From the Life-Study of Luke - Not Reading the Bible Superficially

     The dictionary defines superficial as being concerned with comprehending only what is on the surface.  Yesterday I was reading  Chapter 77 in the Life-Study of Luke, and Witness Lee was sharing about not reading the Bible superficially.  His speaking on page 649 spoke me:

 "Recently, while I was having a time with the Lord, I realized that we all need the Lord's mercy.  We may have never seen into the depths of the truths that are revealed in the Bible.  Rather, we may often read the Bible in a very superficial way.  We do not go below the surface to see what is in the depths" (Lee, Witness. Life-Study of Luke. Anaheim: Living Stream Ministry, 1984, Print). 

   As I was thinking about reading the Bible superficially, I  remembered something I had read earlier this week on Psalms 119.  There was a reference in The Ministry of the Word magazine to Deuteronomy 17:18-20.  You can see from this verse that superficiality matters to God-- "When he sits on the throne of his kingdom, he shall write out for himself a copy of this law in a book, ... and it shall be with him, and he shall read in it all the days of his life...."  Back then the law was the first five books of the Old Testament.  Take a look at those five books--that's a lot of writing!  Think about how much time it would take to write out all those chapters.

    You can tell by reading through the accounts of the kings that not all of the kings were benefited from doing this.  I think the answer to why is given especially in Psalm 119.  You can really see in the 176 verses of this psalm that the  psalmist loved both God and His  word with his entire heart.  This love caused the psalmist to muse on God's word.  Psalm 119:97 says, Oh, how I love Your law!/ All day long it is my musing.  In Hebrew musing means to carefully consider.  This speaking has reminded me of the importance of reflecting on God's word. What touches me from all this is how we come to God's word matters! 


Other blogs on the Life Study of Luke:

You can listen to excerpts from the Life Study of Luke along with excellent commentary by tuning into the Life Study of the Bible with Witness Lee.

What Kind of Savior is Revealed in the Gospel of Luke?
Have You Seen Jesus the Friend of Sinners in Luke 5?
Who Did the Samaritan Find on His Journey in Luke 10:33-37?
Why is Persistent Prayer Important in Luke 18:1-8?
A Great Gospel Illustration - How is Man Like a Glove?
From the Life-Study of Luke - Not Reading the BIble Superficially

A Great Gospel Illustration - How is Man Like a Glove?

     Have you ever thought that man is a lot like a glove?  That may be a bit of a stretch for your imagination.  But you need to look at it this way--a glove is made in the image of a hand with the purpose of containing a hand.  Its very image declares that it has a purpose. Something has to fit it!

When I was talking to a college student in February this classic illustration was in the tract  that I was reading with her.  I told her, let’s say you saw a glove but you couldn't figure out its use so you put it on your ear or on your foot.  You’d think that was pretty silly, right?

    Of course, she got it.  It's a no brainer. The very design of a glove tells you something must match it. 

    Then I told  her  what Genesis 1:26 says     And God said, Let Us make man in Our image, according to Our likeness….  Before we received the Lord, we probably didn’t get that we were made in the image of God to contain God; I know I didn't.  Sometimes I don’t know why we fight it so hard. 

    We try to fill our “glove” with a job, education, a relationship, a new sport, a better car—the list is endless.  The fact is we were made in the image of God, and nothing will satisfy us until we contain God!    I smiled when Chelsea told me that she had never heard it explained like that before.

      In Chapter 58 of the Life-Study of Luke that I read yesterday Witness Lee spoke about how the glove is such a good illustration because the glove is meaningless and empty without the hand: 

 “If a glove is not filled with the hand, the glove will be empty.  The hand is both the content and reality of the glove…We may say that we are a “glove” designed to contain God as our content and reality...Human love for example is a shell that should contain the divine love”  (Lee, Witness. Life-Study of Luke. Anaheim: Living Stream Ministry, 1984, Print).  

 When we receive the Lord, He is  finally able to express Himself through our human virtues.  God designed us this way--do you not find that amazing? 
  I have always loved this quote of Augustine's about God's creation of man-- 

You have made us, O Lord, for yourself, 

and our heart is restless until it rests in You. 

Blog Update 7/30/13:  As I was listening to this song called There's a Gospel of Today on Youtube, it made me think of how the Gospel of Luke shows the Savior God reaching man in love.

