Morning Devotional

Matthew 11: 16-30
16: But to what will I compare this generation? It is like children sitting in the marketplaces and calling one another. 'We played the flute for you, and you did not dance; we wailed, and you did not mourn."
     I remember my father saying to me many times to relax and enjoy the trip to the destination. Look around, listen and take it in. We're people who are so busy looking around for something that we miss the sound of the flute calling us to dance or the sound of those wailing calling us to mourn.  We can get so caught up in our desire to make right  the workings of church, the doctrines and by laws of the Church that we ignore that music of God's calling to come and rejoice in the presence of Christ, to find joy in the reality of Jesus' unfailing love. We can be so obsessed with right thinking that we grow deaf to the cries of our neighbors in despair; we can be so fixated on whatever sin we find hideous that we don't see the number we lock out of the church while God mourns for them and us. How often do we get so fixated on something that we miss what God has placed directly in front of us.
      When we do this, in a way, we put blinders on; we become short sighted and paint ourselves into a corner. We build walls without realizing it. Walls that close us in a box that we don't belong in.  This is what I think Jesus is telling the people in these cities, They have become so narrow focused, individualized, that they are missing the gift of each other and the Son. What are your blinders? I am realizing that I have many, you could say one for each outfit I wear. Maybe it's time to clean them out and see what I have been missing in my relationship with Christ. Hey come to think of it, join me.

Gracious Father, I know I have blinders on at times. I find life easier. Yet, as I read Your Word I am told to remove them and see where I can serve, or hear the calls of Your people. Father, thank you for the reminders of who I am to be. Forgive my shortcomings, my sins and help me move forward as I believe I am ready. Lord, I ask you to bless my multiple families, my neighbors and my enemies. May we become one in Your Son. Father, I pray this in Jesus' name . Amen