MERRY MONDAY BY PARRIS BAILEY-
“And they were all amazed, and they glorified God, and were filled with fear, saying, We have seen strange things today” Luke 5:23
Everyday Christ is at work all around us. Today as we watch the news we see thousands of Syrians fleeing their borders and our hearts break. I wonder if God is at work in the midst of this chaos to bring the gospel to this unreached people group? What an amazing opportunity to show them the love of Jesus! We live in a time where we see “strange things” everywhere we look! Gill says; We have seen strange things today; paradoxes, things wonderful, unthought of, unexpected, and incredible by carnal reason, and what were never seen, nor known before.
Are your in a position to allow the “strange things” to take place in your life? The worst life we can lead is a life of mundane, self existence with me and my four and no more. Or worse still a life that exists just for me without the four!
Mcclaren said , “And such even now is the truest and noblest life. The life which is “hid with Christ” is the life that shines the farthest and that tells the most. Whether in the more quiet paths and scenes of discipleship or in the more responsible and public duties of the apostolate, Jesus demands of us a true, whole souled, and life-long devotion. And, here indeed, the paradox is true, for by losing life we find it, even the life more abundant.”
In a world of trauma, Mcclaren continues, “It is useless to give a man dying of cancer medicine for pimples. That is what all attempts to make man happy and restful while sin remains unforgiven, are doing. Social reformers need this lesson. Many voices proclaim many gospels to-day. Culture, economical or social reconstruction, is trumpeted as the panacea. But it matters comparatively little how society is organized. If its individual members retain their former natures, the former evils will come back, whatever its organization. The only thorough cure for social evils is individual regeneration. Christ deals with men singly, and remoulds society by renewing the individual. The most elaborate machinery may be used for filtering the black waters. What will be the good of that if the fountain of blackness is not sealed up, or rather purified, at its hidden source? Make the tree good, and its fruit will be good. To make the tree good, you must begin with dealing with sin.”
Jesus went to the source that day when he saw the man with palsy. He had a sin problem plain and simple. Let us allow the Holy Spirit to continually cleanse us from open sins and hidden ones. Then let us go and pick the bugs off of others. I will never forget the feeling of sin and condemnation when I would encounter the spiritual before I was a Christian. Allow for the “strange things” to happen through you!