Greetings in Christ,
Many years ago, I worked with a group of people in an automotive repair shop. I worked the automotive service side while others worked on the alternator/starter rebuild side. We had a good place to work, and work was plentiful. I had another friend who needed a job, and he had a family to support. He had some background in automotive repair and he was able to start working in the same place where I was employed.
My friend, David, to my knowledge had worked on cars and had repaired most anything on them, but it seemed to be more talk than action. He struggled to master the automotive service side of the business, but rather than cut him loose from the work place the boss placed him on the rebuild side of the shop. This side did not require the depth of knowledge nor training to do the job.
David was several years older than the crew working on this side of the business and felt he did not fit in with the crowd. David was a talker and could go on for hours non-stop if you let him. He could talk about anything and seemed to know what he was talking about. This did not set well with the others as they felt he knew more than he did, so they set him up one day.
They began talking about a topic which did not exist and let him chime in and talk about the topic. They led him one and then let the bomb drop by telling him they had made up the whole thing which made him look bad in front of them. It made him feel so bad he did not want to return to work the next day.
I felt bad for him, but I was not aware of the set-up which had taken place until after the fact. I also had to think about both sides of the picture and had to tell him the truth about wanting to fit in with the group by talking about everything and anything. He had let himself get caught up in the scheme and it came back to bit him. He would have been better to not say anything at all in regard to the topic. It was a hard lesson to learn.
Acts gives us an example of a group of people wanting to fit in with the crowd. Paul had been doing many wonderful things and healing many people in the name of Jesus. Some of the Jewish exorcists wanted to copy Paul and began declaring they were casting out evil spirits in the name of Jesus, but it backfired on them.
They tried to cast out an evil spirit out of a man, but the evil spirit spoke to them by saying they knew Jesus, and they knew Paul, but who are they? The evil spirit left the man and began attacking them leaving them naked and wounded. Needless to say, they learned a lesson that day.
Wanting to fit in with the crowd does not always lend to be the best approach. It tends to make us stretch beyond out capabilities and do things we normally would not do. We try so hard, and it seems to backfire on us. It is better to be ourselves than to be someone we think we should be.
God does not want us to just fit in with the crowd He wants us to be part of the crowd. We must let our guard down and just be ourselves, and when we do we get to know God, and more important God gets to know us. The evil spirit knew Jesus and Paul, but he did not know the Jewish exorcists. The evil spirit would not have attacked Jesus or Paul he did the Jewish exorcists because he knew they had more power than he did.
That is the kind of God we serve is One who goes before us and can take on the evil in this world.
“Praise the Lord! For it is good to sing praises to our God; for it is pleasant and praise is becoming. The Lord builds up Jerusalem; He gathers the outcasts of Israel. He heals the brokenhearted and binds up their wounds. He counts the number of the stars; He gives names to all of them. Great is our Lord and abundant in strength; His understanding is infinite. The Lord supports the afflicted; He brings down the wicked to the ground. Sing to the Lord with thanksgiving; sing praises to our God on the lyre, Who covers the heavens with clouds, Who provides rain for the earth, Who makes grass to grow on the mountains. He gives to the beast its food, and to the young ravens which cry. He does not delight in the strength of the horse; He does not take pleasure in the legs of a man. The Lord favors those who fear Him, those who wait for His lovingkindness.” Psalm 147:1-11
Lord may we be known by You. Go before us and direct our paths and keep us from the evil in this world. Amen
Blessings,