Needing Jesus...

I don’t keep up with current affairs. I don’t watch TV nor do I read the daily papers. I do, however, jump online and check out Australia’s news page from time to time. And with the following headlines, I’m thankful it’s not a regular reading:

Passenger ignites firecracker on flight
Officer bashed in family brawl
Woman says she did not want to hurt Pope
Boy dies in house fire
Australian holiday road toll rises to 38
Sailors missing after ship fire
Boxing world champion shot dead
Huge US storm puts freeze on Xmas
‘Dead boy has miraculous powers’

Wow, what a list of headlines! From odd, sad, concerning to tragic; these headlines all tell of a world that needs Jesus.

While I don’t like the news headlines, I do like people watching. And I’m sure I’m not alone in that regard. ‘Watching’ people gives me a greater understanding of the human race and what they – we - are dealing with. Tired and ragged mothers with their children, Italian men sitting and waiting on the ‘husband’ seat, sad sounding young adults, complex teens, and the list goes on. These are some of the assortment of people I have ‘watched’.

Who tugs at my heart when I’m ‘watching’? It’s the mothers, the young adults, the teens; in fact, it’s anyone who is reflecting pain outward in their being. I feel it. It touches me. It saddens me. And it makes me say a little prayer because these people all need Jesus.

I’ve had ‘headlines’ occur in my life. These headlines, while not newsworthy to the world, have been considerably newsworthy to me and my family and friends. I have felt the sadness that I sense when I see the mothers, young adults, etc out and about. Maybe that is why I react as I do, because I have Jesus and know that they need Him too.

In John 10:10b Jesus says that, “I am come that they might have life, and that they might have it more abundantly.” In the preceding text in this verse Jesus states the reason why we all need Him – “The thief cometh not, but for to steal, and to kill, and to destroy.”

In John 12:46 Jesus states, “I am come a light into the world, that whosoever believeth on me should not abide in darkness.” The world, as we know it, is in that darkness. The ruler of the air, the enemy of Jesus and those who love Him, tries everything to keep human kind in the dark. Jesus is our light, and we all need Him.

I still have ‘headlines’ in my life, and I still have moments where I feel the darkness creeping in, but I stop, bow my head, and pray to my Jesus. I give Him my concerns, my needs, my desires, and I also give Him the concerns, needs and desires of others. Some of these people I know, some I don’t. Some are those who I ‘watch’ from a distance, some are those who are close to me; so close that I feel their pain.

God doesn’t discriminate in His love for us, just in the same way as Jesus did not discriminate for who He died on the cross for. 1 John 4 talks about love, with verse 9 being the clincher –

“In this was manifested the love of God toward us, because that God sent his only begotten Son into the world, that we might live through him.”

Jesus was born so He could die on a cross for us. For the mothers, the young adults, the teens and the Italian men sitting on the ‘husband’ seat. For the firecracker igniting passenger, the bashed officer and the missing sailors. For me and for you.