His Work of Grace

 “He was despised and rejected by mankind,

    a man of suffering, and familiar with pain.

Like one from whom people hide their faces

    he was despised, and we held him in low esteem.

Surely he took up our pain

    and bore our suffering,

yet we considered him punished by God,

    stricken by him, and afflicted.”

Isaiah 53:3-4

 

What do you look for in a leader?

Is it charisma?

Someone who appeals to the masses?

What attracts us to follow one person over another?

In the verses above from Isaiah, as he prophesied concerning Jesus, we find nothing that would turn the crowds in His favor.

In fact, He was despised and rejected by mankind.

Nothing in Him would make Him popular by today’s standards.

Popularity can be a very fickle barometer.

Yet no man impacted other men (and all of mankind) as Jesus did.

We cannot point to His good looks, populist thinking, business acumen or anything else we hold in high esteem concerning effective leaders.

We like to think that if we were on the earth 2,000 years ago that we would be the exception.

But would we?

You see it is the work of the Holy Spirit that draws us to that place of recognition and surrender.

Even in coming to Christ we cannot take the credit.

We are drawn by the Spirit of God.

The revelation of who He is comes by the Holy Spirit.

The next time you are tempted to boast in how you came to know Him consider the facts and gratefully acknowledge His work of grace in drawing you to Himself.