Due to weather conditions, all in-person daytime and evening programs have been canceled across the church’s locations for Wednesday, except for the Recovery programs and Food Pantry at Overland Park. Decisions for Thursday daytime programs will correspond with local school district decisions and will be posted on the church’s website.
Scheduled programming has resumed for Thursday, February 13 at all Resurrection locations.
20 When they reached Jesus, they said, “John the Baptist sent us to you. He asks, ‘Are you the one who is coming, or should we look for someone else?’”
21 Right then, Jesus healed many of their diseases, illnesses, and evil spirits, and he gave sight to a number of blind people. 22 Then he replied to John’s disciples, “Go, report to John what you have seen and heard. Those who were blind are able to see. Those who were crippled now walk. People with skin diseases are cleansed. Those who were deaf now hear. Those who were dead are raised up. And good news is preached to the poor [Isaiah 35:5-6; 61:1]. 23 Happy is anyone who doesn’t stumble along the way because of me.”
John the Baptist sent followers to ask if Jesus was really the promised Messiah. Rather than just say “yes,” Jesus pointed to his actions–healing the sick, giving sight to the blind, and cleansing those with leprosy. These actions grew from specific promises about what God’s Messiah would do. Jesus’ identity as Messiah was not “just talk.” His acts of healing and mercy that reached society’s most excluded people were strong evidence that he was indeed the one they had been waiting for.
Lord Jesus, you pointed John’s vision beyond his current situation to the eternal glory he will share when God remakes our world. Give me patience and faith when you don’t seem to be fixing things all at once. Amen.
Lauren Cook, who serves as the Entry Points Program Director at Resurrection, wrote today’s Insight. She is a self-proclaimed foodie, a bookworm, and is always planning her next trip. She has the sweetest (and sassiest) daughter, Carolina Rae, a rockstar husband, Austin, and a cutie pup named Thunder. She loves connecting with others so let her know the best place you've ever eaten, best book you've ever read, or best place you've ever been!
I think about this often: What would look different in my life if I didn’t love Jesus? What does look different in my life because I love Jesus?
These questions are trickier than they may seem at first. I certainly hope that my life looks different because I love Jesus, but what does that actually mean or look like? I try to think of concrete examples, and I do have a few such as, I probably wouldn’t spend time in the morning reading my Bible or walking and talking with God in the evenings. I probably wouldn’t work in ministry. I probably wouldn’t pray with my daughter before bed. But even these great things, do they so pervade that my entire life looks different? Do they show others that I am a follower of Christ?
The answer to that is yes and no, because I do all these things in relative privacy. But that doesn’t make these things meaningless. In fact, it is quite the opposite. It is the small, daily acts of worship such as these that mold my heart, mind, body and soul in ways that make my larger life picture look different. Because I spend time learning from God, I strive to make different decisions and lead differently. Because I spend time talking with God, I forgive more easily and see more clearly where I need forgiveness. I am a better parent, friend, spouse, and co-worker when I’ve rooted myself at the start of the day in who God made me to be. Because I pray with my daughter, I share with her what loving Jesus looks like. And because I love Jesus and have seen him do such work in my life, I feel passionately about sharing my faith with others through my work.
It doesn’t take grand acts for others to know who and whose you are. Your daily acts of worship help transform you from the inside out so that your life cannot help but look different, others cannot help but see God at work in your life. What does that look like for you? Where are you investing in your faith in private? Where are you connecting with others in faith? What are you learning from God or where are you seeing his power at work in your life in ways that shape your words and actions? How could we together make this world look different because we love Jesus?