We can push, prod, nudge and nag, but sometimes people just don’t fit in the tidy little niches we create for them. They are who they are, and not always who we want them to be.
I’m prideful and deluded enough to usually think that if everyone would just behave according to MY script for them, things would work out better – certainly for me, and maybe even for them.
Am I qualified to play God like that? Hardly. Woefully inadequate, as a matter of fact. Completely inept, to be honest. But that doesn’t stop me from trying.
Can you relate? Do you find yourself frustrated that the people in your life just won’t get with the program–YOUR program–and be as consumed as you are with your happiness and fulfillment? Do you wish they’d just suck it up and be the spouse, parent, child, friend, neighbor, coworker you want them to be?
I’m reminded of something that happened to a young man from Brazil who has become a beloved member of our family. Tiago lived with us in the late ’90s when he was a high school exchange student and then returned a few years ago to visit for six months while he tried to get a work visa and find a job here. (By the way, do you know how hard it is for a wonderful, talented, college-educated young man to get into this country legally, while thousands of illegal immigrants are sneaking in every day? Arrrrrgh. But I digress…)
One day during his visit, Tiago stopped by a store on his way home from a job interview. A handsome guy in his late 20s, Tiago was dressed in a suit and apparently became something of a nut magnet as he walked the aisles of Walmart that day.
First, a lady approached him and asked, “Are you a movie star from Hollywood?” Tiago assured her he was not, but she was convinced he had to be somebody famous and actually argued the point with him for several minutes.
After Tiago disentangled himself from that awkward encounter, a few minutes later a man stopped him and insisted, “You must be a famous singer.” Again, the man kept pressing, and finally Tiago said, “If I sang for you, you’d believe me!”
Guess we must be a little star-starved in this neck of the woods. (Remember all the broo-ha-ha about sightings of Julia Roberts and George Clooney when they were filming movies in Upstate South Carolina?)
Some folks apparently want so badly to believe they are seeing someone famous that they can imagine and insist they are encountering a celebrity in Walmart, when it’s really just a normal Brazilian guy dressed up for a job interview.
Alas, people are who they are, and not always who we want them to be.
“Can any good thing come out of Nazareth? (John 1:46) … Is this not Joseph’s son? (Luke 4:22) … What kind of a man is this? (Matthew 8:27)…”
When God came to earth dressed in human skin, He didn’t fit in nearly anyone’s idea of a “God box.” Probably no one would have written the incarnation script the way God did. Born in a barn. Working-class parents. Dumpy little hometown. Thirty years toiling as a carpenter. Very average in appearance. Disinterested in political power or earthly riches.
Jesus was who He was, not what others expected or wanted Him to be, and plenty of folks couldn’t handle that.
That’s still true…and that still happens.
Nearly everyone has an opinion about Jesus. So, what’s yours?
Think about that and don’t kid yourself.
What you think about Jesus doesn’t change anything about who He is. It can, however, change everything about who you are.