Key Thought

The warning in the previous verses and the Good News in this verse don’t seem to go together, do they? Hmm, how do they fit together? When everlasting life and eternal destruction are the options, to reject the Good News about Jesus is to choose destruction. Each of the Gospels (Matthew, Mark, Luke, and John) emphasizes the radical nature of the choice we must make about the Kingdom of God and the coming of Jesus. Jesus is Good News. Jesus brings Good News. Jesus insures Good News. However, if we reject Jesus and the call of the Kingdom of God, we must hear the warnings of that choice. In a world like ours, where few want ultimate choices and the vast majority resents having to deal with lasting consequences for moral and spiritual choices, John the Baptist's preaching still has a penetrating, an invigorating, and for some, an irritating, echo. Like it or not, Jesus confronts us with a decision about who will rule our lives. The choice we make means everything!

Today's Prayer

Today's Verses in Context

The people asked John, "What should we do?" John answered, "If you have two shirts, share with the person that does not have one. If you have food, share that too." Even the tax collectors came to John. They wanted to be baptized. They said to John, "Teacher, what should we do?" John said to them, "Don't take more taxes from people than you have been ordered to take." The soldiers asked John, "What about us? What should we do?" John said to them, "Don't use force or lies to make people give you money. Be happy with the pay you get." All the people were hoping {for the Christ to come}, and they wondered about John. They thought, "Maybe he is the Christ." John answered everyone, "I baptize you in water, but there is a person coming later who can do more than I can. I am not good enough to untie his shoes for him. He will baptize you with the Holy Spirit and with fire. He will come ready to clean the grain. He will separate the good grain from the straw. He will put the good part of the grain into his barn. Then he will burn the part that is not good. He will burn it with a fire that cannot be stopped." And John continued to tell the Good News, saying many other things to help the people. (John criticized Governor Herod. John criticized Herod for the bad thing he did with Herodias, the wife of Herod's brother. John also criticized Herod for the many other bad things Herod did. So Herod did another bad thing: He put John in jail. This was added to all the other bad things Herod did.)

— Luke 3:10-20 (ERV)

Comments on "Warnings and Good News?":

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