ODJ: you’re in good hands

April 10, 2014 

READ: 2 Timothy 3:14-17 

But you must remain faithful to the things you have been taught. You know they are true, for you know you can trust those who taught you (v.14).

Sometime back in the 1950s, the Allstate Insurance Company’s marketing group was struggling to come up with a slogan for the company’s first major national advertising campaign. As the team was ready to quit after an empty day of brainstorming, sales executive Davis Ellis remembered a reassuring comment his wife made to him months earlier when their child was sick in the hospital.

She told him, “The hospital said not to worry. We’re in good hands with the doctor.” It was then that one of the most memorable ad slogans ever was born: “You’re in good hands with Allstate.”

If I was given the task of advertising the New Testament book of Luke (one of the four narratives of the life of Jesus), I would go back to the phrase that inspired Allstate’s famous slogan: “You’re in good hands with the doctor.”

Why? Because it’s true in more ways than one. The author himself (Luke) was a beloved doctor (Colossians 4:14). Obviously, Dr. Luke was highly educated, but he was also a careful reporter who investigated the facts about Jesus from the very beginning (Luke 1:3).

Another important reason to trust the book of Luke is that the good doctor got his information from firsthand testimonies. Unlike other accounts not found in the Bible (that were written several decades after the eyewitnesses to Jesus’ life were gone), Luke personally knew several of the key eyewitnesses—namely Paul and James the half-brother of Jesus.

Of course, we also recognise that Luke, along with all the human authors of the Bible, wrote under the inspiration of the Holy Spirit (2 Timothy 3:16).

So rest assured, readers of the book of Luke (and all of God’s Word!), you’re in good hands. —Jeff Olson
2 Samuel 18:1-18 ‹365-day plan