Day 65 - Issue 23
Luke 2:40 NLT
'There the child grew up healthy and strong. He was filled with wisdom, and God’s favor was on him.'
After the supernatural interventions surrounding Messiah’s birth, everything apparently settles down to a more familiar rhythm. Yet, God is working in preparation for the ministry that will ultimately open the doors long shut between heaven and earth. Once more it will become possible for God’s kingdom to be expressed in the earth as it is in heaven. Mary, Joseph and Jesus return to Nazareth, where Jesus grows into adulthood, growing in strength and wisdom, with God’s grace recognisably upon him.
At times I grow frustrated with the normality of life. The daily round of rising, eating, working and managing life’s irritations almost crushes me. I grow bored with the repetitive cycle. I struggle to find the energy to bother. However, seasons of apparent normality are also seasons of growth. Seeds planted in the soil do not immediately appear. They take their time, yet their ultimate harvest is contained within the kernel of that seed. Jesus, who is the seed of salvation himself, learned obedience and grew in understanding over years of apparent ordinariness.
After Christmastide, the Church calendar takes us into ordinary time. Ordinary time is the space for growing in strength and wisdom while learning to live in the grace of God. This is a precious season, for we can only ever live out of what we have discovered of God for ourselves. We cannot borrow from what others may have told us or what we have read yet failed to embrace in our own walk of faith.
QUESTION: What do you need to grow in to become healthy and strong in your relationship with God?
PRAYER: Lord Jesus, feed me that I may help and encourage others.
