ARE YOU CONFIDENT OR CONFLICTED?

Luke 4:14-16

Luk 4:14 And Jesus returned, empowerd by the Spirit to Galilee, and news about him went out throughout all the surrounding region.
Luk 4:15 And he began teaching in their synagogues, being praised by everyone.
Luk 4:16 Then he came to Nazareth, where he had been brought up, and according to his habit, he entered into the synagogue on the day of the Sabbath and stood up to read.

returning to Nazareth

It so happens that as I write this, I am preparing to board a plane to return to the region where I was brought up. I feel somewhat conflicted, because I spend so much of my life away from my homeland that it sometimes feels like a very foreign country. It is familiar, yet strange to me. Perhaps Jesus felt the same conflict as he returned to that familiar land with a new sense of destiny made clearer by his spiritual victories and God’s special call.

As we begin a new year, wherever God sends us, we should go with the power he provides, confident of his call.

LORD, strengthen our resolve to follow you to familiar and unfamiliar places, and trust you to do your work through us.