Square Peg, Round Hole

 Have you ever felt like a square peg others are trying to fit into a round hole?  This happens when people categorize us and then make assumptions based on those categories.  Sometimes, we do fit into the category, just not exactly like others want us to fit.  Sometimes, people want us to just stay in the one or two categories they have assigned to us.  Sometimes, we just don't fit into the category they want us in at all.  

Like most of what happens to us in life, Jesus understands.  In Mark 6, Jesus has returned to His hometown and is teaching in the synagogue.  In verse 3, they ask, "Is not this the carpenter, the son of Mary, and brother of James and Joses and Judas and Simon?  Are not His sisters here with us?"  His hometown people think they know Him.  He was a carpenter, sure.  He was a son and a brother, too.  These are categories He fits into.  They aren't the only ones, though.  Because the people in His hometown wanted Him to fit only into the categories they had assigned Him, verse 3 continues on to tell us, "And they took offense at Him."  These people were offended because Jesus was teaching with wisdom and authority and they didn't think it was His place.  They didn't want Him in the category of Messiah, even though He is the only One who fits there.  

Previously, we have discussed Judas' betrayal because He wanted Jesus to be something He wasn't.  This is a common theme in Jesus' life on earth.  People expected Him to be something, but they didn't take the time to get to know Him well enough to know what that something really was.  Do we fall into the same trap?  Do we categorize Jesus?  Do we put Him in a hole and want Him to stay there?  Or do we get to know Him and have a real relationship with Him so that we can know who He truly is?  He is Lord.  He is King.  He is Messiah. . . . 

We need to be careful to  know Jesus and seek Him with our whole hearts so that we don't fall into the trap of trying to categorize Him into something He isn't or even something  He isn't only.  The really cool thing is that, in really getting to know Jesus, we really get to know ourselves, too.  We know where He wants us working and serving.  We know what He wants us thinking and doing.  We know who we are because we are His.  When we know that we are His, it doesn't matter what shaped hole people try to put us in, we are free to be Jesus-shaped and He will put us in the exact right hole that fits us perfectly.  

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