Jaw-dropping Jewels about Jesus
Rarely does Jesus, God the Son, do exactly what we expect of Him. It seems odd that He so frequently surprises us, given that He never changes. Hebrews 13:8 makes this absolute statement: “Jesus the same yesterday, and today, and forever.” Still, though He is blessedly consistent in His goodness, Jesus does unforeseen things. Even when He does what is expected, He does not always do it in the way that we anticipate. Let us join with Jesus on a jaw-dropping journey. (I will be using this opening paragraph for each of the brief messages in this series. The following material will change daily.)
The account of Jesus’ culturally surprising interaction with a Gentile woman in Phoenicia (Mark 7:24-30) and His extraordinary commendation of her faith (Matthew 15:28 – “O woman, great is thy faith”) is most encouraging, for we learn that He can be pleased, even delighted, with us. Hebrews 11:6a says, “Without faith it is impossible to please Him,” indicating that with faith it is possible to please Him. Simple obedience to our Lord’s considerate commandments earns His gracious approval: “Ye have received of us how ye ought to walk and to please God, so ye would abound more and more” (I Thessalonians 4:1b). A specific example of this general truth is found in Proverbs 15:8b: “The prayer of the upright is His delight.” I know of no one else who always likes to hear my voice (my dogs don’t count), but God does. His level of delight in us is such that He desires to reward us eternally: “Well done, good and faithful servant… enter thou into the joy of thy Lord” (Matthew 25:23). Given these divine kindnesses, may each one of us heed the kind command of Psalm 37:4a: “Delight thyself also in the LORD.”