The closer we get to someone or something, the more we see the small details in people or things. I often cringe when I look at the projection wall in our Church sanctuary. A particular image that looked good from the tech booth in the back can look very grainy and rough up close.
The same is true for those around us and ourself. Casual, initial and distant interactions will have us feeling comfortable and even pleased. However, over time and with closer interaction, we begin to see faults and blemishes in each other.
There was Jesus, the Son of God in the presence of the people of Nazareth, but the proximity of life they had shared with him skewed their perspective.
Jesus - The Christ and Messiah was Jesus, the carpenter's Son, Mary's son and his sibling's brother. In their minds Jesus was blue collar - average, ordinary. "How could he know all this stuff, he's just like us."
But, Jesus was different than the Jesus they had known. Remember his baptism account, where the Holy Spirit descended on him, empowered him and equipped him? The greatness of God was in him because he was God.
For Christians, we have a part of God's greatness in us, his presence, his power. But that greatness is contained within "jars of clay" (2 Cor. 4:7) We have imperfections, weaknesses, faults, habits, hang-ups and personality. These things comprise our jars of clay.
What often happens is, we get so focused on the jar, that we don't see what's inside -the greatness of God. Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. said that he dreamed that man would not be judged by the color of their skin but by the content of their character.
As A Christian, I need to do better at seeing the greatness of God inside of people more than the appearance of their clay jar.
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