Today I want to share from Andrew Womack's Daily Devotional. This is SO good!
HE LEFT JUDAEA
John 4:1,3 "When therefore
the Lord knew how the Pharisees had heard that Jesus made and baptized
disciples more than John...He left Judaea."
This is an interesting passage of
scripture. On the surface, it might look like Jesus was running from a fight.
Now that John the Baptist was out of the way (he had been imprisoned), it was
inevitable that the Pharisees would attack Jesus.
One thing we can be sure of is
that there was no fear on our Lord's part. On other occasions He demonstrated
that no one could do anything to Him if He didn't allow it (Luke 4:29-30; John 7:30, 44-46; 8:20, 59; 10:39).
Therefore we can assume that
Jesus left because He knew it was God's will. On another occasion when His half
brothers dared Him to go to Jerusalem and confront the Pharisees, He told them
that it wasn't time for Him to go yet (John 7:1-6). A lesser man would have been
intimidated into showing His superiority.
Jesus was the most selfless
person who ever walked the earth. He did not come to earth for Himself, but for
us. If He would have defended Himself, we would have never been saved. The
humility of Jesus was surely interpreted by some to be weakness, but in truth
it was love. Not love for Himself, but love for a dying world of which He was
the only hope.
Such a powerful TRUTH! EVERYTHING that JESUS did during His earthly ministry was for OUR benefit! The very best way that we can even begin to give honor to JESUS for all that HE has done for us is to honor HIS greatest desire! 2 Peter 3:9:The Lord does not delay and is not tardy or slow about what He promises, according to some people’s conception of slowness, but He is long-suffering (extraordinarily patient) toward you, not desiring that any should perish, but that all should turn to repentance.
AMEN! Let's simply be about our Father's business and preach the GOOD NEWS to everyone we know! HE knows that not ALL will come to Him, but He rejoices over every single ONE! AMEN! Here is Hillsong with "No Reason To Hide":
Shalom in Him!
