"Come with me by yourselves to a quiet place and get some rest." Mark 6:31
Sometimes the most Christ-like thing you can do is to get away and rest.
Jesus was teaching his disciples how to be like him and how to deal with many people who need things from you.
He didn't say, "When you've met everyone's needs come away and rest." or "When you are at the point of emotional and physical exhaustion, come away and rest. " or "When you think you've done enough to justify resting, then come and rest." or "When no one is looking, come and rest."....
"Yet the news about him spread all the more, so that crowds of people came to hear him and to be healed of their sicknesses.
BUT JESUS OFTEN WITHDREW TO LONELY PLACES AND PRAYED." Luke 5:20
Jesus came to live in front of us how we should live. He didn't let need dictate his pace.
I'm afraid we have come to see rest as weak, maybe even lazy. We equate godly with busy or worn out. We need to refind balance in our lives, to remember that our first call and first love is Him. We need to get by ourselves and rest!
I pray that you will find time often to follow this invitation to withdraw with Christ to a lonely place and pray.....and rest.
And in that rest I pray that your soul will be refreshed and you will discover a calm and intimacy that only time with Jesus can bring!
Thursday, December 6, 2012
Tuesday, December 4, 2012
People Are Listening
"When Herod heard John, he was greatly puzzled; yet he liked to listen to him."
Mark 6:20
I've had Herods in my life before. I'd like to have more.
This was a man who did not know Jesus. He was far from God. But he obviously saw something in John that Herod felt drawn to. He didn't yet "get it" but he loved to listen.
I hope that people, who do not yet know the hope of a Savior, see us and recognize a hope that they are missing. Herod talked to John, a prisoner, and liked to listen to him. What must John have been talking about: getting out of prison, how hard his life had been, what all he had lived without, how inconvient this prison time was, where he'd rather be? We don't know. But his speech must have been full of hope and life and joy and peace. Herod saw something that he had never seen before and liked listening to whatever it was John talked about.
I have learned that most people who are living far from Christ hope that what we have is the real thing. They may not say it and may even communicate the opposite, but they hope you're right. Everything they have placed their hope in has come up short, guaranteed! When they lay their heads on their pillows at the end of the day, they do not have the peace that is available to Christ Followers.
That is why it is important for those of us who do place our hope in Jesus Christ to live with the peace that is available to us. The Herods of the world are watching and listening. We are Christ's ambassadors, representing His heart and hope to a lost and hopeless world.
What are you talking about as people listen?
I pray that this Christmas Season our speech will be full of hope and truth and peace before those who do not yet know Him, but for whom He came to seek and to save!
"Then you will experience God's peace, which exceeds anything we can understand. His peace will guard your hearts and minds as you live in Christ Jesus."
Philippians 4:7
Mark 6:20
I've had Herods in my life before. I'd like to have more.
This was a man who did not know Jesus. He was far from God. But he obviously saw something in John that Herod felt drawn to. He didn't yet "get it" but he loved to listen.
I hope that people, who do not yet know the hope of a Savior, see us and recognize a hope that they are missing. Herod talked to John, a prisoner, and liked to listen to him. What must John have been talking about: getting out of prison, how hard his life had been, what all he had lived without, how inconvient this prison time was, where he'd rather be? We don't know. But his speech must have been full of hope and life and joy and peace. Herod saw something that he had never seen before and liked listening to whatever it was John talked about.
I have learned that most people who are living far from Christ hope that what we have is the real thing. They may not say it and may even communicate the opposite, but they hope you're right. Everything they have placed their hope in has come up short, guaranteed! When they lay their heads on their pillows at the end of the day, they do not have the peace that is available to Christ Followers.
That is why it is important for those of us who do place our hope in Jesus Christ to live with the peace that is available to us. The Herods of the world are watching and listening. We are Christ's ambassadors, representing His heart and hope to a lost and hopeless world.
What are you talking about as people listen?
I pray that this Christmas Season our speech will be full of hope and truth and peace before those who do not yet know Him, but for whom He came to seek and to save!
"Then you will experience God's peace, which exceeds anything we can understand. His peace will guard your hearts and minds as you live in Christ Jesus."
Philippians 4:7
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