Wed. the 26th

Luke 4: ⁵ And the devil took him up and showed him all the kingdoms of the world in a moment of time, ⁶and said to him, "To you I will give all this authority and their glory, for it has been delivered to me, and I give it to whom I will. ⁷If you, then, will worship me, it will all be yours.

 

Jesus knows a thing or two about temptation (He was offered the world, and then some), He understands the desire to sin, and, the assault that the devil hit us with daily. He has walked in our shoes. It is one of the great things about Christ, and it is something that makes Him such a perfect partner in life. He looks at our life, and understands us. So that got me to thinking (a dangerous thing sometimes)…I wonder what it is like to be my wife…the demands that are put on her daily, the trials, the successes, the failures, what about my kids….my friends….my co-workers…..How much time have I spent trying to know them versus just expecting them to know me. How much time do any of us spend looking at the lives of others before we jump in to “help” better yet, how often do we assume that all is good in everyone else’s world, because no one can have problems like mine? What if Christ had the same attitude towards us? Well…..we would think Him to be quite a jerk. SO where does that leave us? Could you imagine going to Christ with your worries, and frustrations, only to have him look at you and say “uhhhh yeah, that is a tough one….have I told you about the problem I have going on over in Africa?” We would be floored! Yet don’t we often treat those around us just like that? We are mirrors of Christ to the world. We all know that we will never attain the perfection of Christ, but should we not still make the valiant effort to get as close as possible? I made a comment the other day to my wife about a friend who is in a tough situation right now, I told her that he needed to love others more, and love himself less……When I looked in the mirror this morning all I could think was “hey Mr. high and mighty…..maybe you should do the same” Christ knows us so well, because that is where His time is spent, not loving Himself, but loving us……. walking in our shoes.  I believe a good place for each of us to start is by trying on the shoes of those around us. Some might be too small, but I suspect that we will find that most are quite a bit larger than we anticipated. When we start to look at others temptations, their trials, their failures….well, we start to see a very human, very clear picture of the true person…..we start to see others as Christ sees us, and when we see that picture….we will have nothing but love to give, for we will have tried on their shoes, and found them to be just the same as our own.

 

 

God Bless,

Brian Thetford

The New Covenant Church

www.thenewcovenantchurch.com

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