The Untouchables

• Printable Version - Share on Facebook - Posted by Dion Todd March 26, 2020 - Filed in Devotional - 6,326 views
  When he came down from the mountain, great multitudes followed him. Behold, a leper came to him and worshiped him, saying, 'Lord, if you want to, you can make me clean.' Jesus stretched out his hand, and touched him, saying, 'I want to. Be made clean.' Immediately his leprosy was cleansed. Matthew 8:1 WEB
  
  Jesus touched the untouchables. Lepers and those with various diseases were considered 'unclean' and avoided. If you touched them, then you became unclean yourself. Jesus loved them, He touched them, and He healed them. The leper in the verse above said 'Lord, if You want to, You can make me clean' and Jesus touched him and said 'I want to.' It is so beautiful to read about Him doing that, but what if we were given the same chance? Would we touch them?
  
  We are His hands and feet on the earth and I have found that He will put the untouchables right in your path today, and they will snuggle up to you so that you can demonstrate the love of Jesus. We have had the Lord put people into our life as a test, and as long as we resisted, they persisted. Then as soon as we submitted and loved them back, they were gone.
  
  My wife Sylvia and I once attended a church where I was playing in the praise team, and she was seated in the sanctuary. Now Sylvia is one of the sweetest people that I ever met, but she loves her 'personal space' and though I smoked for a decade twenty years ago, I quit. Now smoking makes me nauseous and gives me a headache when I am around it, so I try and avoid it as much as possible.
  
  Soon a lady began attending our church and sat right beside us. She wore long haired, poofy, furry things, and smoked like a locomotive. The smoke would permeate every fiber of her clothing and hair, and it made them sticky with resin. She loved to sit tightly beside you, throw her arm around you, and would completely envelope you in an overwhelming mixture of smoke, and intense perfume. She joined the intercessory prayer team that we led, and every group that we were a part of like a shadow.
  
  She was as clingy as silk on a winter morning, and when she embraced you, feelings of nausea, light headedness, mild suffocation, and panic would wash over you, leaving you with the thought that you had licked an ash tray, and the feeling that you were covered in christmas tree sap. After the first experience, people tended to shy away from her loving embraces.
  
  As I watched from the stage, I could see Sylvia leaning further and further away, and the overly nice lady leaning in closer and closer until they were almost prone on the chairs. She stuck to Sylvia like a magnet, even following her to the bathroom. She considered Sylvia her new BFF, and there was no escape. Months went by. We began to realize that God had broken out the sandpaper to smooth our rough edges.
  
  Eventually we just gave up, surrendered to God, and hugged her back just as enthusiastically as she hugged us. We met her at the door and gave her a bear hug time every time she came to the church. We picked her up at her house and brought her to church with us. We took her out to eat and got to know her. Overall she was a sweet person. Soon the time passed, and she was gone from our lives.
  
  God will put the unlovable right in front of you and then ask you to love them anyway. My heart goes out to the people that experience this, but as you walk with God, you will probably face this test. I have heard others share a similar testimony. Jesus touched the lepers, the sick, the lame, the unloved, even His enemies, and He allowed people to touch Him back (Matthew 8:3, Matthew 20:34, Luke 22:51, Mark 5:27, Luke 7:39, Luke 18:15). When God places an unlovable person in your life, be nice and love them back. It works.
  
  Prayer: Heavenly Father I thank You for loving me and ask that You help me to love others. Please put Your love in me for mine is lacking. Let me see people through Your eyes and give me the grace to love them as You do, in the name of Jesus Christ I pray.
  
  Note: Ladies, today is Thankful Thursday at the "Ladies in Distress" group (our RHM women's group)! You are welcome to join in our weekly sharing of thankfulness for the Lord's presence and any blessings you may have experienced, big or small! "Ladies in Distress" is a private group, so if you have any problems joining, just post anywhere and we will help you :). Here is the link: Ladies in Distress
  
  
  

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