” (v. 34)

When reading Jesus’ words in this verse, I cannot help but see the similarities between our eyes and our perspective. Jesus calls our eyes “lamps” for our bodies, and with this in mind, if we focus on things that are positive and uplifting, then we will have a positive and uplifting outlook on life. In a similar way, if we focus on negative or unhealthy things, then we will have a negative and unhealthy view of life.

However, when we know how powerful our perspective and focus are, are we the healthiest we can be when we exclusively focus on the good while shunning all the bad – or is this simply a recipe for becoming naïve?

In this passage, healthy eyes are contrasted with “eyes that cannot see well”. This isn’t the same as being blind, but it is one way of saying that our eyes become blind to certain things. I wonder if someone who turns a blind eye to the negatives around them is just as guilty of having unhealthy eyes as the person who cannot see the positives in any situation. In each case, the person’s eyes are blind to the other person’s perspective.

If this is the case, then perhaps the healthiest plan forward is to train our eyes to show us the good and the bad. If we begin to see more bad than good, challenge yourself to shift your focus onto looking for more good, and this could include reading the Bible for encouragement and inspiration or simply turning off negative or draining media. Another idea/challenge to stop seeing the negative sides of reality is to step outside our doors and look for someone we can help who is in need. Helping others lifts our spirits.

Our lives are a mix of the positives and negatives, and the healthiest we can be is when we choose to open our eyes to both sides of life, focus on the positive, and where possible, find ways to help, accept, or change the negatives into positives.

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Flashback Episode — Being Forgiven: Luke 5:17-26

Published March 10, 2025 in Audio Journal Entries

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As we continue moving through Luke’s gospel, we come to an event, specifically a miracle, where it appears as though Jesus uses this event to prove a point. However, this event does more than simply prove a point that most Christians currently believe today. In this event, we discover just how powerful faith in Jesus is and we discover something amazing about who Jesus was.

Our event and passage for this episode is found in Luke’s gospel, chapter 5, and we will read it using the Contemporary English Version of the Bible. Starting in verse 17, Luke tells us that:

¹⁷One day some Pharisees and experts in the Law of Moses sat listening to Jesus teach. They had come from every village in Galilee and Judea and from Jerusalem.

God had given Jesus the power to heal the sick, ¹⁸and some people came carrying a crippled man on a mat. They tried to take him inside the house and put him in front of Jesus. ¹⁹But because of the crowd, they could not get him to Jesus. So they went up on the roof, where they removed some tiles and let the mat down in the middle of the room.

²⁰When Jesus saw how much faith they had, he said to the crippled man, “My friend, your sins are forgiven.”

²¹The Pharisees and the experts began arguing, “Jesus must think he is God! Only God can forgive sins.”

²²Jesus knew what they were thinking, and he said, “Why are you thinking that? ²³Is it easier for me to tell this crippled man that his sins are forgiven or to tell him to get up and walk? ²⁴But now you will see that the Son of Man has the right to forgive sins here on earth.” Jesus then said to the man, “Get up! Pick up your mat and walk home.”

²⁵At once the man stood up in front of everyone. He picked up his mat and went home, giving thanks to God. ²⁶Everyone was amazed and praised God. What they saw surprised them, and they said, “We have seen a great miracle today!”

In this event, three big ideas jump off the page at me.

First, it is amazing in my mind how Luke describes Jesus meeting this crippled man. Verse 20 describes this moment for us by saying, “When Jesus saw how much faith they [referring to this man’s friends] had, he said to the crippled man…”

While we are quick to jump to the message Jesus shared with the crippled man regarding this man’s forgiveness, it is very easy to skip over the detail that Luke alludes to. This man didn’t have significant faith in Jesus. Instead, this man’s friends had the unstoppable faith that, one way or another, they would get their friend in front of Jesus.

This is significant for us to pay attention to because it tells us that our faith can impact the lives of unbelievers around us. This man’s friends, while they were not receiving much of any personal benefit from carrying their crippled friend to Jesus, made a huge impact on the crippled man’s life. This miracle happened entirely because this man’s friends had faith in Jesus!

Second, when we look at Jesus’ message, the reaction of the religious leaders, and then at the miracle that happened, we are left to conclude something powerful. If Jesus had spoken outside of God’s will, God would not have allowed the man to be healed. Because of this, Jesus’ teaching was validated by God regardless of whether the religious leaders believed Jesus had the power or authority that He claimed to have.

This detail is significant for us to pay attention to because sometimes God will validate a message He sends with a miracle. However, don’t expect this to be God’s default method. In the gospels, this might be the only time Jesus uses a miracle to prove a spiritual point. In every other case I can think of right now, the miracles were given to help people and to cause people to pay attention. Once people were paying attention, Jesus then teaches a message that stood on its own.

Regardless of whether you believe Jesus’ message here, I don’t believe God would have let this man be healed if this teaching negatively impacted the impression those present had of God.

