Red Lip Society

If you follow me at all on social media, you know that I am always struggling to find ways to keep myself better organized and ways to be a better steward of my time. #ownyourminutes  These are not in my natural gifting and require much work.

One of the things that have really been helping me is a “To Do” list.  I make it as soon as I get to work every morning and I know what on that list HAS to be done today and if it has to, what can wait until tomorrow.  Either way, things are getting done and I am not nearly as stressed out as I have been being.

It occurred to me today while studying that even my Savior must have had a “To Do” list…an agenda or plan of some kind.  I mean, sure, it probably wasn’t an actual list….like the reminders and calendar notifications that are constantly going off on my Apple Watch or notes in a pretty marble colored planner like the one I bought for 2019…but still I think it is evident that he lived His minutes with purpose.

So I just started reading in the gospels and took notice of how Jesus went about His day.  Here are three things I noticed:

Jesus looked for opportunities.

John 4 holds one of my favorite stories in the New Testament.  I love the interaction between Jesus and the Samaritan woman.  In verses 3-9 of chapter 4 we read,

He left Judea and departed again for Galilee. And he had to pass through Samaria.  So he came to a town of Samaria called Sychar, near the field that Jacob had given to his son Joseph.  Jacob’s well was there; so Jesus, wearied as he was from his journey, was sitting beside the well. It was about the sixth hour.  A woman from Samaria came to draw water. Jesus said to her, “Give me a drink.”  (For his disciples had gone away into the city to buy food.)  The Samaritan woman said to him, “How is it that you, a Jew, ask for a drink from me, a woman of Samaria?” (For Jews have no dealings with Samaritans.) 

Can you picture this scene?  Its noon, the hottest part of the day and Jesus is tired and it’s time to eat.  Is there a shade? Who knows! Either way, Jesus is just sitting there waiting for an opportunity.  I just think he must have been waiting there on purpose because it says all of the disciples had gone to get something to eat. Also, we wouldn’t have found many people at the well this time of day.  Most would have gone to get water in the early morning or in the evening. But here comes the Samaritan Woman…..

She is obviously trying to avoid being around a lot of people.  And if we read on in this chapter we see how she has lived her life and it would be easily assumed that she was probably shunned by the rest of the women.    I love when Jesus takes time with people that others have already written off as a lost cause.

She even asks Jesus, “Why are you talking to me, Jewish man?” (That’s the SK version of that statement.)

Jesus dealt with everyone!  He didn’t care if you were male or female. Jew or Greek. Slave or free.  Jesus met people where they were in life!  They didn’t have to be all cleaned up in their spiritual lives to start a relationship with Him or even talk to Him.  How many times do I look passed someone that maybe isn’t exactly like me and let a moment to talk about Jesus pass me by?!  How many opportunities do I miss to help someone or to even let someone help me?!

After her encounter with the Messiah, this woman that everyone else has written off, runs and tells everyone about this man and the things He knew about her.  Jesus ends up staying two more days in this down and the Bible says many more believed.  All because Jesus decided to sit beside a well in the heat of the day and wait for an opportunity.

Jesus knew when to get rid of distractions.

In Matthew 14, Jesus has been teaching and healing people ALL day.  He fed 5,000+ people with five loaves of bread and two fish…..or as my Pastor calls it, a lunchable.  I mean, I know He is the son of God and all, but He had to have been tired.  I’m thinking he even needed to regroup and clear His head a little bit, because in Matthew 14:22-23 we read:

 Immediately Jesus made the disciples get into the boat and go before him to the other side, while he dismissed the crowds. And after he had dismissed the crowds, he went up on the mountain by himself to pray. When evening came, he was there alone.

In this passage, we see Jesus send everyone away to their next destination and then find himself a quiet spot to talk with the Father.  Then it says, “Evening came and He was alone there.”

I know it always helps me after I have had a long day full of being “on” for people to have some quiet time to myself.  You can have trouble hearing God when everyone else is vying for a piece of your time and attention.

Don’t be afraid to mark some time off for yourself.  Take a minute to stop and focus on what God is saying to you and then you will have the energy and mental capacity to pour out again.

Jesus was interruptible…but He always finished His task. 

I have to be careful once my mind gets fixed on a goal or purpose.  I become transfixed.  If I’m not careful I won’t see or hear anyone around me.

People were always interrupting Jesus and he always stopped and took time for them.  I love this story in Matthew 9:18-25 that says,

 While he was saying this, a synagogue leader came and knelt before him and said, “My daughter has just died. But come and put your hand on her, and she will live.” Jesus got up and went with him, and so did his disciples.  Just then a woman who had been subject to bleeding for twelve years came up behind him and touched the edge of his cloak. She said to herself, “If I only touch his cloak, I will be healed.”  Jesus turned and saw her. “Take heart, daughter,” he said, “your faith has healed you.” And the woman was healed at that moment. When Jesus entered the synagogue leader’s house and saw the noisy crowd and people playing pipes, he said, “Go away. The girl is not dead but asleep.” But they laughed at him.  After the crowd had been put outside, he went in and took the girl by the hand, and she got up.

Jesus is actually interrupted twice in this story.  In the beginning, He is telling John’s disciples to not put new wine in an old wineskin, when a ruler interrupts him and asks him to come to his home to resurrect his daughter.

Now as Jesus and his disciples are following this man through the city a sick woman touches him.  Can we first of all just notice how desperate this woman must have been?  She touched a man! That was not her husband!  Out in public!  That would have been a big no-no then (and still is now in some parts of the world.)

This is my favorite part….Jesus TURNED and SAW her. “Take heart, DAUGHTER,” he said.  Jesus doesn’t just keep walking here or give her a nod and a “How’s it going?”  He didn’t have to say anything to her.  She would have known she was healed without him ever acknowledging her.  But Jesus stopped and turned around to look at her!  And then called her daughter!

Even with this beautiful interruption, Jesus gets right back to His original task of going to raise the ruler’s daughter from the dead.

Yes, the life of Jesus is full of everyday life lessons and teachings on every page of the Bible if we just take the time to look for them.  He came not to just restore but to also be an example.

What do you notice about the everyday life of Jesus that we could use for our everyday life?