I was reading in Luke nine today about Jesus sending out the disciples. The part that is usually preached on faded into the background and Luke’s emphasis on Jesus sending them out to “preach the gospel and heal” jumped off the page. It made me wonder, how many times do we try to share the gospel or our faith but fail to realize those in front of us need healing too? We try to feed Jesus to someone when they are really starving for someone to just listen. We try to throw them the life preserver of salvation, when they are really drowning in debt with no knowledge of how to escape. We tell them I’ll pray for your sick child, when they really need someone to sit with the child while they rest.

These first few verses of Luke nine really made me realize that not only do we need to share Jesus with others, but we have to be him to them, finding where they are hurt and healing that hurt to the best of our ability. Then they may be willing to hear what we have to say.