Just some early morning thoughts from me to you…
“Large crowds followed Jesus as he came down the mountainside. Suddenly, a man with leprosy approached him and knelt before him. ‘Lord,’ the man said, ‘if you are willing, you can heal me and make me clean.’ Jesus reached out and touched him. ‘I am willing,’ he said. ‘Be healed!’ And instantly the leprosy disappeared.’”
Matthew 8: 1-3 (NLT)“No, despite all these things, overwhelming victory is ours through Christ, who loved us. And I am convinced that nothing can ever separate us from God’s love. Neither death nor life, neither angels nor demons, neither our fears for today nor our worries about tomorrow—not even the powers of hell can separate us from God’s love. No power in the sky above or in the earth below—indeed, nothing in all creation will ever be able to separate us from the love of God that is revealed in Christ Jesus our Lord.”
Romans 8: 37-39 (NLT)“And behold, I am with you always, to the end of the age.”
Matthew 28: 20b (ESV)
We all have those days where we feel a little distant from wholeness, certainty, and hope for the days ahead.
While also feeling all alone. Distant from family and friends.
Even distant from God.
Yet as God’s children, we never walk alone.
His Word promises us that He is always there.
But do we even notice, believe, or claim that He is there?
A few years ago, it was reported that 26,000 children around the world die each and every day of starvation or a preventable disease.
Every day. 26,000.
I wonder how they felt before that last day. I wonder if hope was a part of their outlook for any day.
I wonder if they felt alone. I wonder if they felt the presence of God.
I wonder if anyone else, other than God, cared.
In the Gospel of Matthew, in chapter eight, we see an encounter Jesus had with a leper on the side of the road. A leper in Jesus’s day had a difficult life. Not only did a leper suffer from a physically deforming and painful disease but also suffered from the emotional scars of rejection by the people of that day.
A leper in those days was usually isolated to living in a leper colony. If they left that colony, the law of the day required that they ring a bell warning others of their approach, so others could be spared the sight and contact with anyone from this group of society’s outcasts.
A leper—alone, uncertain about their days, hopeless.
Yet there he was on the side of the road looking for Jesus—the healer of healers. And the leper asked to be healed. And Jesus reached out his hand and touched him.
You understand that Jesus could have healed him from a distance.
But He didn’t. Jesus knew the pain of rejection a life of isolation had caused this poor soul—who no doubt had never ever been touched by anyone, except another leper.
Knowing and feeling that pain, Jesus stretched out His hand and touched him, saying “I am willing; be healed.”
And in that, Jesus healed not only the external scars of leprosy, but also the internal emotional scars from years of rejection from a disease over which he had no control.
As God’s children we are never alone. Never separated from His love.
I wonder if we remember that, and if everyone else knows that, believes that, and claims that.
What about the 26,000 children, and more of any age, who die each day?
I wonder what you and I can do.
Margaret Mead shared this truth for all the world years ago, when she said—
“Never doubt that a small group of thoughtful, committed citizens can change the world. Indeed, it is the only thing that ever has.”
I wonder what God expects of you and me.
Here’s a thought—I wonder if God expects you and me to be His hands, feet, eyes, ears, and heart in the world around us.
So that no one, anywhere, will ever walk or feel alone.
And maybe, with God’s touch, love, and hope through us, they will begin to live the lives He created them to live.
And maybe in doing that, we will begin to also live the lives He created us to live.
In His Name–Scott
You will be blessed by this powerful presentation of “You’ll Never Walk Alone” by famed British singer Alfie Boe, at the 2015 celebration in Great Britain of Victory in Europe Day.
