Luke 18:1-8
Parable of the Persistent Widow
1 Then Jesus told his disciples a parable to show them that they should always pray and not give up. 2 He said: “In a certain town there was a judge who neither feared God nor cared what people thought.3 And there was a widow in that town who kept coming to him with the plea, ‘Grant me justice against my adversary.’
4 “For some time he refused. But finally he said to himself, ‘Even though I don’t fear God or care what people think, 5 yet because this widow keeps bothering me, I will see that she gets justice, so that she won’t eventually come and attack me!’”
6 And the Lord said, “Listen to what the unjust judge says. 7 And will not God bring about justice for his chosen ones, who cry out to him day and night? Will he keep putting them off? 8 I tell you, he will see that they get justice, and quickly. However, when the Son of Man comes, will he find faith on the earth?”
Matthew 7:13-14
13 “Enter through the narrow gate. For wide is the gate and broad is the road that leads to destruction, and many enter through it. 14 But small is the gate and narrow the road that leads to life, and only a few find it.
Luke 9:57-62
The Cost of Following Jesus
57 As they were walking along the road, a man said to him, "I will follow you wherever you go."
58 Jesus replied, "Foxes have holes and birds of the air have nests, but the Son of Man has no place to lay his head."
59 He said to another man, "Follow me."
But the man replied, "Lord, first let me go and bury my father."
60 Jesus said to him, "Let the dead bury their own dead, but you go and proclaim the kingdom of God."
61 Still another said, "I will follow you, Lord; but first let me go back and say good-by to my family."
62 Jesus replied, "No one who puts his hand to the plow and looks back is fit for service in the kingdom of God."
Following Jesus is not easy thing to do, especially day in and day out...He tells us this...And thus having faith and keeping the is not easy...Faith takes a daily persistent effort...Like the persistent widow, we need to be persistent in our faith...The question one needs to ask about faith is whether they have a faith that is persistent or one that is used put on a shelf and used only when a faith need comes up...Which faith do you think is stronger, one who prays and uses their faith daily or one who puts their faith on a shelf and only uses it, when they think they need to?...What would you think of one who is trying to learn to swim, and gives up before their swimming lessons are over?...If you do not want to learn how to swim because the movements are difficult, then you can do what you were doing before and doing what is most comfortable that you do...
Faith is not a static thing...Faith is to be used and tried, and has been found to be hard...That is why G. K. Chesterton said, "Christianity has not been tried and found wanting; it has been found difficult and not tried."...