Longing

“Jerusalem, Jerusalem, you who kill the prophets and stone those sent to you, how often I have longed to gather your children together, as a hen gathers her chicks under her wings, and you were not willing.

Matthew 23:37 (NIV)

We have a saying in English that sums up the Jerusalemites who were contemporary with Jesus in his first advent quite well. 'You can lead a horse to water, but you can't make it drink'. Jesus is the living water of spirituality, yet the Jerusalemites refused to come to him for life.

Maybe we would assume that Jesus would compel us to be saved. Yet he respects our free will. He allows us to reject him, if we so choose.

It's foolish to reject Christ. He's our only hope. If we reject him, we're lost for eternity.

Not only are those who reject Christ lost for eternity, but forty years after his crucifixion, in fulfilment of his prophecy, the Roman occupiers destroyed rebellious Jerusalem. Life is better even in the here and now with Jesus. Life isn't necessarily easier, but it is more fulfilling.

'Lord God, we're grateful for your respect of our free will, but we ask that you would stir our hearts to follow you. For the honour of your name, amen'.


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