Valuing the Familiar

⁵³ When Jesus had finished these parables, he moved on from there.⁵⁴ Coming to his hometown, he began teaching the people in their synagogue, and they were amazed. “Where did this man get this wisdom and these miraculous powers?” they asked. ⁵⁵ “Isn’t this the carpenter’s son? Isn’t his mother’s name Mary, and aren’t his brothers James, Joseph, Simon and Judas? ⁵⁶ Aren’t all his sisters with us? Where then did this man get all these things?” ⁵⁷ And they took offense at him. But Jesus said to them, “A prophet is not without honor except in his own town and in his own home.” ⁵⁸ And he did not do many miracles there because of their lack of faith.” -Matthew 13:53-58

The people who grew up with Jesus were so familiar with Him that they could not believe what God was doing in and through His life. They took him for granted. As a result, they were never able to fully experience Him for all that He was and for what He could do from them. Because they devalued what was familiar, they missed out on the miraculous moments that God intended them to experience. If we are not careful, we will do the same thing and miss out on so many miraculous things that God wants us to experience in our lives.

In life, it’s so easy to devalue the people and things that are familiar to us. For example:

• In marriage, we have a tendency to take for granted how amazing our spouse is because we’re so familiar with them.

• In our personal lives, it’s easy to take the gifts God put in us for granted because they are so familiar to us.

• At work, we have a tendency to take for granted the gifts and the growth of our coworkers and employees because we’ve gotten so familiar with them.

• In our walks with God, it’s easy to take for granted how far God has brought us from where we started because we’ve gotten so familiar with our journey with Him.

• In our families, it’s easy to take for granted how special each family member is and to truly value them for who they are.

What we take for granted, we often devalue. When we devalue what’s valuable we miss out on experiencing some of the greatest things God wants us to experience in our lives. 

However, when we value the familiar, we allow God to let us experience the miraculous.

What’s become some familiar to you that you’ve started to devalue? Your spouse? Your relationship with God? Friendships? Coworkers? Your gifts? Your family?

If you’re devaluing any of those things, you are missing out on some miraculous experiences that God wants you to have.

So how can you start to value the familiar?

1. Take some time to reflect on how valuable the things that you’ve allowed to become familiar are.
2. Write down everything that you love about your spouse, coworkers, job, yourself, etc.
3. Be grateful for who and what God has placed in your life and start valuing those things as if they were the most valuable thing and people on the planet, because they are.

Thoughts? 

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