The Man With a Specialized Talent (Col. 4:14a)

 

SPIRITUAL DIARY FOR 6/18/2017 7:42 PM

Bible Reading & Meditation                         Focus:  The Man With A Specialized Talent

Bible Reading & Meditation                                     Reference:  Colossians 4:14a

            Message of the verse:  “Luke, the beloved physician, sends you his greetings,”

            Luke it the author of both the gospel of Luke and also the author of the book of Acts, and when you read the last portions of book of Acts you will see the word “we,” which tells you that in certain places that Luke was with Paul.  For example Luke was with Paul as they went through the awful storm where if it were not for the grace of God, and for the promise of God that He gave to Paul that he had to talk in Rome about the salvation of Jesus Christ, then all would have been lost at sea.

            Remember what we are writing here is just a short couple of paragraphs that give only a bit of information about the people that Paul lists at the end of his letter to the Colossians, as will be the case with Luke.

            We know that Luke was a very good friend of Paul’s and also Luke was a personal physician, something I am sure that Paul needed while on his missionary journeys.  Paul had some kind of reoccurring ailment while on his first missionary trip, and this may have been the reason that he wanted Luke to accompany him on future missionary trips.  MacArthur adds “Like Paul, he [Luke] was an educated, cultured man, as evidenced by the literary quality of his Greek in his gospel and the book of Acts.  His conversations with Paul were undoubtedly stimulating.”

            You may find this somewhat of a surprise but Luke is mentioned by name only two other times in the New Testament.  The other two times are similar to this one in that they were all mentioned by Paul while he was in prison (Philemon 24 and 2 Timothy 4:11.  Now we mentioned that Luke was with Paul on the memorable voyage as seen in the book of Acts, and after that Luke pretty much stayed with Paul the rest of his life.

            John MacArthur writes “Nothing definite is known about Luke’s background.  According to the church Fathers Eusebius and Jerome, he was born in Syrian Antioch.  Some have speculated that he was “Titus’s brother, that he knew Paul when Paul was a student at Tarsus, and that he was a freed slave from the household of Theophilus (mentioned in the prologue to Acts).  Those speculations, however, cannot be proved.”

            One of my heroes in the faith is a Medical doctor and her husband who teaches in different Bible schools around the world.  When we look at Dr. Luke we can say that he was the very first medical missionary and many others have followed suit. Like Medical missionaries today they all give up careers where they could make much more money, but chose to surrender their talents to the Lord for the cause of Christ.  Many medical missionaries go to places where they are much needed to help people get over some terrible medical problems, and as they do this to people who are not followers of Christ they then have a perfect opportunity of telling them how they can be saved from their sins and spend eternity with the Lord.  I am sure that Luke had opportunities to do this as the first medical missionary.

6/18/2017 8:43 PM