Other blogs on the Life Study of Luke:

You can listen to excerpts from the Life Study of Luke along with excellent commentary by tuning into the Life Study of the Bible with Witness Lee.

What Kind of Savior is Revealed in the Gospel of Luke?
Have You Seen Jesus the Friend of Sinners in Luke 5?
Who Did the Samaritan Find on His Journey in Luke 10:33-37?
Why is Persistent Prayer Important in Luke 18:1-8?
A Great Gospel Illustration - How is Man Like a Glove?
From the Life-Study of Luke - Not Reading the BIble Superficially

Why is Persistent Prayer Important in Luke 18:1-8?

     Persistence means to hold firmly and steadfastly to a purpose or undertaking despite obstacles (The American Heritage Dictionary).  I often see this  trait in athletes who are training for a competition or  in people who are learning a subject that doesn't come easily to them.  


Our nephew won; he is the third one from the right.

   Have you ever thought of persistence in relation to prayer?  Yesterday I read Chapter 40 of the  Life-Study of Luke  on  Luke 18, and in this message Witness Lee shares that  the parable of the widow shows the need for persistence in prayer.  This is on page 350:

"In this parable the Lord indicates that the believers in Christ have an opponent.  This opponent is Satan the Devil, concerning whom we need God's avenging...What shall we do in a situation when we are persecuted and it seems that our God is not living, present, or just?  From this parable we learn to be a bothering widow, one who prays to God persistently" (Lee, Witness. Life-Study of Luke. Anaheim: Living Stream Ministry, 1984, Print). 

     This parable has baffled me at times. It perplexes me that the Lord would portray Himself as someone who appears like He's not listening to us.   It just didn't seem fair to me.    This Life Study of Luke has really been a comfort to me because it helped me to see that God's silence is actually training us to pray persistently in faith.  I have been very encouraged in my own prayer by these verses in this parable:  

Luke 18: 7- 8 And will not God by all means carry out the avenging of His chosen ones, who cry to Him day and night, though He is long-suffering over them?  I tell you that He will carry out their avenging quickly.  Nevertheless, when the Son of Man comes, will He find faith on the earth?     

 I am learning to pray persistently, and it's not always  easy.  Sometimes I want to give up. My reading of this message was very timely; it came on a day when I needed to hear don't give up! 


Other blogs on the Life Study of Luke:

You can listen to excerpts from the Life-Study of Luke along with excellent commentary by tuning into the Life Study of the Bible with Witness Lee.

What Kind of Savior is Revealed in the Gospel of Luke?
Have You Seen Jesus the Friend of Sinners in Luke 5?
Who Did the Samaritan Find on His Journey in Luke 10:33-37?
Why is Persistent Prayer Important in Luke 18:1-8?
A Great Gospel Illustration - How is Man Like a Glove?
From the Life-Study of Luke - Not Reading the Bible Superficially

Who did the Samaritan Find on His Journey in Luke 10:33-37?

     Who is the man laying on the side of the road in the story of the Samaritan in Luke 10?   Most of the time it seems people use this story to stress the importance of being compassionate to others. That is very necessary, but I enjoyed the insight that Witness Lee brought to this portion of the word in the Chapter 25 of the Life-Study of Luke: 

“The Savior intended to unveil to him [the lawyer He was speaking with] through this story that he was condemned to death under the law [signified by the Levite who passed by him v. 31], unable to take care of himself, … and that the Man Savior was the one who would love him and render him full salvation” (Lee, Witness. Life-Study of Luke. Anaheim: Living Stream Ministry, 1984, Print).

     In this Life-Study I was touched to see that the Savior is the journeying Samaritan seeking for beat up sinners like us.  It touched me to see from my reading that  it's not so much about what we can do for others but what the Lord can do for us. His compassion  is far reaching because it has found each one of us.  As such a compassionate Man-Savior, He continually binds up our wounds and encourages our fellow believers to take care of us. 

Other blogs on the Life Study of Luke:

You can listen to excerpts from the Life Study of Luke along with excellent commentary by tuning into the Life Study of the Bible with Witness Lee.

What Kind of Savior is Revealed in the Gospel of Luke?
Have You Seen Jesus the Friend of Sinners in Luke 5?
Who Did the Samaritan Find on His Journey in Luke 10:33-37?
Why is Persistent Prayer Important in Luke 18:1-8?
A Great Gospel Illustration - How is Man Like a Glove?
From the Life-Study of Luke - Not Reading the Bible Superficially

Have You Seen Jesus the Friend of Sinners in Luke 5?