The third big idea I see in this passage comes in what Jesus’ key idea is. While Jesus does ultimately claim the right to forgive sins, this is not the key piece of His message. The key part of Jesus’ message is that this man’s sins were forgiven. Luke writes Jesus’ words in verse 20, saying, “My friend, your sins are forgiven.”

Looking at the details of what is said and what isn’t said here, Jesus does not say, “My friend, I forgive your sins” even though Jesus potentially could have said this. While the way the Pharisees and religious leaders respond seems to appear that they heard Jesus directly forgiving sins, Jesus’ message to this crippled man was one that assured him that his sins were forgiven.

From the earlier details that Luke includes, Jesus saw faith in the actions of this man’s friends. Luke does not indicate this crippled man had any faith. From the context of the message of forgiveness Jesus shared with this man, part of me wonders and could logically conclude this man believed God was punishing him for some sin in his past, and because of this sin, there was no hope that God loved him enough to heal him. The man’s friends had faith in Jesus’ healing ability, but this man doubted that God even wanted him to be healed. If God was punishing this man for a sin in his past, there would have been no way for Jesus to heal him against God’s will!

Jesus’ message to this man was not, “I forgive your sins”; Jesus’ message to this man was that his sins were forgiven. God was not holding a grudge against this man and punishing him by keeping him crippled. Instead, God loved this man enough that He led four friends to carry this man to Jesus, and to not be discouraged or give up when a crowd was not interested in letting them through.

Jesus ultimately does challenge those present regarding His authority to forgive sins, but the bigger message here is that Jesus came to assure us that our sins have already been forgiven and that God is not angry with us. God loves us and that is the entire reason why Jesus came to this world! God loves you and me and Jesus came to help us understand just how much God loves humanity!

As we come to the end of another podcast episode, here are the challenges I will leave you with:

As I always challenge you to do, intentionally seek God first in your life and choose to accept that He has forgiven you of your sins. Accept this truth through what Jesus came to this world to accomplish. Choose to place your faith, hope, trust, and belief in Jesus and His sacrifice for you and me on our behalf.

Also, continue praying and studying the Bible for yourself to learn and grow closer to God. Through prayer and Bible study, discover just how much God loves you and I and discover what He was willing to give to redeem us from being trapped in sin. Don’t let your relationship with God be based on the opinions of others. Study out God’s truth for yourself from the Bible to discover what God wants you to learn from His Word.

And as I end every set of challenges by saying in one way or another, never stop short of, back away from, chicken out of, or doubt yourself out of where God wants to lead you to in your life with Him!

Flashback Episode: Year in Luke – Episode 10: When four men carry their crippled friend to Jesus, discover how Jesus turns this potential miracle into a challenging and eye-opening teaching moment. Discover how this event and miracle are amazingly relevant for our lives today!

Missing the Signs: Mark 8:11-13

Published March 7, 2025 in Written Journal Entries

Focus Passage: Mark 8:11-13 (NASB)

Part way through Jesus’ ministry, Mark’s gospel describes a time where some Pharisees come to Jesus and test Him by demanding a sign. While Jesus responds to a similar scenario in Matthew’s gospel by pointing forward to a sign, in the event we find in Mark’s gospel, we see a different response from Jesus.

Mark tells us that one of the times Jesus was pressured to perform a miraculous sign from heaven, “Sighing deeply in His spirit, He said, ‘Why does this generation seek for a sign? Truly I say to you, no sign will be given to this generation.’” (v. 12)

After answering this demand, Jesus simply gets into the boat and crosses to the other side of the lake.

It is profound to think about how Mark describes Jesus’ reaction. Mark tells us first that Jesus “sighed deeply in His spirit”. This is significant to think about because we can imagine in our mind’s eye Jesus letting out a long, deep sigh as the weight and implications of the request hits Him.

However, what Jesus says when He ultimately answers the challenge is amazing. The Pharisees are demanding a sign so that they can know if He is from God, and Jesus denies their request while grouping them with their entire generation.

What is incredible to think about is that while Jesus refused to give these leaders a clear sign like what they were wanting, the generation they were in was the one that received most of the signs. To those who were paying attention, almost every prophecy was being fulfilled in one way or another through Jesus’ life, and while many prophecies focused on His death, those paying attention could clearly see God moving powerfully through Jesus’ life and ministry. In a strange almost ironic twist, those living in that generation missed seeing what every other generation wished they could have been present to witness!

Jesus refuses to give that generation a sign because they were closed to the idea that God was already giving signs all around them. If these religious people were not perceptive enough to recognize the signs God had already given, no miraculous sign from heaven would be enough to convince them Jesus was sent from God.

If we demand God prove Himself to us through specific signs, we are likely to be disappointed. However, if we look for signs that He is moving in the world around us, we will have more than enough evidence that He exists and that He loves each of us!

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