SCRIPTURE: Mark 10:46-52
Someone desperately wants Jesus’ help and mercy, but he is rebuked and silenced.
I sense this still happens today; most people sense their need for hope and help, but the church has hindered them.
We put up barriers, we tell them to be quiet, to dress up, to change, to become like us, if they want to come to Jesus.
I am convinced that many people the church bypasses or ignores or silences are the very ones that Jesus stops for.
It’s not that He’s fine with their condition, but that He knows they need to come to Him first so that He can help them.
We come to Jesus just as we are – blind, sick, sinful – but when we meet Jesus, we do not stay as we are.
Our job is not to change people, nor can we even expect them to change, until they meet Jesus.
And that change can take time, as Jesus draws out from our hearts what we want, and what we need.
Transformation is a process for all of us, it comes through ongoing interaction with Jesus and the inworking of His Spirit.
We should be open, welcoming communities of Jesus-followers, helping people interact with Jesus just as they are, so that He can help transform them just as He wants them to be.
What do you sense the Lord saying to you?
PRAYER
Lord, forgive us for putting up barriers as Christians to those who are desperate, needy, sinful. Help me to see that every person’s greatest need to is be brought into Your presence, so that You can do Your work in them!