As we came into the new year I wrote an article about knowing who Jesus is. I had no idea what God had in store for us. We began this year with a series of Bible reading plans. One group, the discipleship class is reading through the New Testament in one month, a truly fascinating experience; it’s interesting how much of the Bible can be read in one sitting if one puts one’s mind to it.
I had been spending a lot of time in the gospels and one evening as I meditated on the word of God, preparing to preach the next day, the Holy Spirit suddenly moved upon me, and it was as if my eyes were suddenly opened, my understanding enlightened, as the Scriptures say, and I saw Jesus. Not physically, but in my Spirit; I received this profound vision of His Person, His nature, His character, the quality of His life and heart towards people.
I saw His abnegation, His love, His overwhelming compassion, His total and complete giving of Himself to others. I saw the goodness that characterised Him; I saw Him intervening in people’s distress, relieving their despondency and getting involved in otherwise desperate situations. In every single instance, He provided assistance.
He spent His life helping people, teaching people, encouraging them, setting them free; the truth of this scripture in Acts 10.38 jumped up at me
‘… how God anointed Jesus of Nazareth with the Holy Spirit and power, and how he went around doing good and healing all who were under the power of the devil ‘.
Tremendously moved, I put my head on my Bible and wept. It continued all night, I wept and slept intermittently, praying and worshipping Jesus, moved and grateful.
I went off to preach the next morning seemingly normal and in the course of the worship the Lord dropped a passage in my mind that apparently had nothing to do with my message. It was the story of the man who went off to receive a kingdom and left money in the hands of his servants. He said this to them ‘Do business until I come’.
This awesome reality that is Jesus, the life He lived on earth, the good that He did, healing people, restoring them, bringing them out of desperation, is meant to be continued by His church; in the same way that He did, totally selflessly.
We do know these things somewhat, but I believe that until we truly connect with the heart of Jesus, and understand the depth of the goodness of Jesus, we cannot fully do the work of Jesus. I got up to preach and shared something of that experience and the word the Lord gave me and encouraged the people to devote their lives to doing business until He returns.
Life can get extremely busy and the business of living consume all our time and energy such that we live for our own selves only and forget the injunction of the Master to take care of His business, the business of the kingdom, loving people to life and doing them good.
And this morning as I prayed, I realised that I had found what I would like to have put on my epitaph. I do not wish it to be said that I wrote many books, that I preached round the world or that I was a popular person; I do not want it to be said how much wealth I had; I want it to be said as it was said of Jesus that I went about doing good and rescuing people from desperate circumstances and the most desperate of all, separation from God.
Will you reevaluate your life today and ask yourself how much of your time is devoted to the Father’s business, to doing the works of Jesus?
[Tweet “May it be said that you like Jesus went about doing good and rescuing people.”]
[Tweet “We can easily forget the injunction of the Master to take care of His business.”]
[Tweet “Jesus spent His life helping people, teaching people, encouraging them, setting them free.”]
Shalom
This article was first written three years ago and the impact of this experience on my life has been astounding. I pray that your life will be touched and blessed by it.