Matthew 14:10-14 Herod sent and had John beheaded in the prison, and his head was brought on a platter and given to the girl, and she brought it to her mother. And his disciples came and took the body and buried it, and they went and told Jesus. Now when Jesus heard this, he withdrew from there in a boat to a desolate place by himself. But when the crowds heard it, they followed him on foot from the towns. When he went ashore he saw a great crowd, and he had compassion on them and healed their sick.
I've been studying the book of Matthew this week and this passage has really impacted me. In this text, John the Baptist, Jesus's cousin and one of His best friends has just been murdered. Jesus goes away to mourn for the loss of his friend but then the crowds come after Him. They are in need. How does Jesus respond? He gets up and goes to them and meets their needs. Later in the passage, he teaches them and feeds all of them. Jesus' response to suffering is to serve and have compassion on others.
I just think how many times do I see a need and no matter how I'm feeling, respond to that situation with compassion and love? I've come to find that being a Christian means welcoming times of being inconvenienced and being available when God says to do something AND not only just to do whatever that is but to do it CHEERFULLY! As I study Matthew, Jesus is continually nailing it into the heads of His disciples that it's not at all about an outward show of doing good works but about an inward transformation of your heart. As Christians, we should seek to know Jesus more and more and be transformed by Him so that loving people comes from an overflow of knowing that we are so loved by Jesus. Jesus also talks a lot about the kingdom of God which to sum it up means loving God and loving people.
Well God is funny and gave me an opportunity to put into practice all I've been studying. This morning I was sitting at the lake enjoying my breakfast. I got up to leave and took a different route than I normally would to get back to my car in order to throw my trash away. As I was walking back to my car, I turned around and just took a look at the lake with the mountains right behind it and people kayaking and boating in the water on a perfect sunny day and just thought man God is so beautiful. He made all this. So I started to walk back towards the lake to snap a pic then I headed back to my car the way I normally would have taken. As I was walking, I noticed a cell phone on top of a car. I thought that seemed strange seeing that no one was around. I started walking away but then thought someone might steal it or this person might unintentionally start driving away with it on the car. So I picked it up and started scouting out asking all the people around if it was theirs. Everyone said no. Then I saw one more woman in the distance and walked up to her as she was sun bathing. She must have intially thought what is this random person doing walking up to me while I'm obviously not wanting to be interrupted. Pushing past the awkwardness I said, "Hello Miss, is this your phone?" She was confused for a minute and after some awkward silence she said, "Yes, how do you have my phone?" She said she must have driven with it on the car and thanked me for bringing it to her. End of story.
Why do I say all this? Because the kingdom of God is about people. No I didn't have an opportunity to share the Gospel with her or even mention the name of Jesus, but God interrupted my schedule and used me to share a little piece of His loving heart with this woman. I hope she left encouraged. The kingdom of God is about being available for opportunities to love people and be committed to their good. I'm glad God showed me a practical application to all I've been studying this week and I hope that you too will be available when God says "Go."
I've been studying the book of Matthew this week and this passage has really impacted me. In this text, John the Baptist, Jesus's cousin and one of His best friends has just been murdered. Jesus goes away to mourn for the loss of his friend but then the crowds come after Him. They are in need. How does Jesus respond? He gets up and goes to them and meets their needs. Later in the passage, he teaches them and feeds all of them. Jesus' response to suffering is to serve and have compassion on others.
I just think how many times do I see a need and no matter how I'm feeling, respond to that situation with compassion and love? I've come to find that being a Christian means welcoming times of being inconvenienced and being available when God says to do something AND not only just to do whatever that is but to do it CHEERFULLY! As I study Matthew, Jesus is continually nailing it into the heads of His disciples that it's not at all about an outward show of doing good works but about an inward transformation of your heart. As Christians, we should seek to know Jesus more and more and be transformed by Him so that loving people comes from an overflow of knowing that we are so loved by Jesus. Jesus also talks a lot about the kingdom of God which to sum it up means loving God and loving people.
Well God is funny and gave me an opportunity to put into practice all I've been studying. This morning I was sitting at the lake enjoying my breakfast. I got up to leave and took a different route than I normally would to get back to my car in order to throw my trash away. As I was walking back to my car, I turned around and just took a look at the lake with the mountains right behind it and people kayaking and boating in the water on a perfect sunny day and just thought man God is so beautiful. He made all this. So I started to walk back towards the lake to snap a pic then I headed back to my car the way I normally would have taken. As I was walking, I noticed a cell phone on top of a car. I thought that seemed strange seeing that no one was around. I started walking away but then thought someone might steal it or this person might unintentionally start driving away with it on the car. So I picked it up and started scouting out asking all the people around if it was theirs. Everyone said no. Then I saw one more woman in the distance and walked up to her as she was sun bathing. She must have intially thought what is this random person doing walking up to me while I'm obviously not wanting to be interrupted. Pushing past the awkwardness I said, "Hello Miss, is this your phone?" She was confused for a minute and after some awkward silence she said, "Yes, how do you have my phone?" She said she must have driven with it on the car and thanked me for bringing it to her. End of story.
Why do I say all this? Because the kingdom of God is about people. No I didn't have an opportunity to share the Gospel with her or even mention the name of Jesus, but God interrupted my schedule and used me to share a little piece of His loving heart with this woman. I hope she left encouraged. The kingdom of God is about being available for opportunities to love people and be committed to their good. I'm glad God showed me a practical application to all I've been studying this week and I hope that you too will be available when God says "Go."
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