Simple but Powerful Way to Prepare for a Big Task

Are you preparing for a big corporate presentation or project undertaking? About to take the board exam? Running for a top position? Deciding to risk big with stocks, forex or cryptocurrency? Are you a mom deciding what to cook for lunch? All these are big, vital tasks that help make the world go round.

Photo by Green Chameleon on Unsplash.

And it's smart to take on a big task with an equally big preparation. So you'd do everything necessary, even exert and spend extra, to prep yourself up to meet the taxing demand and win. Perhaps pursue your masters and doctorate, earn as many titles and degrees. All these are good and needful. But did you know there's something more powerful to gain success than all these combined? 

And what do you think is the biggest task or venture ever? 

Not Just a Global Task

Saving the whole world. Specifically, saving the lost soul of everyone who ever lived. What could be more daunting and important? And it's not just the whole world, mind you. It's more than just a global challenge like Covid or climate change. It involves saving the entire creation, too. The whole universe. When man fell, all creation fell with him. Jesus Christ died for all these. No doubt it was a gargantuan task, more than anything man (even presidents) ever had to accomplish in all history. 

All creation was subjected to God’s curse. But with eager hope, the creation itself looks forward to being set free from its bondage to decay and brought into the glorious freedom of the children of God. [Romans 8]

So, how did Jesus prepare for this big task? And how did he also prepare for the role of becoming the Messiah, the coming King of kings? 

Odd Preparation

The queer thing was that, Jesus didn't go to any school or university for these tasks. He didn't think earning titles and degrees was necessary, although he had to conquer the hearts and minds of every individual born on this planet--among them philosophers, scientists, artists, experts, the super rich and powerful, dictators and tyrants, atheists and the religious, and yeah, smart Alecks. 

Here's the picture. Everybody was busy attending school and university during Jesus younger days, getting all the high credentials possible. But Jesus did something else. Everybody was headed towards the city's best learning institutions for the best education while Jesus alone went the opposite direction, heading for mountain sides, lakes and remote places. I can imagine Herod, Pilate, Annas, Caiaphas and the rest of the gang stressing themselves out in the best universities for their topnotch careers, but Jesus never took the route.

Mother Worried about Her Son's Schooling

I can also imagine Mary, Jesus' mother, getting worried about his son's career, prophesied to be the coming King of Israel. It had been foretold in Scriptures that a King will come from Bethlehem (of all places) who'd also be the Messiah, as the prophet Micah (Chap. 5) had announced long before. This was later confirmed by Herod's bible experts:

"When Herod had called together all the people's chief priests and teachers of the law, he asked them where the Messiah was to be born. 'In Bethlehem in Judea,' they replied, 'for this is what the prophet has written: 

"'But you, Bethlehem, in the land of Judah,
are by no means least among the rulers of Judah;
for out of you will come a ruler
who will shepherd my people Israel.'" (Matthew 2:4–6).

Moreover, Mary also knew that her child was the Son of God!

The angel answered, “The Holy Spirit will come on you, and the power of the Most High will overshadow you. So the holy one to be born will be called the Son of God." (Luke 1:35).

With all these big-time responsibilities, you need to be educated and trained only in the best educational institutions of the world, right? I imagine Mary thought the same. But she looked and there was her son, waking up early in the morning to head for the wilderness, doing what he said was vital to be "about his Father's business." Mary was beginning to worry. Her son was to be king and there he was wasting time in the backwoods, hinterlands and remote places.

Lessons

I'm not telling you to quit school or stop pursuing your career. These are all good. But one thing is markedly obvious here. Jesus pursued success a different way and we should all follow his example. In the Father's eyes, no one's more successful than Jesus, completing the cosmic work of redemption, among many others, with high flying colors. And he did it, not through the usual channels, but solely in God's ways:

1. He spent quality time with the Father.
   "He grew up before Him as a tender shoot." [Isaiah 53.2] This was how Jesus spent his childhood, teenage and young adulthood. He prepare for his Messiahship and Kingship by soaking himself in the Father's Presence.
   
   
2. He valued prayer. 
   It was his habit to spend quiet times alone with his Father.
   "But Jesus often withdrew to lonely places and prayed." [Luke 5.16]
   
   
3. He lived the Word of God.
   "I have not come to abolish them (Law and Prophets) but to fulfill them." [Matthew 5.17]

Aside from the usual preparation, never neglect the three above.