Daily Journal: 30 October

Staying Close to Jesus

Who is Jesus to you?

Wherever Jesus went He drew people. People wanted to hear what He said and spend time with Him. Like moths to a flame, people recognised they needed Him. But did they love Him?

Matthew 8:14-15 (CEB)

Jesus went home with Peter and saw Peter’s mother-in-law lying in bed with a fever. He touched her hand, and the fever left her. Then she got up and served them.

I have never thought too much about this verse, except she got up from her sick bed to work.

Not so.

She had been suffering with a fever. We don’t know what medicines or remedies they had for healing then, but it wasn’t like today. So, when He just touched her hand and the fever departed, her immediate healing was something to celebrate.

Her family would have been hugging, rejoicing together with Jesus. She wanted to show her love and appreciation and so she served them. Staying close to Jesus would have been a natural expression of joy and gratitude at her wellness. Together, they would have talked and laughed, enjoying each other’s company without concern for her health. She served Jesus, and her family because she loved them.

When I serve others, I am staying closer to Jesus too. When I minister at their bedside, or spend time with them talking, or help them engage in an activity, when I hold their hand in their anxiety, or laugh with them and draw them out, I am staying close to Jesus.

Matthew 25:34-40 (NIV)

“Then the King will say to those on his right, ‘Come, you who are blessed by my Father; take your inheritance, the kingdom prepared for you since the creation of the world. For I was hungry and you gave me something to eat, I was thirsty and you gave me something to drink, I was a stranger and you invited me in, I needed clothes and you clothed me, I was sick and you looked after me, I was in prison and you came to visit me.’

“Then the righteous will answer him, ‘Lord, when did we see you hungry and feed you, or thirsty and give you something to drink? When did we see you a stranger and invite you in, or needing clothes and clothe you? When did we see you sick or in prison and go to visit you?’

“The King will reply, ‘Truly I tell you, whatever you did for one of the least of these brothers and sisters of mine, you did for me.

Staying close to Jesus means staying close to others.

Lord, I have spent years keeping myself away from others in order to heal from the wounds they can and have inflicted on me. Like lying in bed with a fever, I have become a helper and lover of people from a safe distance. But you say, Lord, to draw closer. Not to those who damage, but to those whom I can serve. So, help me to love more closely. In the mess of daily life, and in loving those around me more fully, I pray you will bless them, bless me, and I pray that you are blessed. I want you to feel my love for you. I pray that love and closeness will bring the same restoration and joy as it did with Peter’s mother-in-law.