Seeing

Jesus looked at him and loved him. Mark 10:21

Before we can struggle with loving others like Jesus loves them, it might be best to begin by first looking at them. Sometimes our lives have become so self-absorbed that no matter what we might see with our eyes, in reality we are merely looking at ourselves. Jesus looked at him. Truth is, if you read the text you’ll notice that even this man was looking at himself (“what must I do to inherit eternal life?” he asks). Jesus tries to get him to look at the poor around him and yet he went away sad because he was unwilling to look away from the “me” that was him. The love of Jesus is found in this, He looked away to look at us – at you – and in seeing you couldn’t help but love you. Not because you deserved His love – heavens no! But rather because seeing you He noticed how much you needed His love. Jesus, help us to look at others and see the same. Amen.

Self Denial

Here is something to wonder about. Jesus calls us to deny ourselves (Mark 8:34). The problem though is that you can't really deny yourself while you're thinking about self denial. Everytime I focus on denying myself I end up back at thinking about and focusing on me - the very one I'm trying to deny! Rather than trying to and praying for self denial, I find that the call to self denial is really a call to totally and completely (yes, I know these words mean the same thing) have my heart turned AWAY from ME - to the Lord and those whom He so dearly loves.

Lord Jesus, rather than helping me deny myself, I desire to put all of my hope and trust in You and your grace and mercy and love, and to walk with you as you bring that grace and mercy and love to the world around me. In your name. Amen