FAVOUR WITH GOD AND MAN

And Jesus increased in wisdom and stature, and in favor with God and men. Luke 2:52 (NKJV)

Jesus was Spirit Contemporary. Incredible miracles happened everywhere He went, yet He loved to hang out with everyday people. He clearly put God first, but He was able to relate to people of all walks of life.

Actually, Luke 2:52 clearly teaches that Jesus grew in favour with God (there’s the Spirit part) and man (there’s the contemporary part). He took time for people, sometimes walking for hours just to talk to one person. He accepted them as they were, which caused Him to be powerfully attractive to people of all walks of life.

There’s no question that Jesus was filled with the Spirit, but He never came across in a weird or threatening way. In fact, He was loved by tax collectors and prostitutes. Why? He understood the needs of those He was reaching. He paused, listened and responded to people in a way that met them right where they were.

At the same time, Jesus didn’t shrink back from confronting people’s behaviour. He didn’t seem to worry about people leaving Him, yet His methods attracted people to Him… even those who seemed far from God. I believe this is because He was real. He also showed love, acceptance and respect.

We need to be more like Jesus. If we want the message of Christ to carry on to the next generation, we need to get more skilled at sharing Jesus’ message in a powerfully attractive way—the way Jesus did.

No matter who you are, you can speak and behave in a way that makes it easy for people to accept what you have to say. You can grow in favour with God and man by being Spirit Contemporary!