Being In Tune

“Who touched Me?” Jesus asked. When they all denied it, Peter said, “Master, the people are crowding and pressing against You.” Luke 8:45

Jesus suddenly stops in a marketplace and says ‘Who touched Me?’ No one owns up. Peter, with an almost “You can’t be serious, Boss?”’ tone, speaks up, ‘“Master, the people are crowding and pressing against You.” But Jesus said, “Someone touched Me; I know that power has gone out from Me”’ (vv. 45-46). Jesus knew the difference between the clumsy bump of a passer-by and a deliberate faith-filled grasp. Where Peter was led by the lack of response in the natural (no one spoke up), Jesus was led by something more supernatural. Jesus knew what had happened through something other than His human senses; He knew it in His spirit. He knew that, because of her illness, the woman held back from making herself known. She was seen as cursed by the people. Now this same woman, made whole, dropped at Jesus’ feet, trembling. Because Jesus called her, she responded.

It’s vital to our growth as Christians that we start to have the Jesus-like response, rather than the Peter-style response. In Christian-ese, we must control our thoughts to live under God-given discernment. That is, when God gives you an extra, non-see-hear-taste-touch-smell nudge to identify something that would otherwise be difficult to know. The best way to find that is to get closer to Jesus. The closer you are to Him, the clearer you’ll be able to see those hard-to-spot spiritual things. Our Comfort Dogs have a natural ability to sense when a person is hurting – and move toward that person. If we humans could by God’s Spirit do the same, we would see more of what Jesus sees.

Prayer

Heavenly Father, help me see and sense when someone is hurting, and then stop and listen and touch and share Your presence with that person. In Jesus’ Name, Amen