A Heart Issue

Luke 9:56

 

For the Son of Man did not come to destroy men's lives but to save them. And they went to another village.

 

Before Jesus went into a Samaritan village He sent messengers ahead announcing His arrival. If you know anything about the relationship between Jews and Samaritans during that time then you will know they did not associate with one another at all. The Samaritans did not receive Jesus because He was determined to go to Jerusalem. The disciples James and John were astonished. Their response was to punish the Samaritans because they were thinking based on other factors. But Jesus said no and simply moved on. Jesus' message was and is all about love. So they did not want to see Him, fine. Jesus also knew that in due time either they would accept the message of Jesus or reject it. The choice was theirs but they could not say He did not attempt to enter. If Jesus was not received at the time of their death, then that would be handled by God accordingly.

 

The same goes for you. Jesus gives you opportunities to receive Him through His messengers. Those messengers are the men and women of God He chooses to send. If you do not receive the message, then that messenger is simply to move on. They have more work to do just as Jesus and the disciples did. if the messenger was obedient in delivering the message of Jesus yet you choose not to receive and act on it, then it is not their fault. Their hands do not have blood on them. If God sends you with the message of Jesus to another, there is no need to beat them over the head or argue them down. If the person does not want to receive Jesus, simply move on. It's hard to do sometimes because it may be your own blood family who has rejected Jesus or someone you know. You cannot force feed someone who will not open their mouth to eat the bread of life. The person has to want Jesus for themselves. It's a heart issue.  He gives us all time because He loves us. You and I just don't know how much time we have which is the real twist. A life can be gone in a blink of an eye with no time for a deathbed confession which Jesus does accept.