“This is my Son. Whom I love. Listen to Him.” Mark 9:7
As the saying goes, “People don’t care about how much you know until they know how much you care.” Everywhere we turn we see a world full of hurting people, and beneath so much of the anger and deviant behaviors of the people in our lives is PAIN.
God calls each of us to love Him with all our heart, soul, mind and strength; and after this, His 2nd most important command to us is to love our neighbor as ourselves. (Mk.12:30-31) We hear, “all you need is God.” Well, ultimately this is true…but we frail humans need “God with skin on” sometimes! And this is the job given to you and me.
So let’s look at Jesus for this example. In the verse above, Jesus has just finished a deep discussion with Elijah and Moses regarding His “departure” (His torture, abandonment and death most likely ~Lk.9:31) God the Father saw this scenario and spoke forth from heaven saying, “This is My Son. Whom I love…Listen to Him”.
Wow. Let’s think about this a brief second… We know that on the cross just before Jesus dies, He cries out, “My God, My God, why have You forsaken Me?” (Matt. 27:46) Obviously, Jesus desperately needed to know He was loved and treasured by His Father…and it BROKE Jesus to realize He had been forsaken! So let’s back up in time and revisit Mk. 9:7. ~~~I believe that even though Jesus knew well the divine task set before Him, He was still a flesh and blood man in need of some affirmation from His Father.
So the question is: Who is it in your and my life who needs some love, some empathy, an affirming word amidst their struggle? ~~~I just had the privilege of chatting with a young college student at UCSB. This young man is putting himself through school, having been abandoned by his family (severely abused/neglected throughout his childhood), and was sleeping on the floor of our son’s apartment this summer. I struck up a conversation with him, asking him about his classes, hobbies, clubs, etc.
He shared a lot with me, and then shared that he is an advocate for a “sexual and gender diversity club” on campus. He shared just a bit about this club, and all I could do was to pray to Jesus, “Lord, give me Your eyes and Your heart into the soul of this young man before me. Oh, please Lord!!!!! I need You to show up and give me Your lenses right now!!! I am trusting You Jesus, do this!”
Well, God did show up, and I do believe the Holy Spirit allowed me to see a spiritual glimpse into the core of this man, as I compassionately said, “Wow, Mark (name changed), you really love people.”
Mark looked up at me glassy eyed, and responded, “shouldn’t everybody?”
The door was now open…I could share the love of Jesus with this dear soul before me. It was amazing. Rather than judgmentally standing up on some kind of righteous Christian pedestal and “speaking forth truth”, through Jesus, I was able to love on this man and share Truth in a way Mark could embrace it. Praise you Lord!
So who needs a word of affirmation in your and my life today? I know my Shaun is on the road and could use one, ~~ and I am just the person to speak it forth! Who is it for you?
Love to you all, and have a great week,
Shaun and Betsy
