Skip to main content

Thursday... How do we handle annoyances?


Thursday... How do we handle annoyances? And we have a lot of them, don't we? At least make out that we do by the way we act.

Well Jesus had a couple of those annoying times at least to us they would be annoying.

Matthew 14 tells of a death of a close friend of Jesus. His name was John. He had been killed by King Herod and verse 12 (NLT) says, "John's disciples came for his body and buried it. They then went and told Jesus what had happened." 

Now what do you do when you hear really bad news?  Well, verse 13a says, "As soon as Jesus heard the news, he left in a boat to a remote area to be alone." And that's what we do. We tell our family that we need to be alone. But what if they don't let you, how do you respond to the annoyance of someone breaking in to your alone time? What are you doing? I said, I need to be alone, is a usual response, isn't it?

I love the Bible. It picks up where we live and the annoyances of where we live. The rest of verse 13 says, "But the crowds heard where he was headed and followed on foot from many towns." Do you think Jesus was annoyed? Do you think He said to them that He had just heard some bad news and that He needed to be alone? That's how we respond too many times to our family or our friends or our neighbors. What are you doing, I need to be alone.

Verse 14 tells us what Jesus did. It says, "Jesus saw the huge crowd as he stepped from the boat, and he had compassion on them and healed their sick."

Here is another annoyance that the disciples had. Verse 15 says, "That evening the disciples came to him and said, 'This is a remote place, and it's already getting late. Send the crowds away so they can buy food for themselves.'" So how did Jesus respond at this annoyance? Verse 16, "But Jesus said, 'That isn't necessary - you feed them.'" Now that became a big annoyance to them but it also became a life-changing experience. They saw Jesus take five loaves and two fishes and feed over 5,000 people and they had twelve baskets of leftovers.

How does Jesus handle annoyances? He handles them with love and sees them as opportunities to show His love.

What if we would take the annoyances in our families, our friends, our neighbors as opportunities to show our love? It would change their lives and our lives too. Now that is how Jesus handled annoyances. Yes, yes! #todaysbeginning

Comments

Popular posts from this blog

Friday... Yes, we need them. We really do

Psalm 8:3-4 (NLT), "When I look at the night sky and see the work of your fingers - the moon and the stars you set in place - what are mere mortals that you should think about them, human beings that you should care for them?" Friday... Yes, we need them. We really do. No, not the fact that I can go out my front door and look out at night at the marvels of the sky. I can do that and it is amazing and it takes my breath away each time I see it. Yes, that is a fact but the reality of who did that and the wisdom and the faith that I have to believe that and to marvel that the one who did that cares about me makes such a difference in how I live my life. Yes, God really does. That is so wonderful for us to believe. And that is why faith and wisdom are so important. Now whatever belief you have at how that marvel happened must also be believed through faith. And the sad thing to me is that more and more people have been taught that there is no God and therefore he did not have a h...

Monday... Three ifs and two thens. They go together!

Monday... Three ifs and two thens. They go together! They really do. And this is what caught my attention this morning as I was reading Proverbs 2. Verse 1 (NRSVUE) says, "My child, if you accept my words and treasure my commands within you." Verse 3 (NIV), "Indeed i f you call  out for insight and cry aloud for understanding, Verse 4, and if you look for it as for silver and search for it as for hidden treasure, Verse 5, then you will understand the fear of the Lord and find the knowledge of God." And verses 9-11, " Then you will understand what is right and just and fair - every good path. For wisdom will enter your heart, and knowledge will be pleasant to your soul. Discretion will protect you, and understanding will guard you." There will always be some effort we must do, some ifs for the thens to be realized in our lives. So many of us want to understand without the ifs. But the thens are so worth, so very worth the effort. Verses 5-6 in the Ampli...

Wednesday... Our unless can turn into useless.

Wednesday... Our unless can turn into useless.  It really can. I have found that unless I give the correct email of my wife then I can't get what I wanted. I put an extra i in her email and I have been working for 5 days to get it changed. Unless has been useless. The writer of Psalm 94 uses this word and shows how important it is. Verses 17-19 (NLT) says, "Unless the Lord had helped me, I would have soon settled in the silence of the grave. I cried out, 'I'm slipping!' but your unfailing love, O Lord, supported me. When doubts filled my mind, your comfort gave me renewed hope and cheer." "Unless the Lord had helped me." So many people go on and on and on striving to live their life on their own but they keep slipping and doubting and living without hope and cheer. Yes the Lord has such unfailing love for us, he really does but unless we have a relationship with him and we turn to him and ask him for help then the unless turns in to useless because h...