It seemed good to me also,
having had perfect understanding of all things from the very first, to write
unto you in order, most excellent Theophilus,
We
often read the Biblical historical account of Christmas at this time of year
and pay attention to men like Herod, Joseph, the wise men, and the
Shepherds. There is much to learn from
those men, but have you ever paused to consider the important role of Matthew
and Luke in the account. They were not
present on a hillside or at the manger, but we would not have those details if
God had not inspired Matthew and Luke to record them in His word.
Luke’s words
tell us his gospel was directed to a, “most excellent Theophilus” or very
honorable lover of God. All we know from
history of this man is that he loved God!
Imagine if 2000 years from now the ONLY thing people knew of you was you
loved God. Instead, often we are like
the Jews described in Romans 3:1-2 who had the advantage of having the Scriptures
yet missed the purpose of what they had.
They missed Christ, the very One to whom the law was pointing.
Luke had
the blessing of having an accurate understanding of the events surrounding the birth
of the Christ child. Luke also understood
the responsibility and purpose of having that information. He communicated (in writing) what he
accurately understood. The end result
was that the God lover would have an accurate detailed account of the truth. Having such an account would allow Theophilus
to trust and verify what he had been hearing from the many oral accounts that
had been shared up to this point.
Luke’s gospel
demonstrates to us several important lessons.
Lesson 1: If we are to lead others, we need to
accurately understand God’s word.
Lesson 2: We need to
communicate what we accurately understand about the God we love so that those
who love God can know the truth of the God they love.
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