How do you compare with the people of our age? Do you fit in, or is your life a fitting contrast?

Also, are you a jerk for Jesus? Samuel wasn’t a jerk. Neither was Jesus. Luke 2:52 says about Jesus,

And Jesus increased in wisdom and stature,
and in favor with God and with people.

Media portrayals of Christians, particularly Christian leaders, typically show those who draw a crowd by behaving badly or preaching pejoratively. 

Jesus drew a crowd by speaking words of truth and life. He told fascinating stories we repeat and ponder to this day. He healed the sick. He raised the dead. He loved and welcomed children and their parents. He lived sacrificially. 

Living like Samuel and Jesus may not get you on the evening news, but it will get you into the hearts of people who earnestly seek to know and experience God. 

Living like Samuel and Jesus demonstrates the positive alternative of the grace of God actively overflowing to the benefit of others. 

Growing in grace makes us more attractive and more effective. It makes us more caring and compassionate. 

Growing more opinionated drives wedges. It turns acquaintances into adversaries. 

Wisdom, stature, and favor are works of grace. May God’s amazing grace flow through us to the betterment of our relationships and neighborhoods, our work and our recreation. 

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I will grow in grace so that I am a fitting contrast to our shouting and adversarial world. 

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Our Father, grow me in wisdom and stature and in favor with you and the people I relate to and encounter along the way. Deliver me from harsh opinions and caustic communication. Amen.