Today’s scripture: Luke 7:11-17 (NRSV) (The Message) (KJV) What might God be saying to me?
My thoughts (Tommy Chittenden):
In the recent Be Still entry titled Friend Of The Groom, David Squire offered a wonderful insight into the miracle Jesus performed at a wedding feast. David observed that “Jesus cares about the little stuff. There’s nothing so small that we can’t take it to Jesus and ask, “What do you think about this? Can you help me out?”
In the real world, aka life, how often do we find ourselves picking and choosing the problems, challenges, fears, and issues we feel are big enough or important enough to “have a conversation with God” over? Are we guilty of saying “God, here’s what is going on in my life that I believe you would want me to bring to the table. Surely you wouldn’t want to be bothered with the little stuff?”
Now I’m going to ask you to stop and read today’s scripture again.
Consider this. Did this mother, already a widow, ask Jesus to bring her only son back to life? Luke doesn’t indicate she did. The death of her only son was an incredibly significant event for her, personally and socially — one that would have invoked heart-wrenching begging for a miracle from most mothers in her situation. If only she knew who this Man was who approached her! Look at verse 13. “When the Lord saw her, his heart went out to her and he said, ‘Don’t cry’.”
From turning water into wine so that the guests could continue to celebrate (and by doing so saving a friend from embarrassment) to restoring life to a widow’s dead son, turning her grief to joyous celebration (and perhaps, reinstating her only source of support and security) Jesus’ conscious intention is to tangibly express compassion and understanding no matter what the situation or who he encounters in the course of a day.
I will always remember how excited my sons were the first few minutes they arrived home from school. (As a youth pastor, I had the opportunity to often be at home when the school bus arrived.) They had stories, papers, announcements, and more to show and tell. I’ll also remember the very difficult conversations about relationships, death, and rite of passage moments we shared. As a parent, I’m so grateful they chose to share so many things in their life with me — big and small alike.
We absolutely make ourselves ineligible for the wisdom, power, and compassionate love of our Creator, the Source of Life, when we exercise our free will to “opt-out” of having those conversations with God regarding whatever is impacting our lives! Could this possibly be what Jesus is teaching in Matthew 7:7-8? What an open invitation from Jesus — it’s still available to you and me today!
Thought for the day: Jesus, in my desire to have a closer, intimate relationship, remind me to become like a child again — removing all of my self-imposed filters — and tell it like it is!
We encourage you to include a time of prayer with this reading. If you need a place to start, consider the guidelines on the How to Pray page.