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Wednesday, April 10, 2013

If Jesus Were Complacent


The following is completely fictitious (but with a lesson):

There was a woman named Mary who gave birth to a son. She named him Jesus. As a boy he wasn’t much different from any other boy—he followed the instructions of his parents with occasional belly-aching. But generally he was a good boy. As a teenager, he did what most teens do—sassing his parents and acting like a know-it-all. Problem was, Jesus did know it all—he was perfect—as he frequently reminded everyone, ad nauseam. As time continued, though, he mellowed and grew to be a fine respectable man his community.

He continued on in the family business as a carpenter and made a good living for himself. He attended meetings as often as he could at the local synagogue—when his carpentry didn’t press him into overtime. But hey, we all have to provide for ourselves, right?

Once in a while, he would be called on to read a passage at the synagogue, but reading aloud, in front of a crowd, was not really his cup of tea. He felt it was more important to focus on feeding himself and his family. Besides, what possible difference could one person make, anyway? There were plenty of other men whose business it was to educate the people. There were the scribes, the Pharisees and the Sadducees. Besides, who would believe the word of a carpenter from the small, insignificant town of Nazareth?

The Lesson
But you claim, “Hey, I know I’m not ‘special’ like Jesus was.” Ah, but you are special. Jesus saw in you something so special, that he revealed his Father to you. (Matt.11:27). He gave you his “precious and very grand promises” (2Peter 1:4) But to feel great, we must act great. That is, greatly depend on Jehovah, knowing that he really does want to help us excel in using our talents to praise him. It takes bold courage to "trust in Jehovah with all your heart" especially when questions (really, doubts) like, "where will I live? what will I eat" beat us into complacency. - Proverbs 3:5; Matthew 6:25-34


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