FAMILIARITY

• DAY 225
• FEAR FILE: JESUS’ HOME BOYS
• SCRIPTURES: MATTHEW 13:53-58

Now it came to pass, when Jesus had finished these parables, that He departed from there. When He had come to His own country, He taught them in their synagogue, so that they were astonished and said, “Where did this Man get this wisdom and these mighty works? Is this not the carpenter’s son? Is not His mother called Mary? And His brothers James, Joses, Simon, and Judas? And His sisters, are they not all with us? Where then did this Man get all these things?” So they were offended at Him. But Jesus said to them, “A prophet is not without honor except in his own country and in his own house.” Now He did not do many mighty works there because of their unbelief.

When people know us too well, it can be very difficult for them to embrace who we evolve into. They have this idea of who we were and it can be difficult to convince them that between the last time we had a conversation with them and now that we were different. Chances are that they continue to remind us of who we were and where we are coming from. They want us to continue to identify with who we’re trying to leave behind. And that can not only make us uncomfortable, but it can also make us shut them out completely. And it will definitely hinder their ability to receive anything from the gift God has put in us.

Jesus had the same issue. Some people from His hometown, who knew Him when He was growing up. Those ones that know His birthday, and house address. The ones that saw His mom scold Him or send Him around, that met Him in His father’s carpentry shop. The people that knew him from that time in his life when He was just an “ordinary” young man. They saw Him now claiming to be the messiah and they couldn’t relate. Their familiarity became a lack of faith that hindered their ability to receive miracles from Him.

What If You are Village People?

Beloved, sometimes we are the village people. We are those people from the hometown that are too used to our helper. We put people in a box and we want them to remain that way because God forbid they change and break out of our imagination. And other times we are the ones that evolved and we have people in our lives that try to pull us back to the person we are trying to let go of. Either way, you don’t have to be afraid. Because people can change.

They can evolve into something new and change from the caterpillar you knew to the butterfly they were designed to be. And that doesn’t just happen overnight. There is work they were putting in that you may not have known that has caused a transformation to occur. And what you need to do is open up your mind to the possibility that they have a gift that you might require and not allow familiarity to rob you.

You see, familiarity is a form of fear. It often stems from the fear of embracing change. You are so used to controlling things that you want to keep them the way that they are. So, when things start to change, you start to feel out of place and out of balance. And you want to bring everything back again so that you can get a glimpse of normalcy and your head can make sense of things.

So I say again, do not be afraid.

Don’t let familiarity stop you from receiving. Don’t let familiarity be the thing that stands in the way. And if you are the person that has evolved, don’t allow other people’s familiar statements and behavior around you to cause you to despair. Do what Jesus did and walk away. Do the miracle that you can do and don’t come back.

Don’t give them the space to continue to draw you to your past. It’s okay to say I’m going to move on. I don’t have to be the one to help you. This way you protect your heart from every form of anxiety. And you look unto Jesus.

Shalom.