Matthew 9:18-26.
A ruler asks Jesus to touch his dead daughter and bring her back to life. He does. On the way to the ruler’s house, a woman bleeding for 12 years touches Jesus’ cloak believing she will be healed. Jesus notices and confirms the healing her faith brought.
After I confessed I was trying to become better with my own strength, I realized I was not reaching out to God as the ruler and the bleeding woman did today.
I was trying to do it myself. I was trying to become better in my own eyes with my own efforts. And I was failing. I was not changing.
My brother in law is very difficult to live with for many reasons. Living with him is like being beaten with rods. I saw him as my trainer.
I thought he was training me in patience, gentleness and accepting love.
I thought I could grow those qualities in me with my own efforts.
What I had failed to do for the years he has lived in my apartment was to give thanks for him.
Paul says I am to do give thanks in all circumstances.
But I haven’t done that with my brother in law.
Giving thanks to God for my circumstances is a way of reaching out to the Lord, a way of asking for his touch.
Whenever my wife or my children thank be for something, I reach out and touch them in love.
I believe God does the same when I thank him for the trials and hardships in my life.
I’m surprised at myself for not giving thanks to God for the ongoing problem in my apartment, my brother in law.
I was so busy trying to be good about it that I missed the point of his living with me.
It’s to give thanks for a trial I don’t understand.
It’s to reach out to God in gratitude for the circumstances of my life.
Lord, inspire me with thankfulness for the circumstances of my life every day. Keep my eyes focused on you and not what I think are my problems.
