God’s Plan
When his family heard about this, they went to take charge of him, for they said, “He is out of his mind” (Mark 3:21).
Jesus knew from the beginning that he would be rejected by those he came to save. Yet he never swerved from the path his Father had set before him. That did not mean it was easy for him. Because he was a normal human being, rejection must have been as painful for him as it is for you and me.
His rejection by his own hometown and by his own family must have been particularly painful. He had lived a model life of holiness and service right in their midst, yet they would not believe. He did not fit their image of what the Messiah was to be, so they spurned him.
Those who rejected Jesus hungered for more signs and wonders rather than for a life of self-sacrificing love. They wanted a show, not humility; a carnal display, not holiness. They wanted him to outdo the Romans at the Roman game, but Jesus had come to play another game.
They wanted him to change their circumstances, not to change them. Jesus had come to change them so he could change the circumstances of other people. They had things backwards.
Does God perform acceptably for you? Does he act the way you think he ought to act? If he doesn’t, do you think it is because he is out of line, or because your perspective is askew? Most of us want him to change our circumstances and other people’s character, not our character and others’ circumstances.
But the only way he can change other people’s circumstances through us is to change us. And that is a different process. It meant a Cross for Jesus, and if we want to follow him, it will mean one for us as well.
—Dennis Kinslaw
This Day with the Master
Kinslaw’s thought above includes this indictment: They wanted Jesus to change their circumstances, not to change them. I would assert that this is a struggle for all of us; wanting God to perform the way we’d like and expect Him to. I’ve found—as Kinslaw seems to conclude above—that when God doesn’t act the way I’d expect Him to, it’s because He’s doing something in my heart I’m reluctant to have Him do … change me. It is in these seasons where we must take a reflective look in the mirror. What attitude or appetite is His shedding light on? What are we holding tightly that He wants us to drop? It is a very good thing that an Infinite God does not fit into the role we’d imagine for Him with our finite minds. We need the courage, then, to trust in His infinite wisdom and follow obediently. —DH
—David Hoskins, Founder & Care Guide, Sanctuary Clinics