{"id":1457,"date":"2023-02-28T00:00:00","date_gmt":"2023-02-28T07:00:00","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/upliftingstar.com\/star1015denver\/2023\/02\/28\/jesus-is-our-example\/"},"modified":"2023-02-28T00:00:00","modified_gmt":"2023-02-28T07:00:00","slug":"jesus-is-our-example","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/upliftingstar.com\/star1015denver\/2023\/02\/28\/jesus-is-our-example\/","title":{"rendered":"Jesus Is Your Example And Strength When You Have Nothing Left To Give"},"content":{"rendered":"\n

If you\u2019re a parent, then you\u2019re likely all too familiar with this scenario<\/strong>:<\/p>\n\n\n\n

You\u2019ve worked all day, come home, played with your kids, cooked dinner, cleaned up, helped with homework, given baths, read stories, and got the kids to bed. You finally <\/em>have a moment to collapse on the couch for a little while at the end of the night for some much-needed time to yourself.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

But inevitably, a child will always come tiptoeing down the stairs to ask for a snack. Or a drink of water. Or to tell you that \u201cmy tongue hurts!\u201d or some other bizarre complaint.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

When this happens to me, my first inclination is to bark at my kid to stop bothering me<\/strong> and go back to bed. I\u2019m tired, and I\u2019m not in the mood for my precious me-time to be interrupted. At the very least, I\u2019m going to sigh and grumble as I get up to deal with whatever it is they need from me.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

I admit that it\u2019s not<\/strong> the most Christ-like response.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

But it turns out that Jesus can relate pretty well to worn-out parents like us.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

At the beginning of Matthew 14<\/a>, Jesus\u2019 cousin and friend, John the Baptist, was brutally killed by King Herod. When John\u2019s disciples brought Jesus the news, he was deeply grieved<\/strong>.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Like you and I at the end of a long day, Jesus needed a minute<\/strong>. He needed time to himself to grieve, rest, and process this profound loss.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Matthew says in verse 13 that \u201che left in a boat to a remote area to be alone.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

And yet, the crowds cared nothing for Jesus\u2019 personal needs. Like our kids, they just kept coming, begging him to meet their<\/em> needs. \u201cThey heard where he was headed and followed on foot from many towns.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

If I were Jesus, and I needed rest<\/a> as much as he did, I would\u2019ve turned my boat around and kept going the moment that I saw a crowd gathering for me on the shore. But that\u2019s not what He chose to do.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Instead, he \u201cstepped from the boat, and he had compassion on them and healed their sick<\/strong>.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

He didn\u2019t roll his eyes or perform his healings with a sigh, the way that I might\u2019ve. He had compassion<\/em> on them. He saw their needs put them ahead of his own. He showed them his love.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

What an example.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

When I read these verses, I was instantly convicted<\/strong> about the way that I treat my children when I feel weary. At the same time, it\u2019s incredibly comforting to know that Jesus experienced the exact same struggle<\/strong>, and he\u2019s there to help me in my weakness.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

This parenting thing is sanctifying work. It reveals my selfishness and shortcomings in more ways than I ever could have imagined. I\u2019m thankful for the gift of these children, and for the way God uses them to mold me, shape me, and make me more like Jesus. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

My prayer is that, whether you\u2019re a parent or not, you and I will allow Jesus to work in us and through us as we push past our own needs<\/strong> to meet the needs of others. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

Let\u2019s lean on the Holy Spirit to help us respond with love and compassion when we feel that we have nothing left to give<\/strong>.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

That\u2019s what Jesus did.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Melinda Bridgman<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Website Content Manager, STAR 99.1<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

If you\u2019re a parent, then you\u2019re likely all too familiar with this scenario: You\u2019ve worked all day, come home, played with your kids, cooked dinner, cleaned up, helped with homework,…<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":24,"featured_media":1458,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[27],"tags":[24,28,84],"class_list":["post-1457","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-spiritual-growth","tag-encouragement","tag-inspiration","tag-spiritual-growth"],"acf":[],"publishpress_future_action":{"enabled":false,"date":"2026-05-13 17:08:38","action":"change-status","newStatus":"draft","terms":[],"taxonomy":"category","extraData":[]},"publishpress_future_workflow_manual_trigger":{"enabledWorkflows":[]},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/upliftingstar.com\/star1015denver\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1457","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/upliftingstar.com\/star1015denver\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/upliftingstar.com\/star1015denver\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/upliftingstar.com\/star1015denver\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/24"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/upliftingstar.com\/star1015denver\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=1457"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/upliftingstar.com\/star1015denver\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1457\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/upliftingstar.com\/star1015denver\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/1458"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/upliftingstar.com\/star1015denver\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=1457"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/upliftingstar.com\/star1015denver\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=1457"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/upliftingstar.com\/star1015denver\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=1457"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}