by Pat Nordman

Consider Him who confronted all sorts of affronts so that we might have patience and persistence. The Noblest Man suffered a most ignoble life while on earth. Even as He was dying, "The people stood watching, and the rulers even sneered at him. They said, `He saved others; let him save himself if he is the Christ of God, the Chosen One'" (Luke 23:35). The feet that led Him to others with His good news (Romans 10:15) and the hands that lifted and blessed (Matthew 8:3,15; Mark 10:13) went back to heaven permanently scarred because of His love for us.

Consider also this that our tender Jesus said: "Only in his home town, among his relatives and in his own house is a prophet without honor" (Mark 6:4). He didn't say it in self-pity or with cynicism as we might do in a similar circumstance. He was being realistic. "He was amazed at their lack of faith" but He went on with life: "Then Jesus went around teaching from village to village" (v. 6b). "He could not do any miracles there" so He went on with His mission and His truth. We have a valuable lesson here. When we feel we must win in a situation, whether it's a conversion or our particular version of something, it might help us to remember that even Jesus saw the futility of staying with a particular circumstance. With God all things are possible, but it must be in His time and in His perfect way. It wasn't that He would not, but even Jesus could not do anything for people whose hearts were not ready.

It will keep us from becoming immobilized emotionally and physically when we cannot help a relative or a friend if we realize that God works in His and their time frame. Our only responsibility is to let Him do His work while we do ours.