"After this Jesus went about in Galilee. He would not go about in Judea, because the Jews were seeking to kill him. Now the Jews' Feast of Booths was at hand.
So his brothers said to him, 'Leave here and go to Judea, that your disciples also may see the works you are doing. For no one works in secret if he seeks to be known openly. If you do these things, show yourself to the world.'
For not even his brothers believed in him.
Jesus said to them, 'My time has not yet come, but your time is always here. The world cannot hate you, but it hates me because I testify about it that its works are evil. You go up to the feast. I am not going up to this feast, for my time has not yet fully come.'
After saying this, he remained in Galilee." - John 7:1-9 ESV
"And they rose up and drove him out of the town and brought him to the brow of the hill on which their town was built, so that they could throw him down the cliff. But passing through their midst, he went away." - Luke 4:29-30 ESV
Jesus had brushes with death but He laid down His life at the right place and time and not before. He functioned in redemptive purpose and not sentimentality.
"And if I have prophetic powers, and understand all mysteries and all knowledge, and if I have all faith, so as to remove mountains, but have not love, I am nothing. If I give away all I have, and if I deliver up my body to be burned, but have not love, I gain nothing. Love is patient and kind; love does not envy or boast; it is not arrogant or rude. It does not insist on its own way; it is not irritable or resentful; it does not rejoice at wrongdoing, but rejoices with the truth. Love bears all things, believes all things, hopes all things, endures all things. Love never ends." - 1 Corinthians 13:2-8a ESV
We are not loving a person by being their victim. Being willing to be witness of God's sacrifice is a different thing altogether.
"Go your way; behold, I am sending you out as lambs in the midst of wolves. Carry no moneybag, no knapsack, no sandals, and greet no one on the road. Whatever house you enter, first say, 'Peace be to this house!' And if a son of peace is there, your peace will rest upon him. But if not, it will return to you." - Luke 10:3-6 ESV
God makes us lambs for His purpose and grace has transformed us and convinces us situation by situation what to do and how to love.
"The wind blows where it wishes, and you hear its sound, but you do not know where it comes from or where it goes. So it is with everyone who is born of the Spirit." - John 3:8 ESV
As this next season of life comes our way we want the Spirit to guide us what to do and where to go... not walking carnally or in some form of sentimentality... God has a redemptive purpose for our lives today... a revealed will that we can rejoice in. It is a plan bathed in grace as our Shepard leads us. Don't heed the voice of a hireling that forces action. Listen to the Shepherd who loves us into living a life as we give our lives away in redemptive purpose.
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