The Heart of Jesus Vs. the Heart of Man [Luke 9]

51When the days were approaching for His ascension, He was determined to go to Jerusalem; 52and He sent messengers on ahead of Him, and they went and entered a village of the Samaritans to make arrangements for Him.53But they did not receive Him, because He was traveling toward Jerusalem.54When His disciples James and John saw this, they said, "Lord, do You want us to command fire to come down from heaven and consume them?"55But He turned and rebuked them, [and said, "You do not know what kind of spirit you are of;56for the Son of Man did not come to destroy men's lives, but to save them."] And they went on to another village.

As Jesus made His last trip up to Jerusalem, He alone understood what He was doing and why. He told the disciples what He was going to do, but they just couldn't receive the information and make any sense of it. They still walked according to the flesh, thinking according to the flesh and wanting to act in that flesh. When the disciples saw that the Samaritans refused to receive Jesus, James and John wanted to command fire to come down from heaven to consume them. Their fleshly response to the opposition was to wipe them out. But then, contrast that with Jesus' response - "the Son of Man did not come to destroy men's lives, but to save them." And Jesus simply headed for another village on His road to the cross.

All around us and even inside us, we see this bubbling up of revenge. If they treat us poorly, then we get to respond in kind or worse. It happens in our homes when our family members fail to measure up to our expectations. It happens when the nasty neighbor continues to make your life miserable. It happens when someone at church doesn't acknowledge your hard work or takes credit for it.
It is the natural fleshly response to injustice and unfairness, but Jesus showed us another way and then through His death, He gave another way, to walk in the Spirit, His Spirit as we surrender our rights for revenge and put on His forgiveness and compassion. This transformation is not automatic and requires your active participation in putting off the natural flesh reaction and putting on the supernatural Spirit response. We can't do this apart from God.

May you participate with God by inviting Him into your struggles and by surrendering your fleshly reactions and putting on His ability to walk in tough situations as Jesus did.
Beth Warlick, 3/3/2009
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