GraceCreates

By Jon Walker

Jesus stopped and ordered the man to be brought to him. When he came near, Jesus asked him, “What do you want me to do for you?” “Lord, I want to see,” he replied. Luke 18:40-41 (NIV)

Jesus stopped. He stopped when people needed his help, when they needed his comfort, when they needed his protection, when they needed an answer to a perplexing problem.

Jesus saw the interruptions in his life as divine opportunities to show God’s love to people in desperate need.

Jesus expresses love through action, and he calls us to the same. He was on an urgent and vital mission, but he took time to stop. Woe to those Jesus-ones who become so busy saving the world that they ignore the perceived interruptions of those in need. We’re taught to be like the Good Samaritan, ready to stop for someone in need. (Luke 10)

An eye-witness to the action-love of Jesus, John, the apostle of love, was an eyewitness to the action-love of Jesus. When he reflected on what he’d seen, he explained Jesus-love like this: “If you see some brother or sister in need and have the means to do something about it but turn a cold shoulder and do nothing, what happens to God’s love? It disappears. And you made it disappear.” (1 John 3:17, MSG, italics added)

For Jesus, love is a show, then tell activity. When he acted upon his love, people realized “… they were in a place of holy mystery, that God was at work among them. They were quietly worshipful – and then noisily grateful, calling out among themselves, ‘God is back, looking to the needs of his people!’” (Luke 7:16, MSG)

If you’d like to receive these devotionals regularly, you can sign-up at www.gracecreates.com/subscribe/. Jon Walker writes from www.gracecreates.com. He is a Zondervan author, and the former writer/editor of the Purpose Driven Life On-Line Devotionals. This devotional is copyrighted 2008 by Jon Walker. Used by permission.