Monday, January 24, 2011

The Untouchables

No I am not referring to the movie. More like to the people in the bible that no one else would touch, but Jesus did.

Remember the man who had leprosy who and when he saw Jesus, he knelt before Him and said "Lord if you are willing, You can make me clean." Of course Jesus was (and still is) willing, so He touched the man, and immediately he was cleansed of his disease.

Mark 1 v 40-42....NKJV....Now a leper came to Him imploring Him, kneeling down to Him and saying to Him, "If You are willing, You can make me clean." Then Jesus, moved with compassion, stretched out His hand and touched him, and said to him, "I am willing; be cleansed." As soon as He had spoken, immediately the leprosy left him, and he was cleansed......

We sometimes don't want to touch those who appear undesirable to us. We sometimes want to stay in our little comfort zones at church and turn a blind eye to those who need a touch. I have seen this happen even inside churches where someone who doesn't look or act exactly like some may think they should, and then they are avoided and ignored. Too many times, we want to turn our heads and pretend we don't see them. I myself was about as crude and undesirable as one could get when I first started attending church. We are all babes when we first come to Christ, we have to be fed so that we may grow. We have to be comfortable coming to a place to be fed so that we will not want to miss any meals. AMEN!

Jesus did not tell us to build churches so that we could hold a fasion show each week, to see who dresses the best. His house is built for everyone to come to worship Him. To be able to come to seek help if they need or want it.

Sometimes the untouchables may have to reach deep into themselves just to get out of their comfort zone to come to worship the Lord, or come seeking help from those they believe can help them. They may be in real need of prayer and they have reached out to the church where the church may have missed them on the streets.

Jesus called us to go out and take the good news, to heal the brokenhearted and the sick. To touch those with His love and with His compassion. He commissioned us to do the same as His Father in heaven sent Him to do. First, we have to get out of ourselves, and then let His Spirit rise up in us so that we are able to minister to those who just need a touch of His compassion and with the love that He loved with.

Luke 4 v 18-19...."The Spirit of the Lord is upon Me. because He has annointed Me to preach the gospel to the poor; He has sent Me to heal the brokenhearted, to proclaim liberty to the captives and recovery of sight to the blind. To set at liberty those who are oppressed; to proclaim the acceptable year of the Lord."

And then Jesus passed that authority on to us in John 14.

John 14 v 12-14....NKJV...."Most assuredly, I say to you, he who believes in Me, the works that I do he will do also; and greater works than these he will do because I go to My Father. And whatever you ask in My name, that I will do, that the Father may be glorified in the Son. If you ask anything in My name, I will do it....


Have you ever heard another christian say, "I am not going near that, there are too many bad spirits around that person, I am not going to let that get on me"? Well, first of all they have just walked out of love. When we walk in love toward our fellow man, just as Jesus did, we are walking with Jesus. When we step out of love and start walking in judgment, we have walked away from Jesus.

In other words when we see someone that may look undesirable, untouchable in our eyes, we have two decisions to choose from, we can decide we are going to get as far away as we can, or we can pray for that person maybe even give that person a hug if they are receptive to that. Jesus touched the people He healed. He didn't just stand up there all high and mighty on the mountain and look down at the people. No, He walked among the people. He made Himself available to the people.

You may say, I want to have the compassion and the love Jesus had for others, I want to be more like Him and able to minister to those I might be leary of, who might seem untouchable or undesirable to me. How can I do this? Well, first you need to get into His word and learn His ways. You have to be able to come out of yourself and let His Spirit rise up in you.

Remember when you walk in love you are walking with Him. He will guide you along the way.

STAY IN THE WORD!

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