My, Devotion to Him #48
VERSE PASSAGE: Luke 4:23-30 “Jesus said to them, “Surely you will quote this proverb to me: ‘Physician, heal yourself!’ And you will tell me, ‘Do here in your hometown what we have heard that you did in Capernaum.'” “Truly I tell you,” he continued, “no prophet is accepted in his hometown. I assure you that there were many widows in Israel in Elijah’s time, when the sky was shut for three and a half years and there was a severe famine throughout the land. Yet Elijah was not sent to any of them, but to a widow in Zarephath in the region of Sidon. And there were many in Israel with leprosy in the time of Elisha the prophet, yet not one of them was cleansed—only Naaman the Syrian.” All the people in the synagogue were furious when they heard this. They got up, drove him out of the town, and took him to the brow of the hill on which the town was built, in order to throw him off the cliff. But he walked right through the crowd and went on his way.” – NIV
From this we can say “familiarity breeds contempt.”
You see those who know the most about us also know more of our faults than anyone else. And a common problem is our weaknesses will blind most people to our strengths.
However, in the case of Jesus, there were no faults or failures for these people to see and point out. In this instance, the problem stemmed from the people’s lack of perception. They knew Jesus better than most in the flesh, but they had failed to see who He was in the Spirit. In which is another common problem we face. Most people know us of our flesh but do not know who we are in spirit.
Jesus was God in all His power and majesty, yet He was clothed in flesh and was human in every respect.
VERSE PASSAGE: 1 Timothy 3:16 “Beyond all question, the mystery from which true godliness springs is great: He appeared in the flesh, was vindicated by the Spirit, was seen by angels, was preached among the nations, was believed on in the world, was taken up in glory.” – NIV
These people looked on Jesus’ outward appearance and failed to see God within
VERSE PASSAGE: 1 Samuel 16:7 “But the Lord said to Samuel, “Do not consider his appearance or his height, for I have rejected him. The Lord does not look at the things people look at. People look at the outward appearance, but the Lord looks at the heart.” – NIV
Likewise, we fail to see the potential in others and even in ourselves because of our preoccupation with the outward appearance and actions. We fail to remember that since we are born again we are new creations in Him. We are totally new. We fail to see fellow brothers and sisters in Christ as this way. Now something can be said for the ones who lives like the world and act like the world still. However, I want to talk about people whom the change has really taken hold of. We fail so bad at remember how that person was and not the person they have become in the Lord. It is sad that Christians are not accepted in their hometown. Why is this? Because the people of the town and the church of that town only see them for who they are in the flesh and not in the spirit and they are drove out. It’s sad when family thinks that because you are a Christian you think you are better than they. They do not wish to know Christ but hold it against you because of your relationship with Him. It’s sad when town gossip spreads with your name and they brush it off as if you could change your ways. It’s sad when whispers of your name are mentioned in the church as they’ve heard about you and what you’ve done, and they are in disbelief of you being a Christian.
Today look beyond the exterior in yourself and others and help bring into reality what we can be in Christ. Do not hold against your brothers and sister in Christ. For their past is done and gone. Behold a new future. We need to build up our brothers and sisters. No matter where they came from, how old or young, male or female, any ethnicity, from any country, from any walk of life. Stop looking at appearances. How long must we continue not accepting people in the Lord.
Copyright © 2017 by Jacob D. Olinger
Spirit Warrior Ministry 