Luke 13:31-33 - A few minutes later some Pharisees said to him, “Get out of here if you want to live, for King Herod is after you!” Jesus replied, “Go tell that fox that I will keep on casting out demons and doing miracles of healing today and tomorrow; and the third day I will reach my destination. Yes, today, tomorrow, and the next day! For it wouldn’t do for a prophet of God to be killed except in Jerusalem!
Three days away from His own death….served with cruelty that He did not deserve….Jesus spent His time healing and serving others. His determination to help as many people physically as he could…before He gave everyone the opportunity to be completely healed spiritually…was unstoppable. God had filled Him with power to see His hard task…and yet walk toward it with a resolve to keep modeling how to be a perfect servant to others.
It proves to this woman…struggling with lesser troubles…that I haven’t begun to learn everything there is to know about love yet. Jesus knew exactly where He was headed…and he did not run away from the task. He walked toward it…focusing on others instead of Himself….gaining strength from the healing He did for others.
It makes my tendency to focus on my own problems….to stop and pause….to let fear freeze my feet ….to worry instead of keep working….an enormous reminder that this behavior weakens me instead of helping me. I have to somehow be more reliant on God’s big picture…and let go of the future fear that keeps me from focusing on the present. Sometime before this Jesus had already told them not to worry about tomorrow. His words are recorded in Matthew 6:34… “So don’t be anxious about tomorrow. God will take care of your tomorrow too. Live one day at a time.”
Father…thank you for the reminder that you have everything under control. All that happens is allowed only if it is according to your will. Forgive me for letting worry and fear freeze ….pause too long….and maybe even miss the task you had for me in that moment. Help me to keep my eyes so completely focused on you that I can see the task and yet keep serving others as I walk toward it…even if it is hard. Amen.
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