DATE: Thursday 9 July 2026
TOPIC: “REFUSING HELP BECAUSE YOU WANT TO LOOK STRONG – 2”
TEXT: Luke 5:27-31
MEMORY VERSE: “As it is, you boast in your arrogant schemes. All such boasting is evil” – James 4:16.
Jesus defined the purpose of his ministry by stating that, “It is not the healthy who need a doctor, but the sick. I have not come to call the righteous, but sinners to repentance.” Luke 5:31-32. God is attracted to the weak and needy; to those who are not sufficient in themselves. God looks in the direction of the people who are ready to be carried and not in those who feel they have got it all covered.
Our works of righteousness or human wisdom cannot save us and as such, we must not cease to rely on His everlasting arms. The Pharisees were often seen testing Jesus because they relied on their works of righteousness through the law. The law had been proven to be weak and could not satisfy the righteous standards of God. Hebrew 8:7 states, “For if there had been nothing wrong with that first covenant, no place would have been sought for another.” Isaiah 64:6 added… “All of us have become like one who is unclean and all our righteous acts are like filthy rags…”
Therefore, we can only depend on God’s righteousness in absolute humility. Wisdom. Our expertise can fail; wealth and economic powers fail. Political powers expire. Therefore, we need not trust in any of these. They disappear like vapor. Trusting in human abilities is foolishness. Trust in wealth, wisdom and power is not wise. The wisest way is the way of humility and absolute dependence on the Almighty God alone. He never fails and never disappoints.
The parable of the rich fool says it all in Luke 12:16-21. When the rich fool thought he had it all covered by his planning, projection and personal pursuits, God showed him that he was still very limited. God is the giver of all things and must never be left out of the equation whether consciously or unconsciously. James 4:15 counsels us to pray like this: “Instead, you ought to say, “If it is the Lord’s will, we will live and do this or that.”
PRAYER: Oh Lord Jesus, help me never to put my trust in any man or material possessions and position of authority, help me to depend on you always and at all times in Jesus’ name, Amen.