FAIL FIRE!
Luke 9:51-53
51 As metformin hcl 850 mg tablets the time approached for him to be taken up to heaven, Jesus resolutely set out for Jerusalem. 52 And he sent messengers on ahead, who went into a Samaritan village to get things ready for him; 53 but the people there did not welcome him, because he was heading for Jerusalem.
You know how sometimes we are impatient or hot-tempered that we say things that many times are inappropriate? Like this:
You were walking with your crush in a busy sidewalk when somebody hits your crush on the shoulder, she gets hurt and you ask, “Are you hurt? You want me to punch him?”
How about this…
You and your classmates gather for some chit-chat and somebody so proud tells the group, “Somebody wrote this stupid poem, it’s all wrong grammar and it doesn’t even have a point.” And you paused for a minute because that was your poem, then you and your best friend beside you look at each other because he knew you wrote that poem and then suddenly he whispers, “I’ll kill this guy for you.”
How insensitive people are, right? But haven’t you thought that your friends are insensitive as well, by cursing these people thinking that you will be comforted by what they said? What they did was just to “add fuel to the fire”.
We will always encounter people that will insensitively hurt you (this is inevitable) and it comes with it people who will insensitively add fuel to our fires. There was one instance where this happened to Jesus, look/read at how Jesus acted upon this situation.
Luke 9:54 “When the disciples James and John* saw this, they asked, “Lord, do you want us to call fire down from heaven to destroy them?”
*James and John in another verse were called “Sons of Thunder”—temperamental
Why spur metformin hydrochloride 1000 mg your friend to hate those people? In this case, why spur Jesus to hate these Samaritans? I believe, Jesus led them to that path intentionally to check the hearts of the disciples. Jesus wanted to straighten them up and even to face them with their “respectable sin.”
What Jesus did was extraordinary. When we are hurt we lash out to the person who gave us that pain and sometimes we want to give back the same pain or more. But when Jesus was rejected to pass through Samaria going to Jerusalem He was humble enough to give them their request.
Illustration: “I remember I was walking going to the office. I don’t usually have an easy path to walk through and so I look for paths that are good for shortcuts. My wife and I discovered this open parking lot and to our comfort we will always walk through the parking lot to go home at night. Then one morning, I was left to go to the office because my wife woke early for work. I entered the parking lot shortcut with ease. But I saw the security guard walking across me and I was already feeling uneasy, because I felt he was going to stop me. Lo and behold, he said, “sir, bawal ho dumaan dito (serious tone).” I was already at the middle of my walk through that parking lot and in my mind I was thinking, “What!? We always pass here? So many people pass here? Why can’t we pass here?” I was beginning to be furious about the situation. But God stopped me and so I shut up and didn’t say anything after it and went through a different path. After that I was humble through my compliance by was not humble in my heart because I was grumbling…”
But look at what Jesus did. He remained humble, He gave them their request (v55). Sometimes when our rights are violated, we answer back by being proud and insensitive. Jesus’ right’s were violated (His “right” was, I am God), but He didn’t call fire from heaven to kill those Samaritans, He has love for them. That’s why look at what Jesus did to James and John,
55 But Jesus turned and rebuked them, and they went to another village.
Did you think He was to agree to call fire from heaven to kill them? If “yes,” our insensitive selves are wrong. We don’t need to look at the person who’ve hurt us but ourselves. God is checking your heart, He is checking His sons and daughters heart. As we live on this temporary earth will we be able to show these insensitive people God’s love? And if we show God’s love, will they be able to recognize their faults and change for how God has affected your life—through the humility and love that you’ve shown them?
Application:
- Be humble.
- Learn to reflect Christ-likeness to people who are insensitive with your feelings.
- Love your enemies.
Prayer: Lord, teach me the Christ-like character of humility. That I may be able to love people even if they have hurt me. So that I may be able to encourage them through the love that you have daily given to me. Amen.
