A Slum Near You

John 1:45,56 Philip found Nathanael and told him, "We have found the man that Moses wrote about in the law. The prophets wrote about him too. He is Jesus, the son of Joseph. He is from Nazareth." But Nathanael said to Philip, "Nazareth! Can anything good come from Nazareth?" Philip answered, "Come and see."

Most people simply wouldn’t live in a slum, unless they had to. Really. So, what do you make of a God, who sends His Son to grow up in a slum?

Let me ask you something: if you were God, would you bring your Son up in a slum?

Because, what God did is that He had Jesus, His Son, grow up in a place called Nazareth. Now, that may not mean all that much to us here and now beyond the fact that we recognise the name, but when Jesus started His gig of speaking tours and miracles, it was the source of quite some consternation:

Philip found Nathanael and told him, “We have found the man that Moses wrote about in the law. The prophets wrote about him too. He is Jesus, the son of Joseph. He is from Nazareth.” But Nathanael said to Philip, “Nazareth! Can anything good come from Nazareth?” Philip answered, “Come and see.” (John 1:45,56)

Nazareth – clearly not the sort of place you’d live, if you were given a choice. And yet, God was given a choice and He chose this place.

Imagine a slum in your part of the world – a part of your country or a suburb in your city, the sort of place where you would least want to live. Now imagine if you were God, would you bring your Son into that place and have Him spend His childhood and formative teenage years there?

It’s so easy to imagine that somehow, God is a God for the wealthy or the successful or the super-spiritual. I’m not sure why we imagine that but somewhere in our hearts, my hunch is, we all do.

And then… God drops His Son somewhere in a slum near you. Jesus.

That’s God’s Word. Fresh … for you … today.

‹ Previous Next ›

Blessed by this devotion?

Share it with a friend!

A Slum Near You

Blessed by this devotion?

Dig Deeper

Respond