Have you ever been somewhere when a speaker is interrupted by an audience member? Sometimes it is done to heckle the speaker, sometimes it is a show of support, but almost always it just seems to disrupt the speaker. As a speaker, I have had this happen on occasion and it always throws a wrench in my gears as I struggle to recover. Jesus was once interrupted, but used to moment to teach a valuable lesson. In Luke 11:27-28 we read, "While Jesus was saying these things, one of the women in the crowd raised her voice and said to Him, "Blessed is the womb that bore You and the breasts at which You nursed.” But He said, "On the contrary, blessed are those who hear the word of God and observe it"." I imagine this outburst was a supportive gesture. The woman's claim was that His mother was rewarded by her son's greatness. Jesus turned this thinking on its head by saying that people will be rewarded not by who they know but what they do. Obedience to God will trump any background a person may have. It doesn’t matter who you are or where you are from, those that obey the word of God will be blessed.
I always hated buying gifts for my Mom. If I got her something like a new set of pans, it was like saying “Here’s something you can use to go make me something to eat”. A gift for her was seemingly a gift for me. There are however gifts you give that benefit you more than the receiver. For example, forgiveness. When you give it, you are giving it to yourself as much as you are giving it to them. Jesus said that when we forgive others it means God is forgiving us our wrongs (Matthew 6:14-15). I once read: “ Heaven is where everyone's forgiven. Hell is where nobody's forgiven. So, when we forgive we pull heaven down into our lives. When we withhold forgiveness, we pull hell up into our lives ” Give yourself something nice today, Forgive.
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