Daily Bread

Are Nursing Homes in the Bible?

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When Jesus walked the earth there were no nursing homes, but in His day, the pool of Bethesda was similar to a long term care facility in some ways. Let’s just peek in to a scene from His visit there.

One man was there who had been an invalid for thirty-eight years. When Jesus saw him lying there and knew that he had already been there a long time, he said to him, “Do you want to be healed?”    John 5:5-6

As Jesus entered Jerusalem to attend one of the religious holidays, he chose to pay a visit to someone in need. You might compare this to making a detour on the way to a Thanksgiving dinner to see someone in the nursing home. You see that day almost everyone was headed out to sit down to a special dinner with friends or family, everyone that is except for the crowd at the Bethesda pool. There people waited in hope of a miracle.

Nursing homes are filled with people just like those folks. The man that Jesus came to see had been waiting and dreaming of a miracle for 38 years. In fact this man didn’t even know who Jesus was. Jesus didn’t show up to see a show, or to bring a reward for good behavior. Jesus came because He knew how long this man had waited. He came to show mercy.  Nursing home ministry is about showing God’s mercy to people just like that man. When we show God’s mercy to people Jesus comes, because His promise is that if just two or three gather in His name He will be there. Now imagine the possibilities if we sing together!

P1020139

Is He Calling Your Name?

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The waiting room is noisy and crowded. People are trying different ways to not look stressed. Some are reading, some texting a friend while others simply sit quietly. But if we were honest all of us are straining to hear only one thing and that is for our own name to be called.

But we will never be called unless the doctor is expecting us. We will never be expected unless we have scheduled an appointment. And they will never schedule that appointment until the terms of payment are accepted.

Have I made that appointment with God? Does He have my name written down in his book? My great assurance is that He has found me – His lost sheep and brought me and all the other wanderers home to Himself. When the bill for our rescue came due He stamped across the invoice – paid in full! Because the Good Shepherd has laid down His life for His sheep any moment now He will be calling your name!

Fallow Ground

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Sow to yourselves in righteousness, reap in mercy; break up your fallow ground: for it is time to seek the Lord , till he come and rain righteousness upon you. Hosea 10:12 KJVFallow – a state in which a field is unplowed, unplanted and unused.That a field is left fallow in no way implies that it isn’t lovely or that it is useless. Fallowness is a state of rest during which the ground can regain its strength after years of crop bearing.But the same God who chooses our seasons to lie fallow also decides when it is time to plow again. We are most able to hear the plowman’s call when we rest in His timing and plan. He has not chosen us to decide the seed or the season of planting. We are called to abide quietly till the new crop must be put in. Then we can awaken with joy because the roughness of a plow dragging across our field means a harvest of mercy is dawning on God’s horizon!