Thursday the 24th

Matthew 8: ⁸ The centurion replied, “Lord, I do not deserve to have you come under my roof. But just say the word, and my servant will be healed.

Matthew15: ²² A Canaanite woman from that vicinity came to him, crying out, “Lord, Son of David, have mercy on me! My daughter is demon-possessed and suffering terribly.”

Matthew 17: ¹⁵ “Lord, have mercy on my son,” he said. “He has seizures and is suffering greatly. He often falls into the fire or into the water

 

 

To read these three passages one typically draws the conclusion that Christ rejected no on. People that might not have ever come in contact with Him came to Him for help, when no one else could.  While that is a very true statement, and certainly a good way to look at these, I want to look at it from a different perspective. The three people mentioned above in scripture, under normal circumstances, would not have sought Jesus out. It was because of a loved one that they threw to the side any of their belief and ran to the One who saves.  There was nothing that these people would not have done for the one they loved. We can all relate to that can’t we? If it was your child, if it was a person who was a big part of your life……is there any length that you would not go to save that person? Of course not, you would bend over backwards, move heaven and earth, you would beg, borrow, or maybe even steal to heal the hurt. That love, that commitment, that picture of selfless, unwavering love……that is a glimpse of the love that the Lord holds for each one of us. Our desire to heal, fix, make whole the ones we love…..that fire that burns inside of us…..magnify that by a million, and you have a small idea of the commitment that God has to you. There is nothing that the Lord will not step in and make right, there is no hurt he cannot sooth, there is no obstacle that He cannot remove. We are the afflicted ones in this story, and Christ is the one who has petitioned His Father to heal us. Heal us He will, if we will let Him. The Lord’s love for us is unimaginable, the heights He will ascend, and the depths He will go to get to us cannot be measured. That love is the driving force behind our faith.  Just like children, He loves us. Not because He has to, not because we deserve it, but because we are His children. That is what part of what Christ meant when He told us that we must be like children. We must trust like children, we must love like children, and we depend on our Father in heaven, just as a child in this world depends on their parent. Turn to Him today, give Him thanks and praise, and most of all, love Him.  When the world has made you sick, when the demons of the day have beaten, and clawed you trying to get in…..call on your Dad in heaven, there is nothing He will not do, He gave one of His children so that all would be saved, I tell you the truth, just like the people in the scripture, the Lord’s love knows no bounds.

 

 

God Bless,

Brian Thetford