What did the people think of Jesus? Most who knew Him and followed Him obviously thought He was wonderful because of all the good He has done for them. Others didn’t like Him, such as the Pharisees and Sadducees because He wasn’t in their league. According to their probable thinking He didn’t have their blood line of class, didn’t fit into their social status and He thought He was from God. The worst to them was the fact that he wasn’t ordained in their religious structure to do what He did.
What did Jesus think of himself? He knew who He was – the Son of God who needed His Father. “Jesus gave them this answer: ‘Very truly I tell you, the Son can do nothing by himself; he can do only what he sees his Father doing, because whatever the Father does the Son also does,’” (John 5:19).
“As Jesus started on his way, a man ran up to him and fell on his knees before him. ‘Good teacher,’ he asked, ‘what must I do to inherit eternal life?’
18 ‘Why do you call me good?’ Jesus answered. “No one is good—except God alone,’” (Mark 10:17, 18).
“The greatest among you will be your servant. 12 For those who exalt themselves will be humbled, and those who humble themselves will be exalted,” (Matthew 23:11, 12).
This was the secret of Jesus’ greatness. It was not because He was the Son of God or that He had a more special anointing than others. “For we do not have a high priest who is unable to empathize with our weaknesses, but we have one who has been tempted in every way, just as we are—yet he did not sin,” (Hebrews 4:15). He had two advantages that caused Him to be great. He did not sin and he humbled Himself before His Father. He acknowledged that He needed Him every moment of the day and He never thought of Himself higher than He ought to. “For by the grace given me I say to every one of you: Do not think of yourself more highly than you ought, but rather think of yourself with sober judgment, in accordance with the faith God has distributed to each of you,” (Romans 12:3).
The Lord tests the heart. What we appear to be, may fool people, but we do not fool the Lord. If Jesus, the sinless Son of God, considered it important to die to self and have His complete focus on His Father, how much more don’t we need to humble ourselves, especially in our thought life, and pass the glory and honour to the Lord?
We don’t need to feel ourselves to be inferior and rubbish, but we do need to acknowledge our dependence on the Lord and realise that without Him we’re nothing. “I am the vine; you are the branches. If you remain in me and I in you, you will bear much fruit; apart from me you can do nothing,” (John 15:5).
We also need to be careful not to lift other people up and worship them – using expressions such as ‘what an incredible man/woman of God’. We then subject them to possible temptation to exalt themselves. Have you noted how Jesus handled the situation when a follower tried to exalt Him in Mark 10:18 above? He referred the glory immediately to His Father. Let’s do likewise! Honour the anointing and not the person.
In God’s eyes we can be great (e.g. Matthew 18:4) and He would gladly whisper in the hearts of our listeners as He said about Jesus in Matthew 17:5: “This is my Son, whom I love; with him I am well pleased. Listen to him!” We just need to acknowledge that it’s not us being great.
Lord, help me realise it’s all about you.
Our blessing to you:
“Rejoice always, pray continually, give thanks in all circumstances; for this is God’s will for you in Christ Jesus. Do not quench the Spirit. Do not treat prophecies with contempt but test them all; hold on to what is good, reject every kind of evil. May God himself, the God of peace, sanctify you through and through. May your whole spirit, soul and body be kept blameless at the coming of our Lord Jesus Christ. The one who calls you is faithful, and he will do it,” (1Thessalonians 5:16-24).
If you benefited from this, why don’t you link it to your Facebook or Twitter or forward the e-mail reminder to make it available to your friends? You can also use the e-mail link to pass it on. Please pray as well for its distribution to those who need it and feel free to ask questions or discuss thoughts.
No comments:
Post a Comment