URC Daily Devotion Saturday 8 January 2022

At daybreak he departed and went into a deserted place. And the crowds were looking for him; and when they reached him, they wanted to prevent him from leaving them. But he said to them, ‘I must proclaim the good news of the kingdom of God to the other cities also; for I was sent for this purpose.’  So he continued proclaiming the message in the synagogues of Judea.

Reflection

There are many demands on our time. Demands from family, from friends, from neighbours, from bosses and from colleagues. It’s just the way life is. There are even demands from church. Most of these demands are reasonable and perhaps even do-able. We could easily fit them if we tried, couldn’t we?
 
But are these demands actually for us? And are they what God is calling us to do, right here and right now? Could it even be that it would be better for us to pass by on the request and to empower someone else to do it?
 
In this passage, Jesus is facing lots of demands on his time. He’d tried to escape and get away for some alone time, but the crowds kept following him and presenting their demands to him. All their requests were reasonable. He could easily have stayed to help them and continue the good work He’d started in their area. It would have been the obvious thing to do.
 
But the plans of Jesus were different to the plans of the crowd. He knew what His purpose under God was and He stuck to it. May God be praised for that.
  
Prayer
 
Dear God, thank You that You have a purpose for each one of us right here and right now. You even have a purpose for us in the day ahead. Give us grace to see what You are graciously calling us to do and to respond with joy to Your call.
Amen.