From the Safety of my Television

Matthew 9:35-37

“And Jesus went throughout all the cities and villages, teaching in their synagogues and proclaiming the gospel of the kingdom and healing every disease and every affliction. When he saw the crowds, he had compassion for them, because they were harassed and helpless, like sheep without a shepherd.”

Have you ever known anyone like Jesus?  If you answer yes, then you have met a person whose identity is not in them, but in Christ.  Often, when I see the crowds it is most always from a very safe place, my television, and there is not a spirit of compassion but of disapproval for them, why? 

Could the problem be somewhere in the recesses of my heart I’ve forgotten that but for the grace of God; there goes me?  And the answer to the question is yes, I’ve forgotten not in my mind, but in my heart that Jesus Christ came to save, to give life now and eternal life to all who will by faith put trust in Him.  Jesus changes a person, I know because He has changed me.  So I must ask myself one more question: will my disdain have any impact on the life of this crowd that opposes all I believe in?  And once more the answer is no, but it will effect my mind, my heart, and not allow Jesus Christ to use me.  And who knows, it could be by confessing this heart issue to you, the reader; God may put His finger on your heart to pray for me.

As I look at the crowd from the safety of my television, it becomes apparent that Jesus being God, is not limited by time or space, He is always present and He lives His life in and through His followers.  And this question must be asked, is Jesus a “Tea Party, a Democrat, Republican, or is He Liberal, or a Conservative kind of guy?” And once more we must come to the conclusion; none of the above, He is the same today, as He has always been, God, the Creator, who took on flesh, became lower than the angels who He created, to buy us back out of the control of sin, by shedding His blood to cover our sin.

And this is what He said to you and me, and also to those disciples at the time He walked in human form on this planet, “The harvest is plentiful, but the laborers are few; therefore pray earnestly to the Lord of the harvest to send out laborers into his harvest.”  The question is not will you and I get away from the safety of the television into the crowd, but will we pray earnestly to the Lord of the harvest to send out laborers into His harvest.

From the Back Porch,

Bob Rice