Thurs., 7/4/13 Devotion (Matt. 14:13a, 23)

Today's encouragement comes from Matthew 14:13a & 23, where we read these words:

"When Jesus heard it, He departed from there by boat to a deserted place by Himself. . . . And when He [Christ] had sent the multitudes away, He went up on the mountain by Himself to pray. Now when eve-ning came, He was alone there."

Notice all the references in these verses (above), to Christ being *alone*. God does not want us to be hermits, nor anti-social; but if we are to do well in our public ministries (whatever those may entail), then we have got to spend some good, quality "alone time" with our Father in heaven.

We can practically "feel" how important this was to Jesus, as we read the Gospel accounts. If Christ, the Perfect One, needed time with God--how can we, who are sinners, need it any less?

[Puritan quote of the day: "Christ loves to taste of the good fruits that come from us, even though they will always savour of our old nature."
--Richard Sibbes, in, "The Bruised Reed"]