A Long Journey...Matthew 17:14-23...The Line in the Sand

 


This is a picture of my in-laws, Harry and Asenath.  They have been on a long journey together.  77 years of marriage and still going.  How did this happen?  Well one reason was getting married young and another was drawing a line in the sand to hold true to the vows said 77 years ago at a church altar before God and many witnesses.  

The line in the sand can be a good thing especially if it drives us to be urgent about the important things of life.  Jesus brings His disciples back to the line in the sand that God's plan involves His coming first to save and then His coming again to judge.  The church resides into between those two comings of Christ.  What do we need to be urgent about?

In our passage we have parents urgently pleading for their children before Jesus.  Sometimes this is because of something negative happening to the child but we also see other times when parents are bring their children to Jesus in a positive setting for Him to bless them.  We need to be urgent to bring our children and grandchildren before Jesus everyday.  They need to be on our list and we need to be praying that the eyes of their hearts will be open to see Jesus for who He is and respond with repentance and belief.

We also see in our passage an urgency to make Jesus foundational to all that we say and do.  Too many times Jesus is on the bench in our lives.  He is part of "our" team rather than we are part of "His" team.  We call upon Him when needed.  The disciples asked Jesus, "Why could we not cast it out?"  The emphasis was on them and the time in prayer and fasting focused on God was set aside.  We need to be urgent in keeping Jesus in the center of all we say and do.  The "follow Me" of the terms and conditions is preceded by "denying ourselves" and "taking up our cross."  Both of these describe what it means to truly follow Him and make Him foundational.

Finally we see in our passage the urgency to allow God's plan to bring us comfort and also direction.  The far prophecy of Malachi some 400+ years earlier has been fulfilled and explained by Jesus.  The nearer prophecy that some of the disciples would not physically die before the Son of Man was seen in His glory was fulfilled by Peter, James and John on the mount.  The 4 fold near prophecy will be fulfilled of 1) going to Jerusalem, 2) suffering and being betrayed at the hands of men and the religious leaders, 3) being killed, and then 4) rising again on the 3rd day.  Confidence and comfort that Jesus' future prophecies will also be fulfilled with His coming again but also direction to be urgent about sharing the message of Jesus, being about the method of discipleship with other children of God, and proceeding through this life with the motive of love.  

A great marriage also has Jesus as its message and it has discipleship for the two become one as its method and it has a love that extends beyond oneself as its motive.  May we be urgent about what is truly important of this life.

Adam




A simple man serving a great God and the local pastor of Stillwater Community Chapel (stillwater-chapel.org). We are in our 39th year of full time ministry. God directed us to this local body of believers on the Western Range of the Rockies to grow with them in mission and mindedness of Christ.

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