Jesus talk

This morning I mark a personal milestone: this is my thousandth devotional post. I started several years ago when journaling wasn’t helping me much. I figured if I was taking the time to note my responses to what I read, I may as well share them. I don’t know what I thought would happen, but I didn’t intend to do it this long.

Often I ask myself why. It’s hard to know - I don’t get a lot of feedback - but as best I can tell I don’t have a ton of readers. And it takes some time. In human terms, it’s hard to see if there’s a good return on investment. 

This morning, though, as I read through Mark 6, I knew why I write. I read about Jesus feeding 5,000 people, and then walking on the water. And then I read this, from verses 53-56: 

“When they had crossed over, they landed at Gennesaret and anchored there. As soon as they got out of the boat, people recognized Jesus. They ran throughout that whole region and carried the sick on mats to wherever they heard he was. And wherever he went—into villages, towns or countryside—they placed the sick in the marketplaces. They begged him to let them touch even the edge of his cloak, and all who touched it were healed.”

I write because Jesus is so good. He cares about people’s hunger and their illnesses. He takes time for every single person who asks him for help. And he helps me, in personal and intimate ways, every single day. I write because I can’t really help it; Jesus is a good, good Lord and I can’t help talking about him.

I’m reminded of a few lines from the missionary story Sioux Center Sudan (I think), which tells of the amazing difference a local missionary made in Africa. One man who met Jesus as a result, related that other men in his village told him, “We’ll talk with you if you don’t make more Jesus talk.” This man’s response: “All I have is Jesus talk.” Changed by the love of God, he saw no point in wasting time on less-important things.

Without Jesus, I’m a miserable, selfish person. With Jesus, I’m someone completely different. I write because I just have to share Jesus with someone, somehow.

That’s what we do, isn’t it? When Jesus loves us so abundantly, it overflows. It pours back out of us and splashes everywhere. We tell people about the good things in our lives, and Jesus is by far the best of those. Even more, he’s the source of every one of them.

Jesus loves me, this I know; for the Bible tells me so. That’s why when I read scripture I want to understand it, so I noodle on it a bit. And then I jot my thoughts, and share them. It helps me; maybe it helps you too.