Posted on 09/01/2025 5:09:02 AM PDT by metmom
“They were distressed and dispirited like sheep without a shepherd” (Matthew 9:36).
One of Jesus’ main motives for ministry was the knowledge of man’s lost condition. He saw the people He lived among in the reality of their need. He was moved by their diseases and sickness, and He healed every one of them (v. 35). But He was moved even more deeply by the deepest need that most of the multitude did not even know they had—to be freed from their bondage to sin. He saw their hearts, and He knew that inwardly “they were distressed and dispirited.”
Jesus saw the multitudes as being inwardly devastated by their sinful and hopeless condition. The idea behind “dispirited” is to be thrown down prostrate and utterly helpless. Jesus saw the dispirited multitudes as sheep without a shepherd to protect and care for them.
Those who claimed to be the shepherds of the multitude were the scribes and Pharisees, yet it was those very shepherds who were largely responsible for the people’s confusion and hopelessness. The people were spiritually led by uncaring, unloving leaders who should have been meeting their spiritual needs. That’s why Jesus calls the people “the lost sheep of the house of Israel” (Matt. 10:6)—God’s chosen people who had been left to perish.
Ask Yourself
Begin to develop Jesus’ motive for ministry as your own. Take every opportunity to introduce others to the Great Shepherd.
Studying God’s Word ping.
Lost Sheep are more and more plentiful. The Human connection is lost. Online this and that, door dash etc. Technology has taken the place of relationships.
The Human race is extincting itself. Brilliant creatures aren’t we! I saw a commercial where the guy uses his phone for literally every thing. The AI gets talked to like a family member, friend or yoga instructor. He asked questions into his which phone sees everything. Who needs a family, a friend or a partner? Sad.
The World needs JESUS! a revival, but the Return of our Lord will come, and those who know Him will shine on in Gods presence for eternity.
Amen and the sooner the better.
Jesus saw the multitudes as being inwardly devastated by their sinful and hopeless condition.
Philippians 2:5 KJV
Let this mind be in you, which was also in Christ Jesus:
I need a LOT of work on this.
My heart, sadly to say, is hardened from seeing so many whohave CHOSEN the wrong path. My empathy tank is dangerously low.
I need, "There, but for the grace of GOD, go I." tattooed on my forehead.
It does happen.
But even Jesus said there was a time to shake the dust off our feet.
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