Luke 2:41-52: Vs. 52 And Jesus grew in wisdom and stature, and in favor with God and men.
We have only one story of Jesus as a middle school age kid. Nothing of his later teens or his days as a young adult. What a gap in time! If Jesus was wise enough at age twelve to amaze the people at the temple, imagine what he could have done in his twenties. But God's plan for Jesus was to wait until he was around thirty years old to begin his public ministry. What was Jesus doing? Growing! He continued to grow in his wisdom - being able to apply his knowledge to life. He grew up physically in a normal fashion. The awkward teenage years, the growing pains, learning social skills, and all the other things that go along with growing up human. And Jesus grew in his favor of God. The writer of Hebrews says that Jesus learned obedience to God the Father. That even though Jesus was fully God, he was also fully human and his human side needed to learn obedience to the Father. The amazing balance of God between grace and favor! That God loves us unconditionally, and yet as we follow God with our lives we can be favored by God. What a mystery of the faith. Jesus also grew in his favor with people. He learned from his experience with getting lost from his parents at the temple that he must submit to his parents, even though he was the Messiah. He learned about people and what makes us tick. God sent Jesus to be with us! To experience the human condition. So the writer of Hebrews could say we have a High Priest in Jesus who is sympathetic with our human condition.
I realize if Jesus needed to grow and he was fully God and fully man - I will always need to grow! I may be done with the growth of stature - been 6 foot tall since 8th grade - but in all the other areas of this verse I must continue to grow!
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This post allowed me to cut myself some slack today. I feel like I have not been advancing in my walk as far as I think I should. Not connecting at all the right times, reaching to God when I should. But then I realize I am human and sometimes fail. But that God never will. And all I can do is continue to grow in all the ways that He has set before me :)
ReplyDeleteI heard this week a great illustration of God's work in our lives. When we begin a relationship with God, He cleans our hearts and plants the seeds of love, faithfulness, kindness, joy, peace, self-discipline, and gentleness. They are just seeds that begin to grow in our lives. We must cultivate our soil and help them grow. We are not fully mature and producing fruit the first day, we have to keep connecting and growing. Sometimes we expect God to zap us into something, when He is pleased to watch us naturally grow. Growth takes time!
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