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What was Jesus' life too short for? Answering that question makes sense of passages in which Jesus urges people to keep mum about being healed by him, or (in Matthew 16:20) about discovering his true identity. Following the Father's timetable first meant resisting going to Jerusalem (John 7:1-10), then (Luke 9:51) making it a priority.

Luke 4:42-44; 5:12-16

1. The people of Capernaum (4:31) wanted Jesus to remain as their synagogue's resident rabbi. What (4:43) was Jesus' response?
   
   
2. What (4:42; 5:16) appears to have been behind Jesus' decision to move on?
   
   
3. Jesus found it essential to lay his plans and goals out before the Father for frequent evaluation. Have you ever submitted your plans and goals to the Lord like this?
   
   
4. How (v. 43) did Jesus define the Father's calling for him at this time?
   
   
5. Why do you think Jesus told the cured leper (5:14) not to tell how he'd been healed? How could excessive demands for miraculous healings have restricted his ability to accomplish his primary goal?
   
   
6. Why do you think Luke juxtaposes reports of Jesus' mushrooming following and reputation (5:15) with his making time (5:16) for solitude?
   
   

Ask God for the insight and strength to resist being run ragged by the expectations of others or by your own misplaced priorities.

Luke 4:42-44; 5:12-16

42 Early the next morning Jesus went out to an isolated place. The crowds searched everywhere for him, and when they finally found him, they begged him not to leave them. 43 But he replied, "I must preach the Good News of the Kingdom of God in other towns, too, because that is why I was sent." 44 So he continued to travel around, preaching in synagogues throughout Judea.

12 In one of the villages, Jesus met a man with an advanced case of leprosy. When the man saw Jesus, he bowed with his face to the ground, begging to be healed. "Lord," he said, "if you are willing, you can heal me and make me clean."

13 Jesus reached out and touched him. "I am willing," he said. "Be healed!" And instantly the leprosy disappeared. 14 Then Jesus instructed him not to tell anyone what had happened. He said, "Go to the priest and let him examine you. Take along the offering required in the law of Moses for those who have been healed of leprosy. This will be a public testimony that you have been cleansed."

15 But despite Jesus' instructions, the report of his power spread even faster, and vast crowds came to hear him preach and to be healed of their diseases. 16 But Jesus often withdrew to the wilderness for prayer.

Copyright © 2008 by the author or Christianity Today International/Men of Integrity magazine.
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Prayer for the Week

I want to devote my life to Your purposes, Lord. Help me work that out in my responses to the situations I face every day.

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