great story of a lady's value

A couple of the great stories in the Bible stand out to me as Jesus touched lives that others thought were not important.  Most of these are miracles, but they are miracles when we might have least expected them.  Or they were miracles for people who were not in the center of things.

The foundation of this series I am preaching at The Community , EVERY 1 MATTERS, is the fact that God loves people.  Everything He did, from the beginning of time seen in Genesis through the end of the story were read about in Revelation, God is constantly reaching out to people.  His most precious thing is people.  It is not miracles or projects, money or buildings.  People, individuals matter to God.

There are many stories that come to my mind, and one story is the lady with the blood disease. There was a huge crowd. Lots of people pushing their way in and touching Jesus, and Jesus and his pose were on there way to deal with another person that was in need.

Mark 5:24-24  NLT

Jesus went with him, and all the people followed, crowding around him. 25 A woman in the crowd had suffered for twelve years with constant bleeding. 26 She had suffered a great deal from many doctors, and over the years she had spent everything she had to pay them, but she had gotten no better. In fact, she had gotten worse. 27 She had heard about Jesus, so she came up behind him through the crowd and touched his robe. 28 For she thought to herself, “If I can just touch his robe, I will be healed.” 29 Immediately the bleeding stopped, and she could feel in her body that she had been healed of her terrible condition. 30 Jesus realized at once that healing power had gone out from him, so he turned around in the crowd and asked, “Who touched my robe?” 31 His disciples said to him, “Look at this crowd pressing around you. How can you ask, ‘Who touched me?’” 32 But he kept on looking around to see who had done it. 33 Then the frightened woman, trembling at the realization of what had happened to her, came and fell to her knees in front of him and told him what she had done. 34 And he said to her, “Daughter, your faith has made you well. Go in peace. Your suffering is over.”

But this one lady was different.  She looked for Jesus and found him. In her heart she know this is guy that could heal her. And Jesus healed her. Then Jesus sought her out.

Did you hear that?  Jesus sought her out.  He still does that. He sees the person in need, and He goes after them with compassion and love.  Notice the difference it makes when a person knows that faith is real

This lady sought Jesus out because she knew there was something about Him that was changing people’s lives, and there are still people seeking Jesus all around us.  Some are seeking in a more obvious way.  Others make their search for God, for hope and help much more open and obvious.

God has chosen us, you and me, to share our story of how God changed our lives with others who need Him.  We have met the people who are seeking God.  They are lots of similarities.  In fact the ways that we are similar to some of these points to the simple fact that the best person to meet a need is a person who has been in need before.  This person understands and can speak with confidence about their encounter with God.

The lady in this passage of Scripture had an encounter with God that changed her life.  For 12 years she battled illness, and nothing helped her bleeding get better.  As the Bible verses said, the money she spent and the doctors she visited didn't help.  In fact she only seemed to get worse.  Meeting Jesus was somewhat of a last resort.  She thought that if any thing was going to change it would have to come through a miracle only God could give.

This lady thought she was insignificant.  I bet the people around, close friends and family as well as others, thought she was not important.  But that is not true as God reminds us that everyone, you and me included, are important to God.  He doesn't over look people, and He doesn't walk away.

What an awesome story!  This lady was changed, she was healed and everyone began to hear what had happened.  This story reminds me that people are important.  Everyone is important to God.  It is our calling to share that fact with the people we come in contact with!