Luke 11:27-28…
We are often tempted to get excited about the periphery and miss the real point. It isn’t about how wonderful and exciting our encounters and experiences are. Rather, the real point is about feeding on the Word of God and walking it out in faith. When we venerate what is less valuable, we miss the real blessing (Jeremiah 9:23-24).
Jesus used both the criticism and praise of others as an opportunity to lead people to greater truth. This woman was not a scoffer or resentful like the religious leaders. She was definitely in the amazed category. But we must move higher from there, instead of venerating Mary or the Apostles, making idols of lesser things. The real blessing was not about being in the physical line of Jesus, but in the spiritual line, and that means putting the Word of God into practice.
Jesus was not trying to put the lady down; He was trying to bring her up. To bring us to the higher plane, He has to knock us off the current platform. We have a way of thinking that makes God out to be a projection of our best feelings, instead of really understanding the revelation He has given us. Many times, when we do that, God has to give us a cold correction and it knocks the warm fuzzies right out of us. However, we should receive the correction of Jesus rather than feel condemned by it. He is knocking us off our pious platform in order to bring us higher.
In Christ we are no longer condemned (Romans 8:1), but we are corrected (Hebrews 12:5-11). Correction leads us to repentance; in other words, inspired improvement. Higher thoughts about God lead to deeper worship. Think about it.
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