Press on, Messengers!
from Lenae, GEM Training Manager
At that time some Pharisees came to Jesus and said to him, “Leave this
place and go somewhere else. Herod wants to kill you.” He replied, “Go tell that fox, ‘I will keep on driving out demons and
healing people today and tomorrow, and on the third day I will reach my goal.’ In any case, I must press on today and
tomorrow and the next day—for surely no prophet can die outside Jerusalem!” (Luke 13:31-33)
Nothing distracted or deterred Jesus from His mission. No
amount of . . .
- Unbelief
- Rejection
- Opposition
- Threats
to His life, or
- Lies
and temptations from the enemy
. . . kept Him from reaching His goal. He would press on
and fulfill His mission to preach good news to the poor, to proclaim freedom
for the prisoners, sight for the blind, release for the oppressed, and to
proclaim the year of the Lord’s favor (Luke 4:18-19).
And although He never lost sight of His mission, what He
did see broke His heart. The ones He came to save wanted to stone Him. The
people He longed to enfold like a hen that gathers her chicks under her wings
were not willing to come. He was despised and rejected
by mankind . . . like one from whom people hide their faces he was despised . .
. (Isaiah 53:3).
And while the ones He loved spewed spit on and slapped His
face, and His own Father turned His face away from His Son, Jesus set His face
on the cross. Because He so loved the world, He pressed on and humbled himself by becoming obedient to death—even death on a cross (Philippians 2:8).
As His messengers, do we get stalled when people don’t
respond in the ways we had hoped? Do we get sidelined in sharing the good news
when things don’t go the way we had prayed?
Grieve for the lost, but do not give up! Weep for those
who are separated from Christ, but do not abandon your mission. Press on, dear
messengers! Compelled by Jesus’ love and eyes fixed full on His wonderful face,
keep bringing the message!
Send Me: Does your heart break for the lost? If not,
pray for it. Then press on and share the good news with a world desperate for
Jesus.
If Christ cried out and wept over Jerusalem, can we not cry out and
weep over our families, friends, streets, neighborhoods, towns, and cities? Christ and those closest to Him in
spirit and character are grieved when the gospel is preached and sinners are
not saved. — Jeremy Walker re
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