You Only See What You Are In This World - Luke 2:25-30

Is not like there were no man in Jerusalem, who portrayed some attitude of bravery, who were self-esteemed in the society, who masqueraded as if they had skills, man who professed to be religious and spiritual. In other words there were many man, but all the man who were there in Jerusalem were too ordinary According to Luke chapter 2, they were too ordinary.

There was nothing to write about them, save for one man! That's why now Luke says in verse 25 "Now, there was a man in Jerusalem..." who was different from all the man of his time. he had this extra-ordinary qualities that could not be found anywhere within the city of Jerusalem. And here are the qualities: "he was righteous and devout.?He was waiting (he had hope in himself) for the consolation of Israel..." These are the qualities that separated Simeon from the rest of man.

So it happened that one day that Jesus was brought to the temple, for the ordinary rituals. Simeon because of his extra-ordinary qualities when Jesus was brought to the temple. Is not Simeon was the only one when Jesus came to the temple that day. Priests were there, Elders were there, teachers of the law were there. So when Jesus Christ was brought, the Priests, the Elders, the Teachers of the Law, they never saw anything unusual in Jesus.

Jesus was just like any other child, it's only Simeon who saw that this is an unusual child. For the rest of the man that were there, Jesus was like any other child. But because of the qualities that were in Simeon, he saw an unusual child and he requested that child from the parents.

The Bible actually says he took Jesus up in his arms and he uttered the longing of his heart. He say sovereign Lord, as you have promised you now dismiss your servant in peace. Why dismiss thy servant in peace? because my eyes have seen what I have been waiting for! Now I can rest. This is what I have been waiting for all this years and my eyes have seen that salvation, now you can allow me to rest.

You see, when you are extra-ordinary. You see extra-ordinary things, when you are ordinary you see ordinary things. Simeon because he was extra-ordinary he saw child who was extra-ordinary whilst the rest were seeing ordinary children in the temple.

Beloved you are here where you are in this life. Ask yourself, for the period you have been in your work place, school, or anywhere you are, have you seen something that is extra-ordinary? Or you are just seeing ordinary things every day? You go along the corridors of your work place, everything is ordinary. You rub shoulders with your bosses, they are ordinary. You get in the public spaces, you are meeting ordinary people. You go to the shops, ordinary things. You go to church, ordinary things. You go for vacations, ordinary staff.

I want to submit to you today that, is not that all things are ordinary. There are certain things that are extra-ordinary in your surrounding. In-fact in life wherever you are, there is always something that is extra-ordinary. It all depends on who you are. As long as you are extra-ordinary you will be able to see things that are extra-ordinary, and your ears will hear things that are extra-ordinary.

Remember that day on the road to Damascus. When Paul met Jesus Christ. The guys that were with him they just heard thundering sounds and what what, but Saul did not hear that. Saul did not hear what others heard. He heard Jesus Christ talking to him. So when you are too ordinary, you are prone to hear things that are too ordinary, but if you have qualities that make you extra-ordinary I want to rest assure you that extra-ordinary things will be seen by your eyes and will be heard by your ears.

Remember that guy in 2 Kings 6 when he woke up in the morning he went out and saw the enemy surrounding their house, he came back running to the prophet and asked “Oh no, my lord! What shall we do?” And Elisha prayed, “Open his eyes,?Lord, so that he may see.” It is very very possible. That when you get to work you say that manager does not like me, my colleagues don't like me they are against me. You move to another company, they hate me. You go to another school, am not welcome here people hate me.

All that you are seeing are people who hate you because you are filled with hate within yourself. You always see what you are. If you are righteous, devout, waiting for the consolation of Israel, you will see that. But if you are too ordinary all children who pass in your eyes will be too ordinary. Everything within your surrounding will be too ordinary because you are ordinary. if you are filled with bitterness within yourself all people you will meet will be filled with bitterness everyday. And you will never know a happy life!

My prayer for you my friend is that. May you work on qualities that makes you extra-ordinary and after you have those qualities, may you experience a satisfying extra-ordinary life!