Luke 12:35-40 An Extraordinary Waiter
Format for Your Devotions
Instructions: Do not read my example devotion until you have completed your own devotional time in the scriptures. Reading my thoughts first may limit your own understanding. Let the Holy Spirit speak to you alone before looking to see what anyone else has to say, whether it is me, a Bible commentary, or a friend. Let God speak to you before you let another person speak to you. I have provided a format, but modify it to fit your needs. For example, I usually combine my application and prayer together talking to God about the application to my own life. You can go through this devotion process mentally, speaking out loud, or in writing as you wish. Don’t worry if you are not following this process exactly. Sometimes, I add extra information and sometimes I emphasize one part more than others. However, you should always think about what you learn about God from this passage.
Step 1: Pray–Ask for the Holy Spirit’s guidance first of all and that God may reveal the lessons that He wants you to have that day. Request that God protect you from Satan’s distractions (and the devil will try to distract you whether it is pinching the baby or putting you to sleep). Ask to see God more clearly as you read and think about the passage.
Step 2: Read the passage–Read to get an overview of the information first. Then start looking at specific parts after the first reading. You may read a larger or smaller section than I have here because you do not have to follow my organization at all.
Step 3: Understand the passage–You can summarize, ask and answer your own questions about the passage, visualize the story, analyze the characters, and relate this passage to other scriptures and personal experiences.
Step 4: What does this reveal about God?–What do you learn about the Father, Son, and/or Holy Spirit from this passage?
Step 5: Apply this to your own life.
Step 6: Prayer
My Example Devotion: September 13, 2018 Luke 12:35-40
Note: In the devotion examples, I leave my questions and thought processes in the text because I am trying to demonstrate that a devotional time is a dialogue with God about what you are reading from His word. As such, any questions or ideas that you have should be explored by talking it out with God. These example devotions are not my attempts to teach you what the meaning of a particular scripture is. They are an attempt to teach you the process of devotions, which is a combination of prayer and Bible study where you explore ideas with God as you read His word.
“Stay dressed for action and keep your lamps burning, and be like men who are waiting for their master to come home from the wedding feast, so that they may open the door to him at once when he comes and knocks. Blessed are those servants whom the master finds awake when he comes. Truly, I say to you, he will dress himself for service and have them recline at table, and he will come and serve them. If he comes in the second watch, or in the third, and finds them awake, blessed are those servants! But know this, that if the master of the house had known at what hour the thief was coming, he would not have left his house to be broken into. You also must be ready, for the Son of Man is coming at an hour you do not expect.”
(Understanding the Text) Dressed for action: When I come home from work, the first thing I do is to change my clothes to my relaxing house clothes. However, when I think that I am going to need to leave soon, I leave my work clothes on. I understand what this is saying about staying dressed for action. It means that I believe that I am going to need to be ready to leave at a moment’s notice. I shouldn’t get too relaxed and comfy in this world, i.e. settle in to the couch of this world, because I need to be ready to leave as soon as Jesus gets here. In the case of Jesus’ day, not being dressed for action probably meant naked or minimal clothing, so they would be even more unprepared for action.
Keep your lamps burning: This one’s a little harder for me to relate to, but I think it’s like keeping the outside light on so that the visitor can find the house easily. The visitor in this case is the master, not a guest. He is at a party, so they do not know whether he will come home early or stay out really late.
(Revelation of God) Most of the first part is predictable and normal, but then Jesus says something strange. He says that the reward for being awake and prepared for the Master’s return is that the Master will become the servant. He will have his servants sit at the table in comfort and He Himself will serve food to them. The servants switch places with the Master at dinner. This is difficult for me to grasp the significance of, maybe because I have never been a servant. However, this does show that God thinks nothing of condescending to serve those who should be serving Him. He is without pride and arrogance.
Jesus seems to imply that the coming will be greatly delayed by saying how blessed the servants will be if the master comes in the second or third watch. He seems to be saying that His return will appear delayed and come at a very late hour.
(Understanding the Text) The strange twists continue as Jesus compares humans to the masters of the house and Jesus to the thief. Jesus is speaking here about the hour of His coming while His listeners see Him right there in front of them. That must have been confusing to them. What hour of His coming? When was He leaving so that He could come? Now, it seems obvious to us, but not to Jesus’ first listeners. Jesus said that He was coming at an hour that I do not expect. That implies to me that no matter how much we study prophecy, there will be unexpected components so that we cannot simply count down the signs until Jesus comes.
(Application) My application to myself is to keep awake in the morning when I am studying my Bible!!!! I keep falling asleep. My wider application to myself is to not lose faith when Jesus’ coming seems far away because my job is to stay awake and be prepared for His coming. On the other hand, this is not stressful like waiting for a guest’s arrival since preparing for Jesus’ coming involves getting to know Him now. My other application is to not be surprised when everything turns topsy turvy when Jesus gets involved. Just as the Master will become the servant, everything God gets involved in works outside of my worldly expectations.
(Prayer) Keep me awake and prepared for Your coming. I want You to find me with Your house prepared for Your return.