Humility

No One is Too Small for God’s Purpose

/ pastorpete51 / 4 Comments

 Saying to them, “Go into the village in front of you, and immediately you will find a donkey tied, and a colt with her. Untie them and bring them to me. And if anyone says anything to you, you shall say, ‘The Lord has need of them,’ and immediately he will send them.” Matthew 21:2-3 ESV

Neither the disciples nor anyone in the village, could imagine why Jesus sent for the donkey that morning. God’s revealed that He had a plan and purpose tied alongside the donkey since He had spoken to the prophet Zechariah about it 550 years earlier. It is also important for us to know God’s purpose for our lives, but they aren’t always big purposes in our way of thinking. Though God’s big purposes aren’t about a bigger house, a bigger car, or a bigger bank account. Instead, He takes great joy in showing us that our small car, our small house and our small bank account can accomplish His plans if we will simply follow Him. And because God’s purposes are different for every person, we need don’t need to worry what others around us are doing. That morning the donkey only had to focus on the gentle tug on his reigns, to know when to slow down, to turn and when to hurry. He didn’t need to understand what people were doing around him, or know where Jesus was leading, he only needed to take one step at a time through the crowd that day.

So, what lies straight ahead on your path? Does it seem confusing that others are racing ahead of you, or do you feel confused by the sea of voices that seem to drown out yours? Be like that donkey this morning and just listen carefully for the quiet voice of Jesus, be sensitive to his touch when he pulls back on the reins and be ready to hurry forward when He urges you on. God has a big plan that includes our small part and He only asks that we trust Him about the destination He has chosen today!

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Big Things for Little People

/ pastorpete51 / 8 Comments 
 Whosoever therefore shall humble himself as this little child, 
the same is greatest in the kingdom of heaven. 
Matthew 18:4

Did you ever notice that Jesus always seemed to have small children close to Him? They must have felt comfortable just hanging out with Him, and today’s verse zeros in on one of those little ones. That day, the disciples, were arguing about who was the most important. Maybe Peter started it off by telling everyone how he had walked on water – at least a few steps.  Matthew could have mentioned that he had given Jesus the biggest party and of course John probably burst in by saying, “But he loves me the most!” While their debate raged on and they were trying to prove who was the best, they had not noticed a young boy who was listening – but Jesus did. Then Jesus took him by the hand and put him right into the middle of their circle and said, “This one (who you didn’t even notice) is the most important to God.“

Does that sound as familiar as your most recent family argument? Haven’t we all sometimes lost perspective on our attitude and the example we are setting? It is easy to get so worked up over the big important things we are doing for God, that we forget that what matters to Him the most is the “little people” around us. Often the little things we could do for them go undone because we are so busy trying to do “big things” for God. But to God there are no big or little things – no big or little people. What is big to God is whether we are doing the small things that He asks. Today people sometimes say, “Dream big!” with the focus on us. But God will never help us to do those “big things”, until we are willing to become like that child who simply wanted to be close to Jesus.

Coming to the Throne of Grace

/ pastorpete51 / 2 Comments

And behold, a woman of the city, who was a sinner, when she learned that he was reclining at table in the Pharisee’s house, brought an alabaster flask of ointment, and standing behind him at his feet, weeping, she began to wet his feet with her tears and wiped them with the hair of her head and kissed his feet and anointed them with the ointment. Luke 7:37-38 ESV

Luke doesn’t try to put a positive spin on the fact that this woman was a sinner. Actually, this story hinges on the sinfulness of the woman and the grace of God. Many of us are like this woman except that we wear 21st century clothes. What has not changed is that we have exactly the same problem. If we follow this woman’s example, we will find that Jesus has exactly the same solution!

Are we willing to go into the Pharisees house and put ourselves in a vulnerable position before Jesus Christ? Are we ready to go into a place where we might be criticized, ostracized or tossed out? This woman came and wasted no time going to Jesus. She must have decided that if she was going to be tossed out at least she would have time to pour out her alabaster flask. Yet as she drew close to Jesus something unexpected happened.  She began to weep for her sins and the tears fell on His feet. Then seeing the tears coursing through the dust on His feet she knelt and began to wipe them with her hair and kissed them and anointed them with her oil. She might not have understood what was happening and the Pharisee certainly had no clue.  The throne of grace is an awesome place. We never know what will happen when we get there.  What we can know is that when we get there Jesus is ready to receive us and forgive our every sin!