The book of Luke begins with stories featuring three feminine figures; Elizabeth, Mary and Anna. We shouldn’t be surprised by this since Luke records more stories of women than any of the other gospels. In fact, throughout Luke’s gospel, the ratio of women to men featured in stories is about one to one. This is remarkable considering comparable literature from that time period, where featuring a woman was nearly unheard of.

Luke also began his gospel with some incredible words that should fill us with confidence. After noting that many other people were also writing accounts about Jesus, Luke wrote, “It seemed good to me also having had perfect understanding of all things from the very first, to write to you an orderly account (Luke 1:3).” Luke then wrote the books Luke and Acts; ¼ of the entire New Testament by word count.

As far as we know, Luke did not receive a bolt of lightning and a booming voice from Heaven telling him to begin writing. He simply realized that God had gifted him with a valuable and unique experience and writing down a truthful account of the life of Jesus seemed like a good idea at the time. It turned out to be a large portion of our cannon.

Isn’t that exciting?!? So often we wonder if the ministry that we do actually makes a difference. Does anybody notice? Does it matter? Luke should remind us that when we are doing what we are positioned to do in life, using the gifts and opportunities that we have for the glory of God, it yields spiritual fruit.

We may never see the full fruit of our service. Luke didn’t. As far as he knew he writing a letter to Theophilus and that was the end of it. God did more than he could have imagined. God is pleased by our obedience whether it is rocking babies in the church nursery, packing shoe boxes for children we will never meet, or picking-up the sanctuary after services. God has a way of multiplying our effort in surprising ways.

(For those who have missed any of the previous lessons, you can go to https://comethirstyministry.com/blog/ and view all previous postings.)

Week Thirty-Five

Day 1: Mark 16:1-20 (Women at the Resurrection)
Day 2: Luke 1:1-25 (Elizabeth)
Day 3: Luke 1:26-56 (Mary and Elizabeth)
Day 4: Luke 1:57-80 (Elizabeth)
Day 5: Luke 2:1-20 (Mary)