DCLM Daily Manna Monday 26 August 2024
TOPIC: Chasing Shadows
TEXT: Luke 12:49,50 (KJV)
49 I am come to send fire on the earth; and what will I, if it be already kindled?
50 But I have a baptism to be baptized with; and how am I straitened till it be accomplished!
KEY VERSE
“I am come to send fire on the earth; and what will I, if it be already kindled?”
Luke 12:49
DCLM Daily Manna 26 August 2024 MESSAGE
Obedience to the gospel of our Lord Jesus Christ sets men free from the shackles of sin and Satan. It shows us the right thing to do and the steps to take to get to heaven. However, rejecting Christ and His offer of salvation, by substituting righteousness with artificial religious practices can only lead to eternal perdition.
Everyone who follows this path will pay a price for their carnal pride and lust. Whoever rejects Christ is likened to someone who abandons the substance in preference for merely chasing shadows.
In our text, Jesus inferred that judgment was looming on the inhabitants of Jerusalem following their rejection of the Lord. Jesus had indicated that He needed to face a gruesome death on the cross so that humanity would be left with no excuse for rejecting His offer of salvation. This He hoped, would pull man back from the vanity of chasing the shadows of religion and philosophies of men.
READ DCLM Daily Manna Saturday 24 August 2024 – Satan’s Undoing
However, a natural man would reject Christ and His salvation plan. His utmost desire is to be free from every form of control, command and obligation. As the Scripture said about Judah and Samaria, “They rejected his statutes, and the covenant that he made with their fathers, and his testimonies which he testified against them; and they followed vanity, and became vain…” (2 Kings 17:15). Some people, in their blindness, simply reject Christ for wealth, fame, popularity, academic success and power. These are mere shadows that will perish with time.
The Lord also issued a sober warning to unbelievers who have become perpetual rejecters of Christ. Such should turn away from sin, vain pursuits and empty religious practices to escape the fearsome and fiery judgment to come on all who disobey God.
THOUGHT FOR THE DAY:
Death lurks in the shadow of the traditions of man.
BIBLE IN ONE YEAR:
Habakkuk 1-3
