Refusing to be Another Statistic

Refusing to be Another Statistic

I like statistics.

They can help you put things in perspective.

But I know that statistics have a margin of error.

The greatest isn’t the lack of info or how the facts were compiled.

The greatest error is the removal of a person for a number.

God does not see you and I as statistics

but as individuals He loves!

He will always be able to recognize you in a crowd.

We have all seen statistics.

I was talking to a doctor the other day about statistic.

You know the odds,

what is my chance of being one of those statistics?

The doctor said her mother always said,

“No matter how low the statistic is

they don’t matter until you are one.”

There is a true story about a woman who refused to be a statistic.

Her health issues drained her of energy,

but she didn’t give up.

For 12 years she fought the physical and emotional drain.

Her finances were drained trying to find a cure,

but her determination remained relentless.

One day she heard commotion in the street.

It was a crowd of people around Jesus.

She had heard about Him and His ability to heal.

She forced her way through the crowd.

Her condition made her ceremonially unclean

according to Old Testament law. 

Anyone making contact with her, would become unclean.

But this unclean woman risked it all,

pushing through the crowd,

and touched the garment of Jesus.

Jesus recognized that someone touched Him

and said, “Who touched me?”

The disciples wondered what Jesus could be talking about

because everybody was touching Him.

Out of fear, the woman admits her guilt and said, “It was I”.

Jesus turned and looked at her

and declared her faith had healed her.

It wasn’t touching Jesus that healed her

everyone around Him was touching Him.

It wasn’t that she was super spiritual

and going after Jesus.

In fact, she was too insecure to tell Him her problem.

She simply believed that if Jesus could heal others,

He could heal her!

She refused to be a statistic.

If you believe that God has a purpose and plan for your life,

then you are not a statistic or a number.

You are personally known by Him

and He recognizes you

when you come to Him with your needs.

Scripture Reading

Mark 5:24-34 NIV

A large crowd followed and pressed around him.

25 And a woman was there who had been subject to bleeding for twelve years.

26 She had suffered a great deal under the care of many doctors and had spent all she had, yet instead of getting better she grew worse. 27 When she heard about Jesus,

she came up behind him in the crowd and touched his cloak,

28 because she thought, "If I just touch his clothes, I will be healed."

29 Immediately her bleeding stopped

and she felt in her body that she was freed from her suffering.

30 At once Jesus realized that power had gone out from him.

He turned around in the crowd and asked, "Who touched my clothes?" 

31 "You see the people crowding against you," his disciples answered,

"and yet you can ask, 'Who touched me?'"

32 But Jesus kept looking around to see who had done it.

33 Then the woman, knowing what had happened to her,

came and fell at his feet and, trembling with fear, told him the whole truth.

34 He said to her, "Daughter, your faith has healed you.

Go in peace and be freed from your suffering." 

Jeremiah 29:10-14 NIV

 11 For I know the plans I have for you," declares the LORD,

"plans to prosper you and not to harm you, plans to give you hope and a future.

12 Then you will call upon me and come and pray to me, and I will listen to you.

13 You will seek me and find me when you seek me with all your heart.

14 I will be found by you," declares the LORD,

"and will bring you back from captivity.