Remember the four ways people in the Old Testament plugged into God’s plan?
Seek God first.
Add value to the world around you.
Do hard things without fear.
Fight darkness with light.
Did Jesus practice those things? Let’s look.
Did Jesus Seek God First?
Of course. He always put the will and presence of God above everything else. He made a habit of it. He sought God first, not popularity or comfort.
Mark 1:35
And in the morning, rising up a great while before day, he went out, and departed into a solitary place, and there prayed.
Did Jesus Add Value to the World Around Him?
Obviously, Jesus added value wherever He went by healing the sick, feeding the hungry, and doing good wherever He went.
Acts 10:38
How God anointed Jesus of Nazareth with the Holy Ghost and with power: who went about doing good, and healing all that were oppressed of the devil; for God was with him.
But He was also was a skilled carpenter and builder, adding value to the community he lived in.
Mark 6:3a
Is not this the carpenter, the son of Mary, the brother of James, and Joses, and of Juda, and Simon?
Jesus spent years doing ordinary, physically demanding work. He understood hard work. He learned and developed His trade skills before beginning His public ministry.
Did Jesus do Hard Things Without Fear?
Yes, Jesus willingly faced suffering, rejection, and even death. He also did things fearlessly that were far from easy or popular; like physically tossing scammers out of the temple.
Matthew 21:12-17
And Jesus went into the temple of God, and cast out all them that sold and bought in the temple, and overthrew the tables of the moneychangers, and the seats of them that sold doves,
And said unto them, It is written, My house shall be called the house of prayer; but ye have made it a den of thieves.
Did Jesus Fight Darkness With Light?
Yes, indeed. Jesus showed that by shining forth the light God has given us through His truth and His Spirit, darkness retreats. Even Satan himself has to run away from the light.
Matthew 4:10-11
Then saith Jesus unto him, Get thee hence, Satan: for it is written, Thou shalt worship the Lord thy God, and him only shalt thou serve.
Then the devil leaveth him, and, behold, angels came and ministered unto him.
John 8:12
Then spake Jesus again unto them, saying, I am the light of the world: he that followeth me shall not walk in darkness, but shall have the light of life.
Now it’s our turn to walk in light. God has started a new creation through Jesus Christ, and that new creation includes us, you and me.
Child of God, husband, father, grandfather, rabblerouser, songwriter, pot stirrer, waiting for the King.