THE LORD Jesus Christ invites His followers to learn from Him. Christ is an embodiment of inspiration. No one motivates a Christian better than Him.
Looking onto Jesus is learning from how He rose from the valley to the mountain. When we faithfully walk with Jesus Christ, we can be assured that we can become great, influential people in the world someday.
Jesus Christ began His earthly life poorly in a lowly condition. He was born in a manger. A manger is an open box in which food for farm animals is placed in a stable at a remote village called Nazareth.
A stable is a dirty, smelly place where animals are kept. And Nazareth itself had no recognition among the Jews in Jesus’ day. Christ’s place of birth was despised. Thus one of Jesus’ own disciples earlier wondered if anything good could come out of Nazareth (John 1:45-46).
He did not have the opportunity to attend privileged rabbinical colleges to receive formal education. Rather, He received informal education from His parents and teachers of the Law as He sat among them to listen to them (Luke 2:46).
However, public opinion about Christ Jesus began to change when the day of His rising came. It was when He started His public ministry. But before the day of His rising began, He had spent years to prepare for it spiritually, physically and emotionally.
As part of His preparation Jesus carefully and wisely avoided temptations that could have prevented Him from becoming the great Saviour the Father wanted Him to be.
So, as He began to do the work He came into the world to do, news about Him spread everywhere as He preached the gospel of the Kingdom of heaven with extra-ordinary miracles, signs and wonders.
After His death and resurrection, He ascended to heaven and was seated at the right hand of God the Father. He was given a name above every other name, so that at the name of Jesus every knee should bow, in heaven and on earth and under the earth, and every tongue confesses that Jesus Christ is Lord (Philippians 2:10-11).
And today, Nazareth is a significant touristic destination in Israel, attracting thousands of pilgrims yearly.
Jesus never married, yet today He has billions of children. He never wrote a book, yet libraries, schools, homes and offices boast of great books about Him. These are but an atom of testimony about the Lord Jesus.
The poor conditions in which we find ourselves today will not remain forever if we faithfully walk with Jesus and learn from Him. Our days of rising from the valley to the mountain will surely come. We too shall be people of great influence someday.
Only let us avoid temptations that can stop us from attaining the height God has destined for our lives. And let us remain focused and determined even when attacks come our way to attempt to overthrow our faith in God. Amen.
By James Quansah
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James Quansah is the Executive Director of Christ-Conscious Leadership Centre (CLC) and lead Pastor of End-Time Christ’s Commissioners (ECC), Kumasi, Ghana. James is also a journalist by profession. He is married with four children.