Jesus Will Not Send You Away
One day Jesus and His disciples were traveling to Tyre when a Gentile woman began to follow them. She was begging Jesus for help. Her daughter was demon-possessed and she knew that Jesus was the only one who could help. The woman was not the kind of person the disciples wanted to be seen with. So they urged Jesus to send her away.
As I read this story I was reminded of when I served as the pastor of different churches. Sometimes people who did not fit in would come to worship with us. Some of these people had bad hygiene, others had emotional issues or maybe addictions that they could not overcome. These people had needs that only Jesus could meet. But they were not the kind of people we wanted to be around. As the pastor, I often heard insinuations that we should send these people away because they bothered the congregation.
The sad truth is we who are church people like to surround ourselves with other people who look, act, and sound just like us. We have been commanded to love our neighbors. So we try to make sure that our neighbors are people that we want to love. We do not like having people in our midst who scare us, challenge us, or make us uncomfortable. So we hope these people will disappear because they bother us.
I have some good news. Good news for us good, Christian church people with needs that we keep hidden because we do not want to bother anyone. The good news is also for those who don’t fit into the church because their needs bother the people of the church. This good news is found in Psalms 145:18-19: “The LORD is near to all who call upon Him, To all who call upon Him in truth. He will fulfill the desire of those who fear Him; He also will hear their cry and save them.”
The gentile woman bothered the disciples so they insisted that Jesus send her away. But Jesus would not do that. Instead, He allowed her to exercise her great faith. Then he met her need and He healed her daughter.
Today you have a need that only Jesus can fill. People will try to turn you away because you bother them. But you don’t bother Jesus. Have faith in Him, keep calling out to Him and I promise you Jesus will not send you away.
“But what does it say? “The word is near you, in your mouth and in your heart” (that is, the word of faith which we preach): that if you confess with your mouth the Lord Jesus and believe in your heart that God has raised Him from the dead, you will be saved. For with the heart one believes unto righteousness, and with the mouth confession is made unto salvation.
For the Scripture says, “Whoever believes on Him will not be put to shame.” For there is no distinction between Jew and Greek, for the same Lord over all is rich to all who call upon Him. For “whoever calls on the name of the Lord shall be saved.”
How then shall they call on Him in whom they have not believed? And how shall they believe in Him of whom they have not heard? And how shall they hear without a preacher? And how shall they preach unless they are sent? As it is written: “How beautiful are the feet of those who preach the gospel of peace, Who bring glad tidings of good things!””
Romans 10:8-15 NKJV
https://bible.com/bible/114/rom.10.8-15.NKJV
Douglas & Deborah Huff
From Down Where The Pavement Ends
email-douglas@pavementendsministry.com
thank you Brother good reminder that today is the day of salvation – sad some think themselves better they may hear one day “depart from me I never knew you”