To be like Him

Thirty plus years ago I was with a group of friends and someone posed the question, “What kind of carpenter was Jesus?” There were basically two schools of thought: one group thought He probably wasn’t a very good carpenter because His thoughts were on more lofty and divine things and the things of this world, wood and furniture, weren’t really that important to Him in the grand scheme of things. The others held that He would have been a very fine carpenter, with an intimate knowledge and understanding of each individual piece of wood, having created it, and that His desire for the raw materials would be to make it into the most beautiful and functional piece, thus helping it fulfill the measure of its creation. It was interesting to see which of my friends were in which group. The musicians and philosophers were in the first, the artists and craftsmen in the second. I noticed that each group projected their own values onto Jesus Christ.

That discussion gave me an interesting insight into the way we, individually, view the Savior. We tend to want Him to be like we are rather than wanting us to be like He is; sometimes we can even make Him too familiar, speaking of Him casually and personally, bringing Him to our level rather than keeping Him elevated with Godly status and humbly seeking to elevate ourselves closer to Him. We each desire a personal relationship with the Savior; let's make it on His terms, not our own.

Have a happy Sabbath and enjoy your worship today!