By Andrew Williams – April 22, 2022
After this, Jesus left the coastland of Tyre and came through Sidon on his way to Lake Galilee and over into regions of Syria. Some people brought to him a deaf man with a severe speech impediment. They pleaded with Jesus to place his hands on him and heal him. So Jesus led him away from the crowd to a private spot. Then he stuck his fingers into the man’s ears and placed some of his saliva on the man’s tongue. Then he gazed into heaven, sighed deeply, and spoke to the man’s ears and tongue, “Ethpathakh,” which is Aramaic for “Open up, now!” At once the man’s ears opened and he could hear perfectly, and his tongue was untied and he began to speak normally.
Mark 7:31-35 TPT
Good morning fellow disciples.
Which man or woman of God do you know, and why do you know them? In this era of internet and social media who are the pastors / teachers that you follow? Which gospel artist do you listen to most?
If we examine these questions carefully we will realize that the ones that we spend the most times looking at or following are the ones who are famous. This is because they are in the public eye and their deeds are well known. Sometimes we watch or listen to them not because they are proclaiming the word of God the way that Jesus declared it, but because they are trending on social media.
They preach the gospel with the intention of getting the most views possible on their social media platform. They promote themselves in such a way that sometimes all persons are attracted to are the “good deeds” that they do.
In this passage we see Jesus moving away from the crowd to perform a miracle on this man. The effects of this healing was obvious to everyone, however of note we see that Jesus left the crowd to perform this miracle.
My fellow disciples, we do not always have to publicize the good deeds that we perform. We are all capable of doing great things but we don’t have to let the whole world know when we do our good deeds. Our Lord and Master showed us that we can do things in private and try keep it out of the public eye.
I leave you this morning with the words of Jesus:
“Examine your motives to make sure you’re not showing off when you do your good deeds, only to be admired by others; otherwise, you will lose the reward of your heavenly Father. So when you give to the poor, don’t announce it and make a show of it just to be seen by people, like the hypocrites in the streets and in the marketplace. They’ve already received their reward! But when you demonstrate generosity, do it with pure motives and without drawing attention to yourself. Give secretly and your Father, who sees all you do, will reward you openly.”
Matthew 6:1-4 TPT
