I am using the daily Bible reading schedule from “The Bible.net” for my daily Bible reading.

Today, I am reading and commenting on Luke 17-18

I usually try to come up with a way to tie all of the lessons from the passage I want to write about into a coherent whole before I start writing.  Then I leave out those things which do not fit.  Today I am going to just start with the things I want to cover and see where that leads me.

Jesus told His disciples (and through them us) that temptation cannot be avoided, but we should do our best not to be the source of temptation for others.  If someone sins (say, by tempting you to sin), confront them with their sin.  If they admit to sinning and ask for forgiveness, forgive them…even if it is the seventh time today.  The disciples response to this was to ask Jesus to show them how to increase their faith.  Jesus’ answer was that even a minuscule amount of faith can do great things.  He further said that the way to build faith was to expect that the only reward for acting in faith was another task to which we would need to apply our faith.

Later in the passage, Luke recounts two parables which Jesus told His disciples.  Both of them address the the themes I looked at in the previous paragraph.  In the parable of the persistent widow Jesus gives us a lesson on building faith.  He points out that even the wicked will grant justice to someone who is persistent enough.  How much more will God grant us justice if we persistently pray for it?  In the parable about the Pharisee and the tax collector, Jesus tells us not to think of ourselves as better than others.  Instead, when we pray we should recognize our sins and failures and throw ourselves on God’s mercy.  Our faith will only grow when we recognize our need for God to transform us.