This phenomena does not escape people when it comes to Jesus
Christ himself. In John’s Gospel, we see that the initial ministry of Jesus is
fraught with awe and draws attention and acclaim from people in every place.
Those who witnessed His extraordinary presence and activity began to have
designs of their own about how He should implement a strategy of success for
their own benefit and goals. His growing popularity was also an offense to the
ones whom he replaced at the top, as their ratings and polling positions
dropped significantly.
But, at the apex of attention at one of Jesus’ rallies (John
6), we begin to see the precipitous fall in his popularity as Jesus moved to
highlight His words as far more important than fulfilling the appetites of men.
In John 7:1-13, we see that not only has Jesus lost the crowds, found his
polemic with Jewish teachers, and been dismissed by His disciples (except the
Twelve), but that his own brothers are suspicious of him. Jesus remained in the
will of His Father to do ministry.
Our desire to serve - and do - the will of God in our lives
must embrace the path of Jesus. This includes not setting our sights on a
numerical growth curve to measure our faithfulness. Otherwise, Jesus himself
would have to be considered a failure in real-time ministry. Let us embrace the
reality that we live in a world that is preconditioned toward the things that
are in opposition to God.
Always maintain a newness about how you have been called to
serve the Lord. In this way, your joy will be complete, knowing that you are
doing what the will of the Lord is. Do not be moved by the social ingenuity
that moves ministries to adopt human activities that will never produce what
only the Spirit of God alone can accomplish. What He makes new never grows old
or out-of-date. It perseveres, endures, and will stand until the day of
eternity.
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