A man asks Jesus a question: "Will those in the kingdom of God be few?" Jesus doesn't directly answer the question, but offers a different perspective. The real question isn't about the number of people who get in, but how they gain access–and that door is narrow.

Jesus tells a parable to his disciples about a master who leaves and puts the servants in charge of his household. How will he find them serving when he returns? The question we have to ask ourselves is, what sort of life are we leading, and how are we serving the master?

If we were honest, the parable of the Rich Fool describes exactly the type of condition we want for our own lives: enough wealth to sit back and relax. The reason the man was foolish was not because he was wealthy, but because he thought his wealth gave him security. Jesus teaches his disciples a better way to find security that will last.

The disciples made a simple request of Jesus: teach us to pray. Jesus responds by teaching them what has become the most famous prayer in history, known as "The Lord's Prayer". But that's not all he taught them; he also told them a parable to help them understand the prayer. Only when we take the two together can we fully understand the significance of Jesus' response to his disciples.

The Lawyer asks a very simple question: who is my neighbor. Jesus doesn't answer directly. Instead, he turns the question on its head by telling the story of a man who was a good neighbor, exposing the Lawyer's desire to justify himself in the process.

The point of the parable of the sower is not the sower; the point is to consider the condition of our hearts. We must consider whether our hearts are receptive to the word of God, and then, how the word can grow to maturity within us.

How do we get filled to all the measure of the fullness of God?

In 1 Peter we are told to always be able to to give a reason for the hope that is in you. What if in the New Year we practice kindness by being good to people.

Luke wants us to consider that everything in the cosmos leads up to the arrival of Jesus in Bethlehem. In an otherwise insignificant moment, the God of the universe steps into history as the Savior.