A Servant's Heart

 Have you ever been completely over it?  If you have toddlers and preschoolers, you know you have those days.  The days where you hide in the bathroom just for 30 seconds of "alone time" even though they are sticking their little finger under the door.  Sometimes, it just feels like people need too much from us.  

Matthew 14:13-14 says " Now when Jesus heard about John, He withdrew from there in a boat to a secluded place by Himself; and when the people heard of this, they followed Him on foot from the cities.  When He went ashore, He saw a large crowd, and felt compassion for them and healed their sick."

What had He heard about John?  In the previous verses we are told about John's beheading.  Jesus had just heard that His cousin, the one preparing the way for Him, had been murdered.  So what does He do?  He withdraws to mourn.  Talk about needing some "alone time".  Jesus was fully human as well as fully God, so you know that He was devastated just like we would be if we had a family member murdered.  He was hurting and I'm sure that His human self was not really wanting to deal with anyone.  But the people came anyway.  They didn't respect His need to mourn.  Maybe they didn't know about what had happened or how it affected Jesus.  Maybe they weren't being totally selfish.  But the reality was, people needed Him and they didn't care what He had to sacrifice to give them what they wanted.  So what does Jesus do?  He sets aside His hurt and has compassion for them.  He heals the sick.  He teaches them.  And then?  Then He feeds more than 5,000 people dinner.  

I've had days where I didn't want to feed the six people I am responsible for dinner.  I've had days where I haven't fed them dinner because I wasn't dealing with life like I should (cereal, anyone?).  I still have days where I am just too "done in" to deal.  But Jesus doesn't ask me to focus on how tired I am, how "done in".  Jesus asks me to have compassion on people.  To serve people.  To bring people to Him.  Only in His strength can that happen.  Only in His power do I accomplish anything.  Lord, help me to be able to set aside my feelings and my hurts to have compassion on people and love them the way You ask me to.

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