Luke 2:52 “And Jesus grew
in wisdom and stature, and in favor with God and man.”
Often times we look at one scripture and we try
to apply it to our lives without knowing context or its actual meaning.
In Luke, this simple scripture says much that we
can apply to our life without knowing context or actual meaning because it says
so much in so few words.
“Jesus grew in wisdom and stature”.
Many of us hit snags in our growth and do not
continue on and many of us stay in our place of growth for a very long time.
Many of us attend church on a Sunday, but do not
convert the teachings of Jesus to our everyday life.
Following are some simple beliefs about our faith
that some of us struggle with. I urge you to grab a Bible and research.
If you believe that women are second class
citizens, you are not doing it right. (John 4)
If you believe that people of different races are
lesser than you, you are not doing it right. (Galatians 3:28)
If you believe that Christians from other
countries are not equal to American Christians, you are not doing it right. (1
Corinthians 12: 12-13)
If you believe that the lost do not deserve our
attention (rapists, child molesters, murderers, your atheist neighbor, people
from Kenya, Sellersburg, and Iceland, Muslims, ISIS, the Taliban, everyone), you
are not doing it right. (Romans 5:8/ John 3:16)
Some of you are reading the above and thinking,
some of you are reading it and rolling your eyes.
I teach Psychology and Sociology, I understand
how hard it is to overcome our upbringings, our biases, and our surroundings.
But as followers of Jesus, we must feel
transformed by the Holy Spirit.
We must evaluate our lives and ask are we setting
a Godly example of change?
It’s hard, trust me, I understand.
Because I fail too often.
But by growing as Jesus did, you should be
transformed as a believer. Your heart should ache for not just the obvious
horrific things that occur, but also for the remaining victims of sinners mainly
their family and friends.
We should feel some remorse for the extreme
sinner themselves realizing that they lack a relationship with Jesus and have
been overcome by the sinful, evil world and are headed for an eternity
separated from God in Hell.
