Focus: Spot Your Strength

Text: Jh.18:37

"To this end was I born, and for this cause came I into the world, that I should bear witness unto the truth…"

Jesus Christ was born to a carpenter father. In His hometown of Nazareth He was identified as the carpenter's son. In Mt.13:55, the people asked, "Is not this the carpenter's son? Is not his mother called Mary…" People knew Him as the carpenter's son. Mark differently reports, "Is not this the carpenter, the son of Mary?" (Mk.6:3). That means that He was also known as a carpenter. He learned and practiced carpentry. For thirty years it was all He knew - carpentry. After His father's demise, Jesus took over his carpentry business. 

But the time came when He had to face His life's real task. He quit His job of carpentry and pursued the very essence of His existence. At twelve years of age, He was already conscious of what His Father wanted Him to do, but as an adolescent or teenager He had to submit to parental authority. As a matter of fact, a Jewish boy must reach the age of thirty before he was acknowledged as the full-grown son of his father. It was at that age that God said, "This is my beloved Son in whom I am well-pleased." From that moment Christ embraced fully His destiny. He tells Pilate, 'I am here to bear witness to the truth.' In Mk.10:45, He says, "For even the Son of man came not to be ministered unto, but to minister, and to give his life a ransom for many." In Lk.19:10, He says, "For the Son of man is come to seek and to save that which was lost." He spotted His strength and employed it for the right purpose.

Jesus did not fulfill His eternal destiny as a carpenter. He did not cast out demons as a carpenter. He did neither heal the sick nor raised the dead as a carpenter. He did not touch lives as a carpenter. He did not save the world as carpenter. He died to save humanity, not as a carpenter, but as the Savior.

What about Paul? Paul fulfilled his destiny, not as a persecutor of the church of Christ, nor as a propagator of the Jewish religion, but as a preacher of the gospel of Christ. Jesus Christ says of him, "For he is a chosen vessel unto me…"

Ezekiel was born into the priestly family, but God called and raised him to be a prophet. It was as a prophet that he fulfilled his assignment on earth, not as a priest. Beware of what comes naturally! Your real vocation might not be in what you studied at school or in a particular trade that you have been taught or exposed to.

Samson used his God-given strength to advance the cause of Israel. He used his power to achieve the very purpose for which it was intended.

Find your area of strength and allow God to use you for the very reason that He chose you. Many of God's people are just leading ordinary lives. We live self-focused and self-centered lives. May God save us from wasting our lives and our God-given strength!

by Bishop Moses E. Peter