Posts
After His baptism by John and having the Holy Spirit descend
on Him like a dove, Jesus heard God His Father say, “You are My Son, whom I
love, and I am very pleased with You!”
At that point, He was led by the Holy Spirit into the desert to be
tempted. Where God had affirmed Him, Satan tried to sow doubt
in His soul. Despite 40 days without
food, Jesus did not cave. After all, He’d
already spent eternity past with His Father, and He knew every strategy of the devil.
What really spoke to me this morning was Jesus speaking in
His home church in Nazareth. People in other
towns were praising Him for His
teachings, but things were different in Nazareth. He began reading to them from Isaiah:
“The Lord has put His Spirit in me, because He appointed me
to tell the Good News to the poor. He
has sent me to tell the captives they are free and to tell the blind that they
can see again. God sent me to free those
who have been treated unfairly and to announce the time when the Lord will show
His kindness.”
He then closed the book and sat down. Everyone watched expectantly, waiting for His
next words. He said, “While you heard these words just now,
they were coming true.”
They’d probably heard those same words lots of times, and
likely thought to themselves, “That will never
happen. Blind people can’t be
healed! Why did Isaiah even write
that?”
Knowing their hearts, Jesus reminded them of two Old
Testament stories where God purposefully skipped over the Jews to bless Gentiles instead. This infuriated
them to the point that they tried to throw Him over a cliff – Church people who were blinded to the
truth that their Savior and Messiah had just announced Himself to them! And they missed
it!
Father, help me not to miss what You say to me. Keep my heart open to things You want to
change in my life and people You want me to reach out to. Help me to remain excited about the fact that
You choose to work in and through me as part of Your plan.
Your Brother In Christ,
Gary Ford
No comments:
Post a Comment