inspiring :: encouraging :: challenging :: fulfilling
southside|church
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PO Box 4993
Lafayette, IN 47903
Pastor Jeff: 765.404.0807
Meeting at The Long Center for the Performing Arts in downtown Lafayette on the corner of 6th and Columbia every Sunday at 10:30 am.
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Pastor Jeff's Blog
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“If you love those who love you, what credit is that to you? Even ’sinners’ love those who love them. And if you do good to those who are good to you, what credit is that to you? Even ’sinners’ do that. And if you lend to those from whom you expect repayment, what credit is that to you? Even ’sinners’ lend to ’sinners,’ expecting to be repaid in full. But love your enemies, do good to them, and lend to them without expecting to get anything back. Then your reward will be great, and you will be sons of the Most High, because he is kind to the ungrateful and wicked. Be merciful, just as your Father is merciful.
“Do not judge, and you will not be judged. Do not condemn, and you will not be condemned. Forgive, and you will be forgiven. Give, and it will be given to you. A good measure, pressed down, shaken together and running over, will be poured into your lap. For with the measure you use, it will be measured to you.”
He also told them this parable: “Can a blind man lead a blind man? Will they not both fall into a pit? A student is not above his teacher, but everyone who is fully trained will be like his teacher.
“Why do you look at the speck of sawdust in your brother’s eye and pay no attention to the plank in your own eye? How can you say to your brother, ‘Brother, let me take the speck out of your eye,’ when you yourself fail to see the plank in your own eye? You hypocrite, first take the plank out of your eye, and then you will see clearly to remove the speck from your brother’s eye.
“No good tree bears bad fruit, nor does a bad tree bear good fruit. Each tree is recognized by its own fruit. People do not pick figs from thornbushes, or grapes from briers. The good man brings good things out of the good stored up in his heart, and the evil man brings evil things out of the evil stored up in his heart. For out of the overflow of his heart his mouth speaks. — Luke 6:27-45
Instructions:
- Read the passage
- Read the devotional
- Spend time in prayer
- Leave a comment
Last night, I went to my daughter’s graduation from preschool, and the program had all the students in the preschool up on stage performing songs and poems for the parents. It was a cute program and there were many parents in the audience who were bleary eyed from tears as their dear little ones said poems about how wonderful preschool has been even though they love their parents more. I was totally focused on my own daughter of course, and I bet there is a lesson in there about how God pays attention to us, but the lesson I’m focusing on today came from something that happened later on in the evening.
Each of the graduating “seniors” wore a robe and a mortarboard hat complete with tassel and they walked across a bridge to symbolize their passage from preschool into school, but as they crossed the bridge, their teacher had them stop in the middle. They were supposed to say their name, their age, what school they would be going to, and what they wanted to be when the grew up. Their teacher would then announce the special award they had won, flip the tassel, and then allow them to finish crossing.
None of them did it that way, however. My daughter, usually so confident and bold, wouldn’t say a word as she stood on that bridge, and when I talked to her afterward, she told me that she was just afraid of having all those people stare at her.
This week, we have been thinking about fear and how faith in Jesus can alleviate fear. We have been looking at a number of passages that address our fears. But there’s one fear that many people have that we haven’t addressed. It’s the fear of public speaking.
Now, why would I even bring up public speaking today? Why would I bring up public speaking in the context of the passage you just read? It’s all because I realized something today about public speaking that directly connects with this passage. Let’s see if I can explain this. Public speaking is an example of interpersonal relationship on a mass scale, and the fear of public speaking is the fear of relationship problems multiplied by the number of people in the room!
I think every one of us has the fear of relationship problems, confrontation, forgiveness, dealing with difficult people, but in this passage, Jesus tells us the secret of responding to all relationship issues. Love the other person regardless of how they feel about you or how they treat you. In other words, biblical relationships are not a two-way street but a one way street as far as you are concerned. Your only concern in any relationship is what YOU can do to represent God and show love.
So here’s the end of this rather long devotional. The fear of public speaking evidenced by my five year old daughter and many other people in this world is simply a symptom of our realization that human relationships are difficult and complex, and something about them causes fear in us mostly because we are afraid of the unknown and potentially negative response of those other people. But according to Jesus, concern for their response is completely irrelevant to doing things right. Our concern is not for their response but for whether we have actually shown love. However they respond is frankly up to them.
BIG IDEA: Be concerned with how much love you show, and not fear how people respond.
The photo, by the way, is from another pastor’s blog article on stage fright.
One Response to “Luke 6:27-45”
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Dear Pastor Jeff,
I loved your post on fear of public speaking! I am a coach who specializes in stage fright and fear of public speaking. I have written a few posts to say that love is the answer to stage fright. You have identified the issue exactly as too much focus on whether the audience will like you rather than focusing on loving and caring for the audience.
I would have left a comment on your page but did not know how to login to your blog. If you are interested in one of my posts on the subject, you can find it at http://www.self-expression.com/speaking-freely/why-i-say-love-is-the-answer-to-stage-fright-fear-of-public-speaking/.
It is lovely to see a Biblical context for understanding the issue! I often think of Jesus as the one who was most inclusive, most open to love everyone, and now I can think of him as the world’s greatest teacher for transforming stage fright.