The Grands Letter

Dear Grands,

John 7:2-7, “Now the feast of the Jews, the Feast of Booths, was near.
3 Therefore His brothers said to Him, ‘Leave here and go into Judea, so that Your disciples also may see Your works which You are doing.
4 For no one does anything in secret when he himself seeks to be known publicly. If You do these things, show Yourself to the world.’
5 For not even His brothers were believing in Him.
6 So Jesus said to them, ‘My time is not yet here, but your time is always opportune.
7 The world cannot hate you, but it hates Me because I testify of it, that its deeds are evil.’”

Did you ever have anyone urge you to do something when you were certain that the time was not right for doing it? Ecclesiastes says, “There is an appointed time for everything” (3:1). Our passage above tells us that it was the time for the Jewish Feast of the Tabernacles (Booths), one of the three great feasts of Israel.

Jesus’ half-brothers urged Him to attend this feast. They were still not believers of His Divine Life and Position. “Show yourself to the world,” they urged Him. Still, they were hardly sincere; it was only a ploy, designed to embarrass Him.

Jesus refused to argue the point. In fact, He even refused to debate the issue. Rather, He demonstrated a spiritual maturity of which they knew nothing! No one is governing your
activites, He said, Your time is always right for doing what you wish. “My time is not yet
come,” He said.

When we elect to follow the LORD’s timing for our activities, we must wait for His
direction. We may be making the right decision, but neglect the right timing for doing it.
How often that has been the way of it in our lives!

Still, there are times when we say and do what is right in our LORD’s eyes, but encounter the hatred of others because His righteousness is offensive to them. The Scripture says,
“The world…hates Me,” Jesus said, “because I testify…that its deeds are evil.”

There’s a children’s chorus we used to sing:

Be careful little feet where you go;
Be careful little feet where you go;
For the Father up Above
Is looking down in Love;
Be careful little feet where you go.

All of that is so true! At the same time, we need to be conscious of what we do!
If we belong to the LORD, we are His children. We must follow His counsel, just
as Jesus always followed His Father.

Heartily in Christ Jesus,

(Dado III)

Gene L. Jeffries, Th.D.
Springdale, Arkansas 72764
United States of America

“We never know that Christ is all we need until He becomes all that we have.” – Corrie ten Boom