PLEASE READ THIS FIRST: Matthew 8:14-17
What do you sense the Lord saying to you in this passage?
“He touched her hand and the fever left her, and she got up and began to wait on him.” (Matthew 8:15)
Jesus helps Peter’s mother-in-law, and she helps Jesus.
Each is expressing love and devotion to the other, each is being a servant.
I’ve read this story many times, but for the first time I notice what she does.
If love is the greatest (1 Corinthians 13:13), is her act any less than his?
We are so focused on the miracle of healing, rather than the miracle of love.
His simple act of touching her is not itself miraculous.
Her simple act of serving (waiting on) him is not itself miraculous.
But the Spirit of God at work through these simple acts is the miracle.
All of us can do simple acts of love and service, through which God can work.
“Whoever believes in me will do even greater things.” (John 14:12)
What makes them greater is not the acts themselves, but the power of God.
God can use your touch of kindness, your prayer for healing, your casserole.
As we take up and bear peoples infirmities and diseases, people are blessed.
Jesus has blessed me to bless others; who can I “wait on” today for Jesus’s sake?
PRAYER
Lord, thank you for helping me to see the miracle of simple acts of love and kindness. Turn my simple words and actions into miracles of love!
Oh to be healed! the fever left Peter’s mother-in-law when Jesus touched her hand – and many who were tormented by demons and many sick were also healed. Jesus healed them – and He heals us – first of all of the most important thing: sin. Sin separates us from Him – from the Father and the HS. Jesus heals us so that God can connect with us – temple with us. Lord as you fill me – may I get up and serve as Peter’s Mother-in-law immediately did – enabled. I too am enabled to serve my neighbour!
What happened to Peter’s mother-in-law also happened to many others who were healed. They followed Jesus. They served Jesus. They proclaimed Jesus. They were in His presence telling what the Lord had done. They were His epistles – read by those who saw them.
I must do the same by my words and deeds – being an instrument of His peace – in my living for Jesus. Thanksliving everyday.
Lord, make me an instrument of thy peace;
Where there is hatred,
Let me sow love;
Where there is injury, pardon;
Where there is doubt, faith;
Where there is despair, hope;
Where there is darkness, light;
Where there is sadness, joy;
And all for thy mercy’s sake.
O divine Master,
Grant that I may not so much seek to be consoled as o console;
To be understood as to understand;
To be loved as to love;
For it is in giving hat we receive;
It is in pardoning that we are pardoned;
And it is in dying that we are born to eternal life.