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Luke's Profile
One of the essential qualities
of a good doctor is compassion. People need to know that their doctor cares.
Even if he or she doesn't know what is wrong or isn't sure what to do, real
concern is always a doctor's good medicine. Doctor Luke was a person of
compassion.
Although we know few facts of his life, Luke has left us a
strong impression of himself by what he wrote. In his Gospel, he emphasizes
Jesus Christ's compassion. He vividly recorded both the power demonstrated by
Christ's life and the care with which Christ treated people. Luke highlighted
the relationships Jesus had with women. His writing in Acts is full of sharp
verbal pictures of real people caught up in the greatest events of history.
Luke was also a doctor. He had a traveling medical practice
as Paul's companion. Since the gospel was often welcomed with whips and stones,
the doctor was undoubtedly seldom without patients. It is even possible that
Paul's "thorn in the flesh" was some kind of physical ailment that needed Luke's
regular attention. Paul deeply appreciated Luke's skills and faithfulness.
God also made special use of Luke as the historian of the
early church. Repeatedly, the details of Luke's descriptions have been proven
accurate. The first words in his Gospel indicated his interest in the truth.
Luke's compassion reflected his Lord's. Luke's skill as a doctor helped
Paul. His passion for the facts as he recorded the life of Christ, the spread of
the early church, and the lives of Christianity's missionaries gives us
dependable sources for the basis of our faith. He accomplished all this while
staying out of the spotlight. Perhaps his greatest example is the challenge to
greatness even when we are not the center of attention.
Luke's Strengths and Accomplishments
1. A humble, faithful, and useful companion of
Paul
2. A well-educated and trained physician
3. A careful and exact historian
4. Writer of both the Gospel of Luke and the book of Acts
Lessons from Luke's life
1. The words we leave behind will be a lasting
picture of who we are
2. Even the most successful person needs the personal care of others
3. Excellence is shown by how we work when no one is noticing
Luke's Vital Statistics
1. Where: Probably met Paul in Troas
2. Occupations: Doctor, historian, traveling companion
3. Contemporaries: Paul, Timothy, Silas, Peter
Key Verses
"Many have undertaken to draw up an account of
the things that have been fulfilled among us, just as they were handed down to
us by those who from the first were eyewitnesses and servants of the word.
Therefore, since I myself have carefully investigated everything from the
beginning, it seemed good also to me to write an orderly account for you, most
excellent Theophilus, so that you may know the certainty of the things you have
been taught" (Luke 1:1-4).
Luke includes himself in the we sections of Acts 16-28. He is also
mentioned in Luke 1:3; Acts 1:1; Colossians 4:14; 2nd Timothy 4:11; Philemon 24.
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