Growing In Godliness Blog
“Jesus Increased in Favor with Men”
Categories: Author: Paul Earnhart, Growth, Jesus, ParentingJesus Increased in Favor with Men
By Paul Earnhart
The Bible says very little about the early childhood of Jesus. It does inform us in Luke 2:52 that He increased in favor with man. This tells us that Jesus was the kind of child that adults admired. Every parent desires to have such a child.
How did Jesus grow in favor with good men. Certainly not by being a smart-alecky spoiled little brat. No adult likes to be around that kind of child. Rather, as we are told in the other parts of this verse, Jesus grew in wisdom, in stature and in favor with God. Good people admire that. In addition, they appreciate children who are respectful of adults, obedient to their parents, careful with property and considerate in their relations with other children. Growing in favor with God would require all of this, and what we see of Jesus in His teen years (and later) clearly indicates that this was the kind of child he was.
If you are a child, let me remind you that if you want to be like Jesus, this is the kind of boy or girl you must be. It is not time yet for you to be travelling over the country preaching as Jesus did. But it is time for you to be applying yourself to getting a good education, to developing a strong body and to being right with God. One way to determine whether you are succeeding in this is to watch how good adults feel about you. If they admire you and speak of you as a good child, then you must be doing as you should. If they dread being around you and clearly do not like you, then you probably need to make some changes in your behavior and attitude to be like Jesus.
If you are a parent, let me remind you that you are responsible for the development of your child. If your child is a terror to others, you need to be making some changes in your method of handling the child. As the child grows older, the problems will only increase. Perhaps you should begin with yourself. Disciplined children must have disciplined parents…it’s the only way.
