February 12

      "The life of Jesus was a life in harmony with God. While He was a child, He thought and spoke as a child; but no trace of sin marred the image of God within Him. Yet He was not exempt from temptation. The inhabitants of Nazareth were proverbial for their wickedness. The low estimate in which they were generally held is shown by Nathanael's question, "Can there any good thing come out of Nazareth?" John 1:46. Jesus was placed where His character would be tested. It was necessary for Him to be constantly on guard in order to preserve His purity. He was subject to all the conflicts which we have to meet, that He might be an example to us in childhood, youth, and manhood"

                   Desire of Ages, page 71 from the chapter, 'As a child'

     Up in Jerusalem the influence of the priests was too strong to risk Jesus being in the midst of the Biblical teaching there. Not that the priests were wicked people. They taught people to give tithes of mint, dill and cumin. They prayed and were prepared to travel to the ends of the earth to win a single convert.

     The teaching was not godly. The teaching lacked authority. God was quoted less than this Rabbi or that teacher. God recognised that Jesus had to be kept out of that influence.

     Nazareth was way out in the country. The country isn’t always the safest place to be. I have no idea what there was about Nazareth that made people wonder if anything good could come out of the place. Yet God chose Nazareth rather than Jerusalem.

     There is nothing wrong with temptation. The statement is that Jesus was placed where His character would be tested. A test is not there to put a block on someone’s growth. A test is not there for the teacher to say, “I doubt your abilities so we need to find out if you are good enough.” A test is not a judgement designed to condemn a person.

     A test, a real test, is designed to take a person one step up. Could I point you to a test Jesus offered His disciples? You can read the test in Matthew 16:13-28. The disciples passed the test by giving the right answer. Then Jesus could take His disciples on to the next lesson.

     A temptation is not designed to knock you back but lift you up. God put Jesus where Jesus could grow. Put yourself where you can grow, not where you can be distracted by side issues.

 

     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