Walking Slowly Through The Crowd

One of the things I love about Jesus is that he was never too busy to stop what he was doing and connect with people who needed him. He was profoundly interruptible — something that stands out in today’s culture where everyone seems way too busy, all the time. At one point in the Gospels, Jesus actually had so many people coming to him to be healed that a line had formed and it took him well into the night to take care of everyone (Mark 1:32).

On another occasion, Jesus was already on his way to save the life of a terminally ill young girl when a woman who had been suffering from bleeding for years approached him in a crowd. The woman saw Jesus, pressed in as close as she could, and reached out to touch him. And then Jesus did something shocking, especially when you consider the urgency of the situation. He stopped and turned around to find out who touched him.

If there was ever a time when it would be understandable for Jesus to ask someone to take a rain check on their needs, this was it. A little girl was dying, after all. But instead of rebuking the woman for interfering with his vital mission, Jesus stopped to bless her with a level of love and compassion that only he could give.

Christian author and leadership expert John Maxwell likes to say that good leaders walk slowly through the crowd. While it’s true that they walk with purpose and intentionality (instead of wandering aimlessly), they walk slowly enough through the crowd to ensure that they can connect with the people they are leading. They are never too busy to notice the people around them and minister to their needs.

In today’s society, most of us are constantly rushing around from point A to point B. But we can’t let the tyranny of the urgent distract us from those little ministry moments that God has prepared for our lives. We need to be willing to stop what we’re doing so we can focus on the work God needs us to do. We need to be profoundly interruptible, just like Jesus was.

So this week, let’s focus on walking slowly through the crowd.

Blessings,

Bryan Fojtasek