Being Called – Fourth Sunday after the Epiphany

 

When God created Adam and Eve, He gave them authority to choose. Devil took advantage over it and made them to choose sin. Every human have the right to choose between right and wrong. Even most of the countries in the world give their citizens the right to choose. But if they choose something against the law, they need to face punishment.

Same way, even if you are called by God, He gave you the right to choose your path. Lord will provide you with His word and wisdom, but it is your authority to choose. We are living in an evil world. A man of God may get persecuted in this world. Even it happened to Jesus Christ.

Before starting His earthly ministry, Jesus was tested and tempted by Satan (Mathew 4). Jesus overcame it by the word of God. It shows us that we need to be thorough with the word of God. Children use to study and byheart the word for competition. Word of God should be kept in heart and when you face problems and temptations, it should be spoken against the problems to overcome it. If you are called by God, like Jesus, you will be tested continuously and you need to have the word of God in your heart.

When you walk with God and when God calls you, the people who comes against will be from your own family and neighborhood. Jesus went to Nazareth where he was brought up, and the people rejected him. They considered him as a son of carpenter. They were not able to digest the anointing of God upon His life. People consider you according to their plan. If God’s favor comes upon you the people wont be able to comprehend it and they will be the first one to hate you and be against you. When Jesus told about their attitude they got angry and even tried to kill him. But since God’s anointing was upon Him, he walked in the midst of them and went away (Luke 4: 21-30).

Jesus never stood there and challenged them. But He showed the maturity and walked away from them. As the follower of Christ, we are not here to challenge anyone or to debate with anyone. We are here to spread love of Christ to others. We need to show the same maturity Jesus showed where ever He got rejected and persecuted. For that you need to have a compassionate heart of love. In 1 Corinthians 13, Paul asks if you have all the gifts of the Spirit and don’t have love, you gain nothing.

If you don’t have the love of Christ in your life, the call of God is not going to do anything in you or around you. Luke 4 shows you how Jesus reacted to the ones who came against Him. Same way, flee from the temptations and be full of love and peace to be a role model and be a blessing to everyone. May The Lord’s grace be with you this week as you go ahead and face it with maturely and with love.