Opportunity Days to Watch God Work

“Isn’t this the carpenter?  Isn’t this Mary’s son and the brother of James, Joseph, Judas and Simon?  Aren’t his sisters here with us?”  And they took offense at him.      Mark 3:3  (NIV)

“He’s just _____.”   “She’s only ___.”  Ever hear words like that directed toward you?  Whether they were said by someone else or you heard them said inside your head, they hurt.  They pull you down.  Cut you down to the knees.

He had no beauty or majesty to attract us to him, nothing in his appearance that we should desire him.

He was despised and rejected by men, a man of sorrows, and familiar with suffering.

Like one from whom men hide their faces he was despised, and we esteemed him not.

Isaiah 53:2-3 (NIV)

Jesus did not have a physical ‘presence’ like Jim Caviezel did in The Passion of the Christ.  He was ordinary.  He was GOD.  But those around did not see halos and bright lights.  Jesus did not ‘look’ like a savior.  He was just a guy to those who saw Him.

Jesus is trying to tell me that it’s not about how suave or cool I am.  It’s not how physically pleasing I am.  It’s about the message that I have.  It’s about the message I bring.  It’s about Words of Life and the Living Water that heals and saves.

Jesus had a life as a carpenter before He left Nazareth for ministry.  He made chairs and tables and bowls.  He got sweaty and dirty.  He was not a rich merchant.  He had younger brothers and sisters and his mother.  A carpenter didn’t make a lot of money.  They would have been considered low class.  They worked and had a social life in a small village.  They were known but not important.  Not the expected Messiah type!

God has given me gifts.  He has blessed me with His loving Hand.  He has a Kingdom plan for me.  It is my choice, every day, to walk His path…or not.  I have had days that I knew could not possibly have anything of God in them and – I was wrong! Jesus shows me the ordinary days are His days.  They are opportunity days to watch God work!

Shout with joy to God, all the earth!

Sing the glory of his name; make his praise glorious!

Say to God, “How awesome are your deeds!  So great is your power that your enemies cringe before you.  All the earth bows down to you; they sing praise to you, they sing praise to your name.”

Come and see what God has done, how awesome his works in man’s behalf!  Psalm 66:1-5 (NIV)

So let us take our ordinary selves – obey our extra-ordinary God – and see what happens!!!

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