Wed.’s Devo - The Afflicted Become Beautiful in Christ

Read Luke 7:11-30 The next day Jesus traveled to the city of Nain. Nain means afflicted: beautiful. That is an oxymoron so let’s see what was afflicted and how it became beautiful. As Jesus was nearing the city with his disciples, a man is being carried out dead to be buried. This man is the only son of a widow lady. Jesus was touched with compassion so he told her to stop crying. Then he reached out and touched the coffin and told the dead man to arise. He did just that, and everyone was amazed and praised God. What was afflicted became beautiful. Word spread pretty quickly throughout Judea and eventually made it to John the Baptist. John sent two of his disciples to ask Jesus if he was the Messiah. Jesus was in the middle of a miracle meeting so after they had witnessed all Jesus did, he told them to go tell John the Baptist what they had seen. The blind see, the lame walk, the lepers are cleansed, the deaf hear, the dead are raised, and the gospel is preached to the poor. All these things had been prophesied about the Messiah. This was the evidence that he was truly the sent one. When they had left, Jesus turned to the crowd and asked them why they went to hear John the Baptist speak. He was definitely not the refined priest of the synagogue. Although John was wild and crazy looking, he was a prophet with the Word of the Lord. Jesus explained that John was one of the greatest prophets, but what is coming was going to be even greater than John’s ministry. Those that had been able to accept John in all his nonconventional ways and were baptized by him were able to accept Jesus. Those that refused to accept John and be baptized, refused Jesus. John was Jesus’ forerunner. God loves to offend our flesh to speak to our spirit. That is why it takes faith to believe. It does not always make sense to our natural mind. Lord, expand our hearts to accept you and your ways which are always higher and require faith to believe.