Sunday 16 May 2010

Choices(1)

I wonder if you like me wonder about the choices you make on a day to day basis. In particular at the moment I am wondering about how I treat the people I meet every day. I wonder when I spend time with new people whether they know that I am a Christian. I don't mean just because I tell them I mean do they notice from the way I live my life and by the way that I interact with people.
Have you ever noticed how Jesus interacted with people. Jesus had time for people. Whether it was to heal them or to challenge them about there faith. He loved people and loved to spend time with them. He had compassion on them.

Matthew 8 (New Living Translation)

Matthew 8
Jesus Heals a Man with Leprosy
1 Large crowds followed Jesus as he came down the mountainside. 2 Suddenly, a man with leprosy approached him and knelt before him. “Lord,” the man said, “if you are willing, you can heal me and make me clean.”

 3 Jesus reached out and touched him. “I am willing,” he said. “Be healed!” And instantly the leprosy disappeared. 4 Then Jesus said to him, “Don't tell anyone about this. Instead, go to the priest and let him examine you. Take along the offering required in the law of Moses for those who have been healed of leprosy.[a] This will be a public testimony that you have been cleansed.”

I think we forget when reading this that leprosy was such a feared disease in Jesus day. To touch a leper not only made you unclean but would mean you could contract the disease. Jesus did not have to touch him to heal him so why does he do it?  He does it from compassion. This man probably had not been touched in years. Years later Dr Paul Brand who pioneered the study of leprosy did a similar thing. The thing that amazed the lepers that came for treatment was that he touched them. Nobody touches a leper but Jesus does.
My point is just simply that I wonder what would happen if I treated people like Jesus. I wonder if I truly and properly modeled Jesus Christ and met people like he met people and love them like he loves them what sort of impact it would make.

1 comment:

Lorna's Ark said...

probably a big one!