Jesus was busy from early in the
morning until late at night. Then at night, he prayed. Looking at the two
references in the previous post, we get an idea of Jesus’ style of making His light shine so that
His Father may be glorified. Can you imagine how hard He must have worked to
fill so many books, as mentioned by John? Jesus walked all over Israel, meeting
spiritual and physical needs. From Jerusalem to Nazareth is about forty-four miles (70 kilometres). To Caesarea-Philippi is another forty-four miles—plenty to cover on
foot. He walked about, healing every disease. He gave food to the hungry. He
set people free from oppression and gave them hope. All these He did through
God’s power, not through human resources, although He was fully human and as dependent on God as we are.
He spent His
life for those around Him. There was no time for sport, entertainment, or
self-indulgence. Even when He relaxed and socialized His aim was to affect the
lives of His company (e.g. Luke 7:36-50, Luke 19:1-9, John 2:1-10). What was it
that glorified His Father? Was it His miracles? No, it was His sacrifice for
that which was important to the Father.
Jesus simply was not part of the
status quo. He just could not be missed. Even if He had done no miracles, His
selfless lifestyle of sacrifice upon sacrifice would have separated Him from
everybody else. People would have asked, “Where does this man come from? What
motivates him to do all these things? What is he getting out of it?”
Then Jesus would have had the
opportunity to answer: He did these things because of His Father’s amazing
love. Jesus prayed in John 17:4: “I have brought you glory on earth
by completing the work you gave me to do.”
And what about us? We wear “What
would Jesus do?” bracelets. We want to be like Him. We enjoy church services,
but does our light shine as effectively as that of Jesus? Or do comfort,
circumstances, and self-indulgence hide the light from the world? Could you and
I say, “I have brought You glory on earth by completing the work You gave me to
do”?
If all Christians lived
self-sacrificial, light-shining lives with one goal in mind—to glorify the
Lord—the world would have no choice. They would have to declare, “The Lord
Almighty, He alone is God.”
It does not seem that is the case at
the moment. More accurately, the world ignores the Church, or worse, mocks it.
It is as if the church desperately seeks acceptance from the world, screaming,
“We are here. Don’t overlook us.” Instead of walking in the power of God,
risking persecution in order to win the world, the church has incorporated all
kinds of worldly activities to become acceptable to the world. The church has
become a social club with a Christian appearance, having a
form of godliness but denying the power (2 Timothy 3:5).
We don’t
know what happens in church people’s private lives. Paul wrote the following to
Timothy, a pastor, to warn him against religious people. If we would mirror our
secret lives in these verses, I wonder what would reflect back.
But mark
this: There will be terrible times in the last days. People will be lovers of
themselves, lovers of money, boastful, proud, abusive, disobedient to their
parents, ungrateful, unholy, without self-control, brutal, not lovers of the
good, treacherous, rash, conceited, lovers of pleasure rather than lovers of
God -- having a form of godliness but denying its power. Have nothing to do
with them. (2 Timothy 3:1-5)
For children and adults who are prepared to learn in a childlike way. For more information see http://t-a-c.co.za.
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