Can you remember the last time you noticed that God had something special planned for you? I had one of those moments last week.
On Wednesday I visited a Bible Adventure program. This visit had been planned for several weeks. What God knew, that I didn’t, was that the week prior 13 of the 18 children attending that program would begin a relationship with Jesus Christ! When I attended a week later the excitement was obvious among volunteers and students.
I know that this moves the heart of God. He sent his Son for this purpose (Romans 5:8). His son came to seek and save the Lost (Luke 19:11).
As we enter into holy week I was reading about Jesus Triumphal entry into Jerusalem in Luke 19, “As he approached Jerusalem and saw the city, he wept over it and said, “If you, even you, had only known on this day what would bring you peace– but now it is hidden from your eyes (Luke 19:41-42).
A few interesting details to note about Jesus’ Triumphal entry are that he arrived on the back of a humble donkey and not on the back of white horse as conquerors did in that day. We can compare Jesus’ entry to that of Pilate who would have entered on a white horse to show his grandeur and authority. Instead, our Lord Jesus enters on a donkey to show that he who truly conquers is one who does so through sacrifice and not oppression and violence. Jesus wept over the city showing that his conquering and sacrifice came from his love and not from a power-hungry stance. He desires his people to know him and know to him intimately.
Jesus was moved so deeply that he wept over those who didn’t know him who would bring them peace. Jesus has deep compassion on the lost, “When he saw the crowds, he had compassion on them, because they were harassed and helpless, like sheep without a shepherd” Matthew 9:36)
This word compassion can be thought of not just as an extreme feeling of loved, but rather a deep inner turmoil. In the Greek it is often associated with a feeling of ones inner organs being moved in such a way it causes a complete physical and emotional response. This was how Jesus was looking at this city, not just with anger and frustration but with gentleness and love knowing how sin was ravaging his people he came to save.
In the same sense, we as Christians ought not to think of the world we live in combatively, for our fight is not against flesh and blood, but we ought to feel a deep sense of compassion towards those who don’t know or have not acknowledged Christ as King.
Jesus was rejected by the very people he came to save, but now we have an opportunity to make King Jesus known to thousands of children who are released from their public schools. We want all of them to recognize and call on Jesus to be their King, and there is no better time than now, when we celebrate the death and resurrection of Jesus.
The whole Joy El team yearns and prays that children will respond to God’s call and know him who brings them peace. This time of year, right before Easter, is a time when many see God’s peace. Please pray with us to that end?
Today we can praise God, “But thanks be to God! He gives us the victory through our Lord Jesus Christ” (1 Corinthians 15:57).
