Think twice

Have you ever made a serious misjudgment about something? In 1943, IBM chairman Thomas Watson said, "I think there is a world market for maybe five computers." Obviously he was just a little off. But this misjudgment is insignificant compared to the misjudgment that Nazareth made on Jesus.

The people of Nazareth had known Jesus since he was a little boy. Jesus walks out of the town and they hear of the incredible miracles he performs. He even raised people from the dead. Now that he's coming back home, how did they welcome Him? Did Jesus receive a ticker tape parade?

Mark 6:1-6 tells us that the people of Nazareth were astonished and offended. "Jesus the Messiah? He fixed stuff " chairs, plows, roofs, but our lives?"

Jesus was rejected by the people of Nazareth because they were so familiar with him and they expected the Messiah to be someone completely different. This passage in Mark is the same story of my life. I'd heard it all before and have seen church after church on so many street corners in the town where I grew up. I was familiar with the stories in the Bible but the God I'd envisioned was totally different from Jesus. Just like Thomas Watson, I too came to a major misjudgment.

My misjudgment was based completely on things I'd heard from others about God and Jesus and the Bible without me actually picking up and reading and studying the Bible myself. I chose not to believe because like the people of Nazareth, I was amazed at the stories but I was too familiar with Jesus. The people of Nazareth and I rejected Jesus because God had to be a certain way and act a certain way and when God didn't fit within our parameters we rejected Him.

Spirit Fest is coming Sept. 19-20, not to further religion in the Carson Valley but to unite Christians living here and saying we are not like Nazareth.

I came across the following story years ago, author unknown: A lady in a faded dress and a man in a homespun suit and asked to see the president of Harvard. The receptionist told them, "He is busy all day." After several hours, she called the president and asked if he would give them a few minutes just to get rid of them. The couple walked into the president's office and said, "We had a son who attended Harvard and loved it. He was killed in an accident last year and we'd like to erect a memorial to him on campus."

The president said, "We can't erect statues for everyone who attended Harvard and died. The place would look like a cemetery." The lady explained, "We don't want to give a statue, we want to give a building." The president rolled his eyes. He looked at them and said, "A building? Do you have any idea how much that costs? There's over $7 million in the physical plant here at Harvard."

The lady turned to her husband and said, "Is that all it costs to start a university? Why don't we just start our own?" Her husband nodded. At that point, Mr. and Mrs. Leland Stanford walked away from Harvard and went to Palo Alto, Calif., where they established Stanford University as a memorial to a son that Harvard didn't care about.

Someone today may not think Jesus is all that the Bible says He is. You may look with skepticism at his virgin birth, his miracles, his sacrificial death. You may think that the story of Jesus is an old, worn-out tradition that has no relevance to your life. But think twice before you write him off. You could be forfeiting a gift more valuable than anything. Read the Bible for yourself and see.

n Ron Mogab is pastor of Cornerstone Christian Fellowship and is a member of the Carson Valley Ministers' Association.