     Would you touch a leper? Would you eat dinner with the most despised person in your city? Would you let a sinful woman massage your feet with ointment? Jesus did. Most of the time the Pharisees and the scribes accused the Lord of breaking the Jewish rituals because He did all these things. What was the Lord’s point in doing this? As I’ve been reading the Life Studies of Luke I’ve been keeping track of these accounts.


Touching the Leper -  When the Lord touched the leper in Luke 5:12-13, you can see His deep sympathy–this was His human virtue that was full of divinity. Then when Jesus healed this man, He wanted people to see that He was there as the very God.

Calling Matthew - Then the Lord purposely chose Matthew who was a despised tax collector for the Roman government (Luke 5:27-39).   Once again the Lord’s human virtue shines out. He speaks to a person everyone hates, and not only that He calls him to be His follower. Do you see the Lord’s human virtue here? The Lord’s divine attribute of mercy in choosing Matthew touches all of our hearts. If the Lord can call Matthew, then He can call me, and He can call you.


Forgiving the Sinful Woman - The story of the woman who cried as she anointed the Lord’s feet and wiped them with her hair (Luke 7:36-50) is very touching. Simon didn’t get it, and his complaint showed that he didn’t think the Lord should let that woman touch Him.
But the Lord as the incarnated God shows in this account His tender affection for a sinner. And when He says “her sins which are many are forgiven” (v. 47), we can see He is indeed the very God who alone can forgive man’s sins. It deeply touches me that our Savior was willing to touch the leper, eat with the despised, and allow a sinner to cry at His feet.  



Other blogs on the Life Study of Luke:

You can listen to excerpts from the Life Study of Acts along with excellent commentary by tuning into the Life Study of the Bible with Witness Lee.

What Kind of Savior is Revealed in the Gospel of Luke?
Have You Seen Jesus the Friend of Sinners in Luke 5?
Who Did the Samaritan Find on His Journey in Luke 10:33-37?
Why is Persistent Prayer Important in Luke 18:1-8?
A Great Gospel Illustration - How is Man Like a Glove?
From the Life-Study of Luke - Not Reading the Bible Superficially

What Kind of Savior is Revealed in the Gospel of Luke?

     Have you ever compared the genealogy in Matthew to the one in Luke 3?  You'll notice how different they are.   One of the footnotes in the Recovery Version of the New Testament explains why:

    "... The genealogy of Luke's Gospel, the gospel of the Man-Savior, begins from man and traces back to God (vv. 23, 38), stressing Christ's humanity to affirm His human-divine status."

 In the first message of  the Life-study of Luke, I liked Witness Lee's description on page 8 about the Lord's human and divine natures: 

 "The make-up of the Man-Savior's being, His constitution, is a composition of the divine attributes and the human virtues.  How marvelous that there could be One in this universe with such a composition " (Lee, Witness. Life-Study of Luke. Anaheim: Living Stream Ministry, 1984, Print).

    This reminded me of a message I was listening to a few weeks ago on the book of Hebrews.  It spoke of how the Lord was willing to be born as a man and made like us in all respects so that He could become a faithful High Priest.  The very God who is our Savior also knows what it's like to be human! 

     He can sympathize with us; He understands our weaknesses and shortages. It's not like He's standing aloof in some golden chariot; He is right there in the thick of our lives bearing us on His heart and caring for us with tender compassion. I'm so thankful that this is the Savior revealed to us in the Gospel of Luke. 

Blog Update 7/25/13:  I heard a song today on Youtube that reminded me of this blog on Luke.  It's called Jesus Christ You are the Man Savior. 

Blog Update 8/15/15:  Today I heard a video clip on Bibles for America's website called Who is Jesus?  It explains how Jesus is both divine and human.

Other blogs on the Life Study of Luke:

You can listen to excerpts from the Life Study of Luke along with excellent commentary by tuning into the Life Study of the Bible with Witness Lee.

What Kind of Savior is Revealed in the Gospel of Luke?
Have You Seen Jesus the Friend of Sinners in Luke 5?
Who Did the Samaritan Find on His Journey in Luke 10:33-37?
Why is Persistent Prayer Important in Luke 18:1-8?
A Great Gospel Illustration - How is Man Like a Glove?
From the Life-Study of Luke - Not Reading the Bible Superficially