Jesus Came For This Reason

In the early years of my paralysis, I traveled to many faith-healing services. My fingers and feet never seemed to get the message, though. After one healing service, I went home so dejected but I decided to go right to the word of God. I happened to turn to the first chapter of the Gospel of Mark. 

Although it was still early in the morning, crowds of disabled and sick people came to Capernaum to find Jesus. But I read on and I realized he wasn't there. He had gone up into the hills to pray. Now let me read to you exactly what happens from there. It says in Mark 1:36-39  "... Simon and his companions went to look for Jesus, and when they found him, they exclaimed: 'Everyone is looking for you!' Jesus replied, 'Let us go somewhere else - to the nearby villages - so I can preach there also. That is why I have come.'" Wasn't that something?

Jesus refused to meet with the crowd; He knew there were perhaps hundreds of lame and disabled people down at the bottom of the hill, looking for Him, waiting for Him... but rather than go down the hill to help them, to heal them, Jesus simply turned to His disciples and said, "Let's go somewhere else. Let's go to other villages so I can preach in those places for this is why I have come." 

Oh, friend, it's not that Jesus didn't care about the cancer-ridden, or the blind or the disabled; it's just that their illnesses weren't his focus. The Gospel was. Jesus' message was: God is holy and you are not... He is just, and your soul is in risk of hell, but the Father sent me to show his love... now believe in me and you will be saved. Whenever people miss this - whenever they started coming to Jesus to have their pains and problems removed - that's when the Savior backed away.

Now this may come as a surprise to, well... at least a few Christians, but Jesus did not come to make our lives happy, healthy, or free of trouble. He came to deal with sin and all of its results... all of its effects in our hearts. 

So let me ask you, friend. On a scale of one-to-ten, how often do you ask God to remove a painful situation from your life? Now, on the same scale, how quick are you to tell people about the Gospel, the real focus of Jesus' coming? Do you find a gap on that scale? Is something not connecting? Remember, God saved you to tell others His good news - and here's the thing: your painful situation may be his best platform to showcase the Gospel. I say that as a quadriplegic in a wheelchair - it's our suffering that really showcases the power, the life-transforming miracle of His grace in our lives. And, friend, that's why the good news sounds so great! Oh, that we may have the same sense of urgency about giving the Gospel... the same urgency, the same single-minded purpose that Jesus had when He walked the earth. For this is why He came... and this is the purpose for your life as well. 

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