February 3rd

Recommitment

The Spirit of the LORD is upon Me, because he has anointed Me to preach the gospel to the poor; He has sent Me to heal the brokenhearted, to proclaim liberty to the captives and recovery of sight to the blind, to set at liberty those who are oppressed; to proclaim the acceptable year of the LORD.’ … And He began to say to them, Today this Scripture is fulfilled in your hearing.’ Luke 4:18-19,21

Have you ever put the wrong foot forward? You might say that Jesus did, at least if you look at the way He introduced His ministry.

Our verses for today tell us what Jesus said when He announced His ministry to His hometown of Nazareth. He went on from there to talk about times when God sent His prophets to gentiles because no one would receive them in Israel. The people responded by chasing Jesus out of town to throw Him off a cliff, only to have Him walk right through them and continue in ministry.

You can easily imagine an older man sitting next to Jesus giving Him an elbow, saying, You’d better keep your mouth shut, young man. You don’t understand what you’re saying!

But we all know that would be bad advice, wouldn’t it? There is a lot of bad advice out there when it comes to marriage, but God has some good advice for us today that will help us. First, you don’t have to be married to be faithful to your marriage. Begin today to pray for your spouse, whether you’re already married or not, and set yourself to remain pure for them in heart and body. Remember, the price you pay for your purity is the value of what you give your spouse-don’t cheapen it by giving yourself away early or letting yourself stray from your vows. Second, who you are right now is what you bring to your marriage. Jesus didn’t try to disguise who He was to be accepted in His hometown church; He was genuine. We need to be genuine, too. Marriage does not change us. Transitions in life change us. Change changes us.

But we need to let Jesus change us into who He created us to be.

Third, look to Jesus for the things He proclaimed in these verses. All of us need some-

thing here, and any of these things keeps us from the life and marriage God desires for us. Follow this advice and it will make not only your marriage stronger, but your life better.

Prayer Lord Jesus,

Thank You for the incredible things You do for us! Please come and do what You spoke in my life so that I can be the best person and spouse, living the best life, just as You created me to be.

Amen