Love Overcomes Daily Devotion

Words of Love

And Jesus grew in wisdom and stature, and in favor with God and man. Luke 2:52 NIV

Overcoming the Barrier

As we continue these first steps on our devotional journey through the season of Lent I’m remembering a conversation with a young dad at one of the churches I have been blessed to serve. He was in a Bible study I was leading and the topic on that particular evening was Paul’s description of spiritual gifts and, more largely, living in the Spirit. When the class was over he came up to me looking something between dejected and defeated and sighed, “I guess I’m not very spiritual. I mostly just work and take care of my family.” We spent the next half-hour or so reflecting on all the work he did around the church, how he quietly modeled his faith to his boys, and other hallmarks of a godly life that seemed hidden behind a tragically misguided perception of what it means to be “spiritual.” I reminded him that our spirituality is a manifestation of the Holy Spirit that is utterly unique with each person. The Spirit works through our personalities and experiences to produce fruit for the kingdom and God controls the metrics that determine how we’re doing, not us, and certainly not anyone else.

I love the passage above because in one verse it sums up Jesus’ life for the 18 or so years that preceded his three-and-a-half years of ministry. The verses prior to this one indicate that Jesus and his family regularly attended church. Granted, it was an activity of which he couldn’t seem to get enough, but that’s all we know about the spiritual life of Jesus and his family for 18 years. And your point is, preacher? Simple: Jesus prepared for his journey of preaching, teaching, healing, and saving humankind from sin and death by simply growing up with his family and participating in their traditions. He worked, he played, and he worshipped like most of the other Jewish boys and girls in his community. How “spiritual” does that sound? How similar is that to our lives right now? How easy could that be to begin? We work, we play, we worship. Granted, he seemed to take the worship part very seriously and undoubtedly made the most of his opportunities to study the Scriptures. But we can do that, too. Don’t let some preconceived notion that you’re not “spiritual” become a barrier to growing in wisdom and stature during your journey. Our life with Christ is not a competition; it’s an expedition. And while we all may have the same ultimate destination, our routes will vary. Our journey may take us through some breathtaking landscape, or we may spend most of our time close to home. Regardless, God will use whatever path we’re on to lead us near to his heart. It took Jesus 18 years. What’s your hurry?

Prayer

God of real life, please invade my everyday things and create holy things so that in everything I see you and path you have in mind for me. In Jesus’ name, amen.