Reflecting on Luke 12:35-48“He will cut him to pieces and assign him a place with the unbelievers.” (Luke 12:46)
Jesus is using the analogy of slavery, not the ideal of creation.
Slaves who did what Jesus’s analogy says would be scourged and killed.
God is love, and has no desire to torture and kill anyone.
But the God of love will not tolerate the refusal to love forever.
God’s household operates by compassion and kindness; those who refuse will lose it.
Jesus does not micro-manage how we live according to a long list of rules.
Rather Jesus calls us to love God and our neighbour.
As Jesus followers how we live affects others, positively or negatively.
Are we aiming toward selfless, other-serving love, to benefit others?
Or are we aiming toward self-serving and self-interest, to please ourselves?
“A place with the unbelievers” isn’t a chamber in creation reserved for eternal torture.
It is the final outcome of those who refuse to receive and reflect God’s love.
If loving God and others leads to life, selfish love leads to misery and death.
There is no place for selfish, self-serving love in God’s creation kingdom.
Our focus shouldn’t be on avoiding ‘hell’, but on actively pursuing Jesus-like love.
PRAYER
Lord Jesus, God's creation kingdom of love is a beautiful thing, something to delight in and eagerly pursue. Selfish love is cruel and ugly, and has no place in Your kingdom. Make me a servant of love, focused on caring for and serving those I meet each day.
As Jesus came to serve so I too need tobe a servant true, to be like Jesus unto others. I Christ’s day the followers of a rabbi was to become more like Him, being with Him 24/7. Jesus’ disciples did just that. I must do the same, becoming more like Him, walking each day with Him, serving Him, being a Jesus follower true, His servant.