Jesus used many different styles to teach the people, but the parable seemed to be His favorite. And yet, when asked by His disciples why he used parables His strange response was: “Because it has been given to you to know the mysteries of the kingdom of heaven, but to them it has not been given. For whoever has, to him more will be given, and he will have abundance; but whoever does not have, even what he has will be taken away from him. Therefore I speak to them in parables, because seeing they do not see, and hearing they do not hear, nor do they understand.” Then He quoted a prophesy of Isaiah that says essentially the same thing. In other words, there is knowledge and wisdom hidden in the Scriptures that is hidden to those who have no interest in knowing the truth; and yet to any and everyone who is serious about discovering truth and who seeks it out through study, research, prayer and meditation, it will be opened up to them.
Over the next few weeks my blog is going to touch upon a few such “not so obvious” truths – things that most of you probably haven’t given much thought to. Yet this is knowledge and wisdom that is critical if you are to become the complete person God intended for you and if you are to be used by Him to your full potential.
This week’s hidden truth I entitle:
Don’t be the person God orders “Step aside! You’re interfering with My work.”
Every faithful attendee of a Bible believing church is familiar with the story of Jesus’ meeting with the woman at the well. They would be able to recite how Jesus, in passing through Samaria, saw this woman, approached her and used the occasion of asking for a drink of water to introduce her to His concept of eternal life. They’d also be familiar with how He cleverly yet compassionately revealed and convicted her about her immoral lifestyle and led her to recognize Jesus as both a prophet and as her Messiah. And of course they’d know that she was so moved that she began to proselytize others, inviting many from her city to meet this man who told her so much about herself and of God’s love for her.
But I’ll bet few would give much thought to the first thing Jesus did, before He even entered the city or approached the woman. He sent His disciples into the city, under the guise “to buy food.” Jesus knew the hearts of His disciples were still filled with pride, self-righteousness, judge-mentalism and discrimination toward the Samaritan people. The disciples were good men who were intimately involved in Jesus’ ministry; men who Jesus sent out to heal the sick and cast out demons; men who even could be seen baptizing people in Judea just one day earlier. Yet Jesus perceived the above character flaws as detrimental to His ministry of inner healing and deliverance.
This should get your attention. If you’re not willing to cross religious, racial, social, cultural, and gender divides to meet people where they’re at, you’re pretty limited in what God can do with you and your ministry. And since His mission is to reach the world, He’ll have to do a large chunk of it without you.
Do you really want to be left on the outside? It’s an exciting time folks! You’re not going to want to miss a beat.