When people do not accept divine guidance, they run wild. But whoever obeys the law is joyful.
Proverbs 29:18
Have you ever felt like your life was headed in the wrong direction? It’s not an uncommon feeling. Many of us experience it from time to time while others are perpetually stuck in a rut for years, even a lifetime. When we experience this, it may indicate that we’re not living according to the vision God has for our life.
The next day Jesus decided to leave for Galilee. Finding Philip, he said to him, “Follow me.”
Philip, like Andrew and Peter, was from the town of Bethsaida. Philip found Nathanael and told him, “We have found the one Moses wrote about in the Law, and about whom the prophets also wrote—Jesus of Nazareth, the son of Joseph.”
“Nazareth! Can anything good come from there?” Nathanael asked.
“Come and see,” said Philip.
Nathanael was skeptical of Jesus because of where he came from.
His gut reaction was that nobody worthwhile, or “good,” could be from the despicable town of Nazareth.
So, what was so bad about this town?
For by grace you have been saved through faith. And this is not your own doing; it is the gift of God, not a result of works, so that no one may boast. For we are his workmanship, created in Christ Jesus for good works, which God prepared beforehand, that we should walk in them.
Grace, an unmerited favor, an undeserved love, and an apt description of God’s interaction with mankind. This is astounding when we properly understand even a little bit about who is dealing graciously with us.
In our day, many of us operate spiritually out of a sense of entitlement or selfishness. We automatically see situations in the mentality of “what’s in it for me?”. In thinking this way, we presume upon God’s grace, and easily forget our true sinfulness and guilt (Romans 2:4). This presumption assumes that God in fact owes us something. We begin