Eight

 

“He took up our infirmities
    and bore our diseases.” - Matthew 8:17

In his life and ministry Jesus fulfilled so many prophecies and this one in Matthew's gospel takes us back to some incredible words from Isaiah. He wrote:

"Surely he took up our pain
    and bore our suffering,
yet we considered him punished by God,
    stricken by him, and afflicted.

But he was pierced for our transgressions,
    he was crushed for our iniquities;
the punishment that brought us peace was on him,
    and by his wounds we are healed." - Isaiah 53

If you take a quick glance through Matthew 8 you will see words like 'heal', 'restore', 'calm' - all these teach us about Jesus' real motivation in coming to earth. He came to save and help. Even in the tragedy of the cross we note how Jesus fulfills prophecy and takes our sins upon himself.

May we also see LENT as a time of helping and drawing alongside others in their pain.

Living in Grace

D3LM3

Power and weakness...

"Power corrupts the few, while weakness corrupts the many." - Eric Hoffer

You may need to read the quote again to fully grasp the value in the words.
It is interesting for me that I often believe that the world is full of "corrupt" people and there are too "few" good people out there. However, maybe Eric Hoffer is on to something - maybe we get to hear more about the corrupt leaders, because we like to see them fall and humbled. The rest of us feel like victims of these powerful people, yet there could be many 'weaknesses' in us that are equally crippling to others.

So, the challenging question I pose to myself is this:
"Is there a weakness in me that causes harm to others?"

Isaiah 53:4 -  Yet it was our weaknesses he carried; it was our sorrows that weighed him down. And we thought his troubles were a punishment from God, a punishment for his own sins!

Living in Grace
D3LM3