The Peril of Familiarity

Nov 27, 2022 | Devotional Meditations, Pastor's Blog

Luke 4:22-30
Suggested further reading: Isaiah 46:8-13

“Familiarity breeds contempt.” Those who heard our Lord’s self-revelation in Nazareth rejected Him because they were familiar with the little boy who had grown to manhood in the thirty years He had lived among them. Familiarity led to rejection!

We will do well to learn from this lesson not to take our spiritual blessings for granted. Not everyone had their own printed Bible. But we do. Do we read it? Not everyone can worship God in freedom and according to Biblical teaching. But we do. Do we thank God for it? To take these and other blessings for granted quickly leads to a loss of reverence, a lack of faithfulness, and then disobedience in the things of the Lord.

Note also how Jesus exercises His sovereignty (oh, how human nature hates this teaching). Jesus told the people of Nazareth that He had no obligation to work even one miracle among them and could easily bypass them and bless others. God owes no one anything, especially when someone in unbelief rejects Him.

God’s exercise of His sovereignty is intolerable to the pride and self-conceit of unregenerate humans who seek to control everything, including God Himself. This causes the unregenerate to hate God and to reject His rightful claim to their worship and obedience. In Nazareth, this hatred led the people both to reject and attempt to kill Jesus. But this rejection and hatred is both irrational and futile as Psalm 2 also clearly teaches.

Let us praise God for His sovereignty and His faithful to His covenantal love for His own. Let us pray for that thankfulness that avoids taking God for granted.

The Bible Church of the Lakes