This is a very interesting verse; it especially becomes
interesting when you think that this verse follows Jesus telling the Pharisees
that He has come for the weak and sick of the world, and not for the ones that
are already righteous. Jesus goes on to tell the disciples of John,
who are inquiring about why Jesus’s disciples don’t need to fast, but that they
do.
Jesus tells them, pretty openly, that when you are at a wedding you
are not mourning the groom, no, you are celebrating the wedding. When the
groom leaves, or the bridegroom as He puts it, then you may mourn.
Jesus is again giving us another parable of how He represents the
bridegroom to the church and to the people, and since He is still here, what
purpose would it be for His disciple to fast, when they have Him. Jesus
also gives us a bit of insight or foreshadowing, into the fact that He will be
departing soon, and at that time fasting might be necessary for the disciples.
This leads up into Matthew 9:16. To me this is Jesus saying,
in yet another parable, if you have a hole in your soul or heart, you can’t
fill this hole with external things because a patch that is not designed to
fill the hole will only work temporarily.
In the world, we are currently living in, there are so many people
struggling with fears, phobias, addictions, depression and anxiety. I had
heard recently that 70% of all doctor prescriptions are to help treat
depression, anxiety and mental illness.
Do you think there is any correlation between the deterioration of
our relationships with God, and the rising of all of these problems?
I do.
I think when we put as much effort into the world to glamorize
violence, war, drugs, sex and disorders, we shouldn’t be surprised when we start
to accept them as the norm.
We are also in the meantime driving God so
far away from the mainstream culture that He is left with a faint whisper, in
the secular world.
There to me, has to be a connection between the lack of connection with God
in this world, and the demise of its people.
We have done all we can as a society to allow the white washing of
our people happen, and this is why the patches on the hurting people are not
working. We are fixing the holes with the wrong things, when people need
God.
They need a savior, I need a savior! We need to have an intimate connection
with the Almighty God.
I feel like the body of Christ, the ones who know, and believe, that
the relationship with God is a vital need to make it through every day, is
letting the people around them down. We are more worried about being
politically correct and being disrespectful of someone else’s view and opinions
than we are of God’s.
For example I work in marketing for a local radio station.
My company is wonderful! I have been extremely blessed to have my job and
to work for a company that allows me to be me, not matter how that
comes. I understand now, why God has placed me in this job. I
didn’t for some time, but now I see the holes in the people around me.
Today I was sitting on the couch in the lobby with my
three bosses, and we were just chatting about some upcoming ideas, and I had
said how great it would be if we became a Christian company. Now, I
say this while I am sitting beside my one boss, who I have a good friendship
with, but who is openly an atheist. Across from his boss who is
struggling with his faith, and is uncertain of what is real with God, and what’s
not, and my other boss who while he has made large strides in his attitude, he
doesn’t often exhibit himself as the Christian that I know he is.
I think of this moment and wonder how many other people have this
opportunity to plant a seed of God where they work, live, work out, or with whom
they spend time with. I know I am fortunate with my situation and trust
me, I am not quiet about what I believe. I have post it notes all over the
place with Bible verses, quotes and a collection of cds, dvds and books on my
desk.
I know that not everyone works in this kind of atmosphere but
isn’t there a way to carry God with you everywhere you go, without being in
fear of what the world is going to do to you?
Aren’t we supposed to be the ones that standout, not blend
in? We are to be the ones that change the people around us because they
are in such a need and desire to want what we have.
My question is how do
they know what you have when you hide who you are?
When you are living by the standards of the world you are not
living by the standards of God. You are not being a testament to the God
you claim to serve. Now, again, here is my disclaimer, if I have ruffled
any feathers, that is not my intention. My intention is to open our
eyes, including my own, to the destruction of the world and more importantly the
people around us.
When Jesus says in Matthew 9:16 you can’t put a patch that has not
been shrunk on an old garment, because the patch will just make the tear worse,
we need to open our eyes to that.
We need to realize that the rise in suicides, overdoses, mental
health issues, addictions of all kinds and violence are the patches of the old
garment, that no one took the time to make fit the hole. The fabric of the
world is being stripped away and we are allowing it.
I know, you probably know, the answer to this is
Jesus. Jesus is our lord and savior and He did not come to this
earth, die a horrific death and pay for sins He did not commit, to watch the
“religious” people sit by and not do anything.
We are being given a warning in Matthew 9:16 if we don’t
acknowledge it and make an attempt to make it better, shame on us. We
clearly see that if we don’t start to share the word of God with the people
around us the tear, hole is going to be worse.
Can you imagine life being worse?
Can you imagine living in a completely dull society where no one
cares if someone is murdered, dies of a drug overdose or is sexually abusing
someone else?
I want no parts of that world.
I want to do my part to
spread the word of God in my special way, because we all know that we are given
gifts and talents from God, so use yours. Find your gift and talent
and use it to glorify God, the one who not only gave you the gifts, and talents,
but created you.
We are here, in this world, for a specific reason and it doesn’t
take a rocket scientist to know we are nearing the end times. Let’s rise
up, join hands, talents and gifts, and serve the Lord who so graciously gives
to us.
It doesn’t matter if your platform is large or small, your impact
is felt everywhere. If you think about the telephone game, where one
person tells another person a sentence and by the time it gets to the end of
the row, the sentence is twisted and changed. How about we play the
telephone game with God.
Why don’t we commit to show, tell, bless, pray or give to one
person tomorrow and let the ripple effect be spread through them to the next
person and so on. If we decide that we are not going to lie down and
allow the world to make a mockery of God, we can change and save people’s
lives.
If we the body of God, become more aware of who is watching us and
the opportunities around us to spread God in any way we can, we can and will
change lives.
It’s time for us to rise up, help the broken and hurting
people of this world, and put cloth that has been shrunk on the old garment, so
the hole they have been carrying around no longer has to tear, bleed or hurt!
It's time that we reach out our hands and hearts in service to the ones who are lost and needy. It's time for us to be bold and live in the image we were created!
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