Mon. 11/20/17 Devotion (Lk. 4:20)

Today's encouragement comes from Luke 4:20, where we read these words:

"Then He [Jesus] closed the book, and gave it back to the attendant and sat down. And the eyes of all who were in the synagogue were fixed on Him."

In this world, the best time for the people of God to collectively gaze upon Jesus intently is in church on Sunday—especially during the sermon, the sacrament, and prayer. In today's text (above), the Lord Jesus is keeping the old now-abrogated Sabbath (Saturday). The citizens of Nazareth are, too. They have heard the written Word of God read (by Christ), and now the Mes-siah is about to expound on it, through preaching. As He does so, the con-gregants are all locked-in on the Redeemer.

This is a good pattern for all who would be Christ's followers today. Let *us* "fix our eyes on Jesus," (as per Heb. 12:2a). Then, upon leaving church, let us love and follow the Savior, (rather than seek to throw Him off a cliff, as the Nazarenes had hoped to do).

[Puritan quote of the day: "Christ is called grace. He is the grace of God clothed with man's nature.” —Richard Sibbes, in, "Glorious Freedom"]