April 18 and 19
When questioned why He did not join in the frolics of the youth of Nazareth, He said, It is written, "I have rejoiced in the way of Thy testimonies, as much as in all riches. I will meditate in Thy precepts, and have respect unto Thy ways. I will delight myself in Thy statutes; I will not forget Thy word." Ps. 119:14-16 Desire of Ages, page 90 from the chapter, 'Days of Conflict'
The point is that Jesus was questioned. People noticed. There is a man that I occasionally see around town. He is easily noticed because he is very tall and wears an old fur coat that is far too small for him. People don’t question him. They just let him walk past. Jesus was questioned because at least he was approachable. He was different but He wasn’t strange.
We ought to pride ourselves on being a peculiar people, but not on being strange individuals. Our practices may well be different but they should not be so different that people find they can’t ask questions of us or that they walk past and shake their heads finding us to be odd people.
Let us remember that when Jesus grew up he had become used to living a life guided by His Father in heaven. Jesus took His words of guidance from the word of God. He felt comfortable that He was the one who was behaving normally while the rest of the world was going its own way.
Let us remember that when Jesus grew up His manner of life was so attractive that first one, then twelve then hundreds joined Him as disciples.
With your prayer partner, pray about how you can take a singularity in your life, and work out how you can use that aspect of your life to be a positive talking point. Discuss how you can sensibly use your singular approach as a talking point so that someone might say, “I like how you live.” Then find, as Jesus did, a suitable Bible text to glorify God with.
You probably rarely listen to country gospel. This song is wonderful. Please take note of the chorus. Bryn has chosen, ‘I want you to meet my friend’ by Larry Sparks . Click on the picture to listen.
 |
 |
 |
 |
 |
 |
Housekeeping details for you
The point of this short blog will become clear if you decide to use this reading in the way we intend it. Netherfield Seventh-day Adventist Church believes in healthy churches. You can see what that means if you head to the relevant Healthy Churches page of the website. We also want other churches to be healthy. That means you can join in our campaign to create healthy churches, with healthy people serving the people in those churches.
A healthy church is one where Jesus comes first. A healthy church is one where the people work together to put Jesus first. One thing we are doing is to join people together to spread that news. I would like you to look at our prayer partners page. This will explain how we want you to use this short devotional. Very basically we want you to find a like-minded Christian friend who you will join with to : choose to pray together every day, decide together on a way to serve other people together, to help them grow as Christians - and to invite the Holy Spirit into your life every day. This blog that you will receive every day simply gives a common spiritual purpose. If you are a newcomer and want to join the blog with this object in mind click here
