Friends

John 4: 43-44

43After the two days he left for Galilee. 44(Now Jesus himself had pointed out that a prophet has no honor in his own country.)

This passage has always jumped out at me. Mark 6 also records it as : 4Jesus said to them, "Only in his hometown, among his relatives and in his own house is a prophet without honor."

As a result of the lack of faith Jesus does not accomplish a whole lot while he is in Galilee. Now you might think that I am wanting to talk more about faith, and I guess in an indirect way I am, but I want you to really think about what is being said here.

Jesus Christ, the only son of God, he left his Father, became human….yet when he goes back to the place of his mortal birth, the Son of God cannot accomplish many things, because of the people that were around him! The people had no faith in him, so he could not display His greatness….

My question to you today is not do you have faith in Christ, but who are you surrounding yourself with? If Christ could not do great things because people did not believe in him, how do you expect yourself to be able to accomplish much if the people that are around you, do not have faith in you? If people do not believe in you, if they are not encouraging you, if the people in your life are not taking an interest…….do you think you are going to be successful?

We are all great at trying to live like Christ…. We want to love like Him, we want to forgive like Him, we want to be compassionate like He was……but we all seem to forget that we need to learn to leave like He did! Christ did not hang out in Galilee for an extended amount of time. He did what He could, He helped whom He could, and then He left!

Matthew 10 we read Jesus giving direct instruction how to handle people that will not receive them: And if anyone will not receive you or listen to your words, shake off the dust from your feet when you leave that house or town.

How successful we will be in this life has a lot to do with whom we place around us, and whom we place importance on. You might think well what does it matter, we are here but for a short time, I go to Church, I give my offering, I try to be the best person that I can be……why does it matter who I hang out with…they are “good” people, they don’t do drugs they don’t cheat….yadda yadda yadda, well are they? Are they good people? Are they supporting you….are you supporting them? Do you find that it is a two way relationship, or are you doing all the giving, and getting nothing in return?

Who are you reaching out to today? Are you keeping yourself in an environment that is sapping your faith away? If you think “getting by” as a Christian is all that matters, think again. WE have a lot of work to do, and it will not get done if we are not all at our best.

Peace,
Brian