Do You Need God? (Part II of II)
Luke 7:36, Then one of the Pharisees asked Jesus to eat with him. And Jesus went to the Pharisee's house, and sat down to eat.
During the course of the meal, a woman approached Jesus. The Bible describes her as a “sinful woman” but does not go in to more detail than that. She easily could have been a prostitute and at the very least she was probably promiscuous.
No doubt her soul hungered and thirst for sincere love and forgiveness and acceptance. No doubt she had listened to Jesus speak from the edge of the crowd and had glimpsed in Jesus the hand which could lift her from the depths to which her life had fallen.
To her everlasting credit, this wretched woman recognized her need to change, her need to become spiritually connected and saw in Jesus divine forgiveness, unconditional acceptance and love without an end.
So overwhelmed by our Lord, her tears fell on His feet as she drew closer to Jesus and without thinking, and against the social custom of the day, she loosened her long hair, letting it drop so she could use it to dry His feet. Her anointing and kissing the feet of Jesus were a further expression of her acknowledgment of her need for Jesus, of her need for His love and of her need for His compassion.
Like this broken and shattered woman, we all should have a passionate desire of needing God’s forgiveness upon our souls; of needing God’s love in our lives to make our lives complete, of needing God’s guidance to make our lives meaningful.
Luke 7:39, Now when the Pharisee who had invited Jesus saw what the woman was doing, he said to himself, “This man, if HE were a prophet, would know who and what kind of woman was touching him, for she is a bad woman.”
As far as Simon the Pharisee was concerned, he would just as soon kick this dirt bag of a woman out into the street. Furthermore, such condescension on the part of Simon toward the Lord of all the universe, calling Jesus “this man” and rejecting Jesus as a man from God. Simon was conscious of no sincere spiritual need in his life and therefore needed no forgiveness and was not about to give any forgiveness, especially to this tramp of a woman.
Simon thought Simon was a good man in the sight of others and of God just the way he was.
A critical problem in this country today is that too many people have no need for God. Like Simon the Pharisee, they live their lives on auto pilot, never giving God or things of a holy nature a second thought because in their heart of hearts they have no burning need for God. And they live lives of selfishness mixed with lots of unforgiveness. And their lives become empty and meaningless.
Sometimes it is easier for us to relate to Simon the Pharisee than to Jesus Christ. It is, superficially, in many respects easier to keep yourself for yourself and not give yourself to others. It is, superficially, easier to not forgive others or willingly accept them. But only superficially.
For if you are like Simon the Pharisee, in your soul there will be a void, a hollowness that will continually speak to your heart as you grow older: Who am I? Why am I here? Do I make a difference? What happens to me when I die?
The answers to these absolutely essential questions will never be found in a life based upon Simon the Pharisee, but in a life centered on the Gospel of Jesus Christ.
Today, do you have a burning desire in your heart for God? Do you ever shed tears over your love for God? Do you feel a need for God? For the salvation of your precious and immortal soul, I pray that you do have a sincere need for God.
-------------------
Like on Facebook: firstchristianchurchdonnatexas.
-------------------
Chris Voss is a pastor at First Christian Church, 317 S. Main, Donna.