By Darin Smith
Mark 6:2-4 (NIV) When the Sabbath came, he began to teach in the synagogue, and many who heard him were amazed. “Where did this man get these things?” they asked. “What’s this wisdom that has been given him, that he even does miracles! Isn’t this the carpenter? Isn’t this Mary’s son and the brother of James, Joseph, Judas and Simon? Aren’t his sisters here with us?” And they took offense at him. Jesus said to them, “Only in his hometown, among his relatives and in his own house is a prophet without honor.”Have you had an experience in your past that is preventing you from being a fully devoted to Jesus? Isn’t easier to be “Christ-Like” around people who do not know your past? Let’s look at the what the Bible says. Jesus is in His hometown teaching in the synagogue. The people that He was raised up with were listening and were amazed at what knowledge He possessed. However, they lash out by saying, “Isn’t the mere carpenter, the one who works with his hands, isn’t this the illegitimate son of Mary?” Do people do this to you today?
Satan wants us to live in and remember our past. He wants to remind us of all the sins we have done, and are carrying around with us now. God on the other hand wants us to repent and ask forgiveness for our past, and then He forgets and looks to our future. God wants us to place our sins at the foot of the cross and leave it there for good (1 Corinthians 1:18-20). Never return to claim the sins of your past. Leave them at the cross.
Jesus never returned to His hometown after this encounter in Mark. He traveled throughout the land teaching and performing miracles. He never looked back. We need to do the same. Don’t keep looking back at your sins, but instead, keep looking toward the Cross. The cross of forgiveness, the cross of redemption and salvation.
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