Enthusiasm is contagious

I was reading a very familiar passage this morning during my quiet time. The story is of Jesus feeding the 5000 people. It is the only miracle recorded in all four gospels, so it must have made an impression on the disciples. However, this morning something jumped off the pages at me as I read this story once again. I have missed it before, or maybe I just did not pay attention. Whatever the reason, this morning God revealed something to me in this passage. Most of us know the story, but if you do not look in Mark 6:30 - 44 so you can become familiar with it. The context is after Jesus had sent his disciples out to minister in pairs. They returned and reported to him all they had done and taught and Jesus noticed that they were tired and needed rest. They got in a boat so they could find some rest. John's gospel states that they went to the far side of the Sea of Galilee. We do not know exactly how far they traveled to get to the other side, but they set sail in their boat to reach the other side. The interesting part is that many who saw them leave ran on foot from all the towns and got there ahead of them. They ran around the lake on foot and beat Jesus to the other side. Typically sailing is faster than walking and the shortest distance between two given points is a straight line (See Mom I did pay attention in Geometry). But here we see people defying both of these truths. Why? They were excited about Jesus and what He had to say. They wanted to see Him and hear more from Him. I can imagine these people running along the shore and hollering "look it's Jesus!" Others chime in "I see Him too! Look there He is!" As they run along the shore pointing him out to others the excitement increases and before long there are 5000 men gathered on the shore waiting for Jesus. This number does not include the women and children that came as well. Enthusiasm is contagious. These people were excited about Jesus and it impacted the others as well. Is your excitement for Jesus contagious? It should be and I would also say that your excitement for His church should be contagious as well. If you are not excited about Jesus or about His church, then chances are others will not be affected by it either. But here is the central idea: if they had not been excited about hearing and seeing Jesus, they would have missed one of his greatest miracles, the feeding of the 5000. What are people missing because we are just not that excited about Jesus or about His church? Enthusiasm, excitement is contagious. Next time your in a store, tell someone about Jesus and invite them to church. Tell them that you are a part of the fellowship of excitement and that God is doing great things in your life and the life of others. I believe they will see people made right with God, marriages restored, relationships healed and above all God glorified. Sounds like God can still work miracles. Oh by the way one more thing about this passage. Mark 6:33 states "But many who saw THEM leaving recognized THEM and ran on foot from all the towns and got there ahead of THEM." Did you see the emphasis? Why did they recognize THEM? For the simple reason they had been out preaching, teaching and ministering in Jesus' name. Do people recognize YOU and get excited about what God is doing? Get all excited and go tell everybody that Jesus Christ is King. It is contagious.