We do not lose heart. Though our outer self is wasting away, our inner self is being renewed day by day. 2 Corinthians 4:16 ESV.

I loved this in Hearing God by Dallas Willard: “What Is the Word of God? – For you have been born again, not of perishable seed, but of imperishable, through the living and enduring word of God. 1 Peter 1:23. What is the relationship between the word of God as spoken in Acts and the Bible as the Word of God? While the Bible is the written Word of God, the word of God is not simply the Bible. Let’s look at what the Bible says about the word of God. The word includes Jesus Christ, who is the living Word (1 Peter 1:23) born of a virgin, crucified, resurrected and elevated to the right hand of the Father. The word of God is also that which is settled eternally in the heavens (Psalm 119:89), expressing itself in the order of nature (Psalm 19:1-4). The word of God is that which expanded, grew and multiplied in the book of Acts (Acts 12:24). None of these things are the Bible, but they all are God’s words, as is also His speaking that we hear when we individually hear God. Meditate: Choose the idea about the word of God above that has least penetrated your thinking. Turn to the reference indicated next to it and read the verse and its context. Ponder what it would mean to more deeply regard that entity as the word of God. Close by thanking God for the “living and enduring word of God.””

Our chapter, Luke 13, continues Jesus’ words that can throw us completely. When that happens, I pray for understanding. Now on the same occasion there were some present who reported to Him about the Galileans whose blood Pilate had mixed with their sacrifices. And Jesus said to them, “Do you suppose that these Galileans were greater sinners than all other Galileans because they suffered this fate? I tell you, no, but unless you repent, you will all likewise perish. Or do you suppose that those eighteen on whom the tower in Siloam fell and killed them were worse culprits than all the men who live in Jerusalem? I tell you, no, but unless you repent, you will all likewise perish.” And He began telling this parable: “A man had a fig tree which had been planted in his vineyard; and he came looking for fruit on it and did not find any. And he said to the vineyard-keeper, ‘Behold, for three years I have come looking for fruit on this fig tree without finding any. Cut it down! Why does it even use up the ground?’ And he answered and said to him, ‘Let it alone, sir, for this year too, until I dig around it and put in fertilizer; and if it bears fruit next year, fine; but if not, cut it down.’” v. 1-9. We are so quick to judge others as sinners and culprits – why does it even use up the ground – but so are we all, in our own way, and He tells us all to repent because we need to repent – each one of us…and it is God who does the needed work, not us. And He was teaching in one of the synagogues on the Sabbath. And there was a woman who for eighteen years had had a sickness caused by a spirit; and she was bent double, and could not straighten up at all. When Jesus saw her, He called her over and said to her, “Woman, you are freed from your sickness.” And He laid His hands on her; and immediately she was made erect again and began glorifying God. But the synagogue official, indignant because Jesus had healed on the Sabbath, began saying to the crowd in response, “There are six days in which work should be done; so come during them and get healed, and not on the Sabbath day.” v. 10-14. Can you imagine standing straight after eighteen years? Can you imagine being so bound by your own imposed rules that you get angry healing isn’t done on your timetable? Jesus points out the utter hypocrisy of that when they would untie their own animals from their stall to water them on the Sabbath and yet…“This woman, a daughter of Abraham as she is, whom Satan has bound for eighteen long years, should she not have been released from this bond on the Sabbath day?” v. 15-16. And Jesus gives parables of what the kingdom of God is like, a mustard seed, and leaven, both of which grow starting very small, v. 18-21. And then the part where I needed to pray and ask for help to understand given everything read so far: And He was passing through from one city and village to another, teaching, and proceeding on His way to Jerusalem. And someone said to Him, “Lord, are there just a few who are being saved?” And He said to them, “Strive to enter through the narrow door; for many, I tell you, will seek to enter and will not be able. Once the head of the house gets up and shuts the door, and you begin to stand outside and knock on the door, saying, ‘Lord, open up to us!’ then He will answer and say to you, ‘I do not know where you are from.’ Then you will begin to say, ‘We ate and drank in Your presence, and You taught in our streets’; and He will say, ‘I tell you, I do not know where you are from; depart from Me, all you evil-doers.’ In that place there will be weeping and gnashing of teeth when you see Abraham and Isaac and Jacob and all the prophets in the kingdom of God, but yourselves being thrown out. And they will come from east and west and from north and south, and will recline at the table in the kingdom of God. And behold, some are last who will be first and some are first who will be last.” v. 22-30. The Jews thought they were favored because they were chosen by God. But did they truly know Him? Did He know them by their imposed laws? Can we know God if we do not know His heart of love for all of us? Who are those from the east, west, north and south? Just at that time some Pharisees approached, saying to Him, “Go away, leave here, for Herod wants to kill You.” And He said to them, “Go and tell that fox, ‘Behold, I cast out demons and perform cures today and tomorrow, and the third day I reach My goal.’ Nevertheless I must journey on today and tomorrow and the next day; for it cannot be that a prophet would perish outside of Jerusalem. O Jerusalem, Jerusalem, the city that kills the prophets and stones those sent to her! How often I wanted to gather your children together, just as a hen gathers her brood under her wings, and you would not have it! Behold, your house is left to you desolate; and I say to you, you will not see Me until the time comes when you say, ‘Blessed is He who comes in the name of the Lord!’” v. 31-35.

Do we know Jesus, Creator God the Son? This isn’t a collective. This is personal. Our coming to know Jesus and trusting Him to lead us closer to Him is intensely personal. How else can we know Him but by asking for His help when our need is great; and trusting Him with everything going on in our lives and the lives of those we love. But we cannot carry everything on our own. We were never meant to. All of our lives are experiences we can learn from that help us see our personal need for God. Trying to live this life on our own – we quickly lose heart and waste away. That too brings us closer to realizing our need for Him….And as we realize and truly grasp that…our inner self is being renewed day by day…and it is He who is renewing us! That is how we know Him as He knows us!