The Power of the One!

Good morning to all on this wonderful Saturday. I am content and happy. I have my husband and my grandchildren surrounding me and life is good! Thank you for your prayers of safety for me and thank you for your prayers for my family. God is so good that I can't stop talking about Him or His Son Jesus who sacrificed Himself so that I might live. Jill is here so my blog will have the needed attention that I have been looking forward to.

I am contiuing my travels in Matthew 12 today, verses 1-14, "At that time Jesus went through the grainfields on the Sabbath. His disciples were hungry and began to pick some heads of grain and eat them. When the Pharisees saw this, they said to him, "Look! Your disciples are doing what is unlawful on the Sabbath." He answered, "Haven't you read what David did when he and his companions were hungry? He entered the house of God, and he and his companions ate the consecrated bread—which was not lawful for them to do, but only for the priests. Or haven't you read in the Law that on the Sabbath the priests in the temple desecrate the day and yet are innocent? I tell you that one[a] greater than the temple is here. If you had known what these words mean, 'I desire mercy, not sacrifice,'you would not have condemned the innocent. For the Son of Man is Lord of the Sabbath." Going on from that place, He went into their synagogue, and a man with a shriveled hand was there. Looking for a reason to accuse Jesus, they asked him, "Is it lawful to heal on the Sabbath?" He said to them, "If any of you has a sheep and it falls into a pit on the Sabbath, will you not take hold of it and lift it out? How much more valuable is a man than a sheep! Therefore it is lawful to do good on the Sabbath." Then He said to the man, "Stretch out your hand." So he stretched it out and it was completely restored, just as sound as the other. But the Pharisees went out and plotted how they might kill Jesus. Wow!

Have you met folk like these Pharisees? Folk that you can't reason with no matter what you say or do; you can't win them over because they are bent on finding something not to like about you. They have a preconceived opinion or prejudice about you. Well that is what was happening to Jesus--I am reading this passage and thinking "how can you criticize a man for healing someone regardless of the day of the week?" These Pharisees were full of themselves and the devil. They thought more about protecting their status than the Power of the One who provided to them the very air they breathed. There is a saying that "Power corrupts, and corrupts absolutely!" and in the case of the Pharisees no truer words were spoken.

Are there areas of your life that your protect as the Pharisees protected their power base. Are there areas that you have not yielded to Jesus and the Cross? These areas may be preventing you from experiencing the abundance of life that is available to you just as the Pharisees were unable to experience the abundance of the relationship available through Christ because they wanted to protect their status. Was it worth it! They were betting that the law would protect them from the consequences of their actions. Some Christians believe that their intentions, which they believe to be pure, will protect them from those acts that do not reflect the fruits of the Spirit. At the end of the day, we are to love God with all of our hearts, minds and soul and then love each other as Christ loved us! Regardless of your intentions, if these two commandments are not evident in your life, examine the junk in your trunk.

Remeber to love Him today and be blessed

Stephanie