3-10-23

I heard on the news this morning that Lebron James spends $1.5 MILLION a year on his health. Taking care of his body in one way or another. He uses cryotherapy, hyperbaric chambers, NormaTec leg boots, etc. He also has personal chefs, trainers, etc. He has a strict routine and diet. He invested in his body, so he can still dominate on the court at 33 years. It makes sense. He makes $44,470,000 a year. He would probably not be making this much if he did not invest in his own body. His body, in this case is his tool. Keeping his “tool” in top shape is a must. Construction workers take care of their tools. They do not leave them out to be rained on and get rusty. Tom Cruise makes $20 - $25 million per movie. Judging from how he looked only about a year older in the 2nd Top Gun movie, he apparently is spending money on his body too. With talk about the awards shows like “Oscars” and the Super Bowl in January, we hear that there are many people who are “a big deal”. The fancier the outfit, the more expensive the jewelry, the “bigger deal” the person is.

The Bible had many people who were a “big deal”. Many of the Kings in the Bible thought so highly of themselves that they built large idols so that people would worship them.  But the other person in the Bible, Jesus, he did not ask for flashy clothing, shiny rubies and exotic gems, or idols. He did not seek to be famous or have earthly possessions. He not only did not own a million dollar mansion, he did not even own a home of his own.

 Matt 8:20. And Jesus says to him, “The foxes have holes and the birds of the heaven have nests, but the Son of Man does not have a place where He may lay His head”. 

Many times, during his life, we read that Jesus lived a very “small” existence. He traveled much of the time, but never went very far. He never asked for a structure to be built in his honor. His first “miracle” was turning water into wine at a friends’ wedding. He really didn’t want everyone to know that he had done it as he didn’t think it was “time” yet. His friends and family traveled with him.  Jesus stayed with friends of friends when he was in a town but also camped outside of town often. Nothing about him was a “big deal”. Not his appearance, his clothing, where he stayed or with whom. He might have been one of the humblest men who ever lived.

Below is a poem, it is often on Christmas cards but so true. Written by Dr. James Allen in 1926

“One Solitary Life. He was born in an obscure village. The child of a peasant woman He grew up in another obscure village Where he worked in a carpenter shop until he was thirty. He never wrote a book, He never held an office, He never went to college. He never visited a big city. He never travelled more than two hundred miles from the place where he was born. He did none of the things usually associated with greatness. He had no credentials but himself. He was only thirty-three, His friends ran away. One of them denied him. He was turned over to his enemies and went through the mockery of a trial. He was nailed to a cross between two thieves. While dying, his executioners gambled for his clothing, the only property he had on earth. When he was dead, He was laid in a borrowed grave through the pity of a friend. Nineteen centuries have come and gone, and today Jesus is the central figure of the human race and the leader of mankind's progress. All the armies that have ever marched, all the navies that have ever sailed, all the parliaments that have ever sat, all the kings that ever reigned put together, have not affected the life of mankind on earth as powerfully as that one solitary life.”

Indeed! Besides the incredible healings and miracles that he performed, imagine the lives he changed when people followed him. Not just in this life, but in the next.

Thank you Lord, for sending your son, for the life he lived and the death he died to save us. AMEN!

Shirlene Peterson