Get Out!... While There's Time

Check your space people. Who are you allowing to occupy your time?
What are your surroundings looking like? I was amazed at my reading today of Matthew in the New Testament. It detailed how Jesus went from city to city, freely performing miracles, healing the sick, raising the dead, and imparting wisdom, from the Father, to the crowds which congregated. All this was quite amazing, of course, but what struck me was beginning in Chapter 13:53 when Jesus went back to his hometown to preach the gospel.

Up until this point the only skeptics following Jesus were the Pharisees, but when he returned home the people of the town started to question his validity as well. They began to ask things like, “Where did this man get this wisdom and these miraculous powers?” “Isn't this the carpenter's son? Isn't his mother's name Mary, and aren't his brothers James, Joseph, Simon and Judas?” “Aren't all his sisters with us? Where then did this man get all these things?” And finally in verse 57 it states that they were offended by him. Jesus’ own ‘hood was offended by the audacity with which he preached under the direction of the Father. Jesus finally proclaimed a powerful statement in response to their questioning: “Only in his hometown and in his own house is a prophet without honor.”

Wow! I could not believe this; however, this very situation is still relevant. God urges us to move out of our comfort zones, and out of places that are familiar to us because such dwellings begin to shape our thinking. Just think about the people you see when you return home after a long period away. Many times I find myself saying “they are still on that same stuff!” There is no growth and no motivation or intent to change the things of their less then desirable circumstances. But get this, because you decided to leave those festering grounds, you are now called “brand new” or what ever other degrading name when returning for a visit.

This is why it is so important that we check our space, and make sure that our surroundings and those that we keep in our presence are really for us. The best test for such an initiative is to gauge the response of your “friends” when something awesome happens to you. Are they celebrating with you, or are they like the people during Jesus’ days asking, who does she think she is? People who are not for you are not worth your time! I don’t care how long you’ve known them. They are only trying to rob you of your confidence, and keep you, at their level, complaining about how nothing good ever happens. The devil is a liar! Get out people while you can! Go forth, and get out of familiar territories because when you branch out with God he never ceases to bless!

Look up and get out!

Nikki D