³⁸ Jesus left the synagogue and went to the home of Simon. Now Simon’s mother-in-law was suffering from a high fever, and they asked Jesus to help her. ³⁹ So he bent over her and rebuked the fever, and it left her. She got up at once and began to wait on them.
                                                                                                      -Luke 4:38-39
 
We see here another picture of what Jesus has come to do: healing, wholeness, restoring broken bodies to full health.
 
But the blessing of Jesus’s healing is always a means, not an ends. Jesus restores bodies in order that they might serve others. This is exactly what Simon’s mother-in-law does. She gets up at once and begins to wait on them—a sign of her full physical restoration.
 
Some of us have hung on here into late-January with our New Year’s resolutions. Some of those resolutions are ‘getting our own house in order’ kinds of resolutions: lose weight, get our finances under control, exercise, work on our key relationships, kick a bad habit, etc.
 
All of those are great, but they are a means to another end.
 
Losing weight and getting healthier is fantastic. It means that you have a healthier, more energetic you to serve God, serve your neighbor, love the people around you and be a more active part in Jesus’s joy-to-the-world restoration mission.  After you’ve lost the weight or gotten healthier, do you have a sense of what’s next?
 
Getting your finances under control? Wonderful. More money to give away towards some Kingdom-oriented cause somewhere.
 
Working on your marriage or parenting? Great. A vibrant marriage or family unit has the potential to be a little bit like a noble cedar tree: all kinds of people around you can find their rest and make their nest in you. Who around you could use a surrogate family as their own is either a train wreck or all gone?
 
Ready to kick that bad habit? Spectacular. Who else might you bring into your journey, how might you help others who are stuck in the same habit?
 
We were always meant to be a conduit of blessing, never a cul-de-sac of blessing.  God’s work in us is always in order to serve God’s work through us.
 
What changes are you working on right now? How do you think those changes might bless others? Spend just a minute offering back up to God your experiences of his grace changing you—anything that comes to mind. Ask God how he might want to bless others through you.