The New Testament records story after story of Jesus performing some incredible miracles.

Crowds flocked to Him in droves to hear what He had to say, to reap the benefits of His wisdom and kindness, and to hang on His every word.

But there was one town noted where that was not the case at all.

Nazareth.

His hometown. Filled with families and people who knew Jesus as a boy and watched Him grow up.

One would think this would have given these folks an advantage. But, in reality, they couldn’t get beyond the image of Jesus as a typical, run-of-the-mill, everyday guy.

When Jesus returned to Nazareth during His ministry years, the townspeople struggled to embrace Him as the Savior of the world.

To them, He was just the kid who had lived next door and helped His dad make tables and chairs.

They had mentally freeze-framed Him to a segment of time and couldn’t get past it.

“Where did this man get this wisdom and these miraculous powers? Isn’t this the carpenter’s son?” (Matthew 13:54 – 55 CSB)

To them, there was nothing special about Jesus. He was just Joseph’s boy.

And since that’s all they saw, “…they were offended by him.” (vs. 57)

Jesus didn’t do many miracles there because of their unbelief, as a result. (vs. 58)

How terribly tragic!

Their freeze-frame mentality hindered any real work of God in their midst.

What a great reminder for us today of how dangerous it can be to freeze-frame people.

We are all continually a work in progress. Sometimes we’re moving forward; sometimes back (except for Jesus, of course).

We are constantly changing, developing, growing.

Our hearts go through seasons of softening and pruning; our minds continue to be renewed daily.

Also true, though, is that growing in faith sometimes includes spiritual potholes, setbacks, and detours.

We have bad days, are prone to sin, and don’t always reflect the heart of our Savior well. While that’s not our goal or intention, unfortunately, it’s sometimes just true.

How cautious we should be about freeze-framing each other.

How much better would it be to extend grace to one another and understand that God is the author and finisher of faith? He is the One Who works in the hearts of His people – changing their lives for His glory and writing their stories.

Imagine what might of happened in Nazareth if they had done that? Think of what miraculous possibilities might have occurred had they believed that Jesus had returned to them as the Son of God and not the son of Joseph?

I wonder where we might be missing the blessing of God in our lives today because we’ve freeze-framed someone?

Perhaps, it’s a friendship or a family dynamic that we’ve given up on because we believe that person will never change.

Worse yet, maybe it’s God Himself because we prayed something years ago but didn’t see Him answer and now we hesitate to pray again or trust Him completely.

Let’s surrender all of those to Him today and ask God to give us His perspective and fill us with His grace so that we might walk free of any freeze-frame danger.

Until next time, Grace and Glory!