Life Matters

This is the third in the series from Lifeway's "Life Ventures" dealing with things really matter. Today - "Life Matters."

Taken from Matthew 9:18-38, Jesus teaches His followers some valuable lessons by what He does as much as by what He says.

Life, itself matters. (Matt. 9:18-21)


Jesus demonstrates in the raising of the daughter of Jarius that to Him, all human life was a precious thing. So what constitutes human life? To get to the point, when does life begin? As far as we are concerned, is this merely an academic question or does it mean that something is expected of us as Christians?



Health Is Important (Matt. 9:20-22).

In this passage, Jesus healed a woman who had, in the words of the KJV, "an issue of blood." Of course this is a health issue, but also made here unclean to take part in any church activities, thus reducing her to outcast status. Jesus demonstrates that health was important to her by allowing her to be healed by her faith in Him. This healing, then was of body and of spirit. Shouldn't the same be important to us? What about our own health? Do we have a duty to take care of ourselves?

Wholeness Is Important (Matt. 9:27-31.)

Jesus healed two blind men. This not only healed a physical problem, but restored them to "wholeness" that was denied them because of their disability. In Jesus' day, people with disabilities, not unlike the woman above, were considered less than first class, thus they were socially disabled as well. How far have we come along as a society on this issue?

Involvement Is Important (Matt. 9:36-38.)

Jesus spent His life "getting involved." The implication for us is obvious. But, there is a hidden blessing in involvement. The more time we spend in our concern for others, the less time we have to be concerned about ourselves. Not worrying about yourself is a great blessing. The concept takes us back to last week's lesson wherein Jesus taught in Luke that the way we have the "life abundant" He promised us is to "seek first His kingdom." Involvement, doing something, demonstrates that "seeking

In conclusion, today's lesson takes us passed being concerned that we keep ourselves straight and moves us on to taking affirmative steps to addressing the issues in a societal or community sense. In other words, James would say, "don't just talk about these good things, do something about them."