Saturday, July 23, 2016

The Heart of Jesus

What is the heart of Jesus, and what kind of people does He gravitate toward?  Of course He loves all people (John 3:16 “so loved the world”), but there are some that His heart particularly goes out to. 

He tells us exactly who those are when He began His public ministry in Luke 4:18, and suprising to many it wasn’t the religious, the righteous, or the ritualistic, but rather He said, “The Spirit of the Lord is on me, because he has anointed me to preach good news to the poor. He has sent me to proclaim freedom for the prisoners and recovery of sight for the blind, to release the oppressed.” 

It is clear that the heart of Jesus is to those who are poor, oppressed, blind, downcast, struggling, hurting, etc.  After all, He said elsewhere “it is not the healthy who need a physician but the sick.  I have not come to call the righteous but sinners” (Mk. 2:17).  And this is why He hung out with the sinners, tax collectors and social outcasts. 

I am so glad that God has a heart of compassion for those who are hurting.  Why? Because I am so needy, and therefore I can draw near to Him, and He will draw near to me (James 4:8).  Just as God comes running toward the returning prodigal (Luke 15), I can be confident that He comes running to meet me when I repent of my sin.  When I am lonely, struggling and feeling very unrighteous, I can come to God and know, He will in no wise caste me out!

Do you come running to God in your sin and pain, or do you feel that you have to wait until you “get your act together” first?  Come to Jesus just as you are, and then He can help you.  If you are in sin, struggling, blind, in prison to some addiction, etc. then you are the very person Jesus’s heart particularly goes toward.  Even though this is counter-intuitive to our flesh, it is exactly what the Spirit of God is saying!  Don’t miss it.  What a Savior!

For more on the "Heart of Jesus", listen to my sermon by that title at http://www.pastordavidholt.com/component/sermonspeaker/sermon/203-the-heart-of-jesus.html?Itemid=71