“Familiarity does not breed contempt, it is contempt.” – Florence King (Writer)
The biggest barrier to God’s men accepting his power is familiarity. No matter how big a gift from God is, the worldly spirit cancels it out. The scripture demonstrates that Jesus was unable to work miracles in His native region. The people were too familiar with Him to accept Him as the Son of God. They questioned him about his upbringing, family, and parents.
Familiarity, therefore, is having a deep understanding of someone or something to the point that we no longer have awe, respect, or adoration for them. Additionally, it suggests that we are overconfident in a way that betrays a lack of respect.
According to the Bible’s Luke 4:28 account of Jesus’ hometown sermon, “All the people in the synagogue were furious when they heard this.” The familiar people were upset with Jesus’ sermon, yet Luke 4:32 states that when he delivered a sermon in Galilee, “They were amazed at his teaching, because his words had authority.”
Sometimes it is best to have a distant relationship with individuals so that we can still benefit from their ministry. When we become overly accustomed to our pastor, we might think that he lacks the anointing. When we consider the great men of God we revere, we rarely consider their flaws. For instance, we do not think about whether a visiting preacher is easily irritated or not, whether he lives a lavish lifestyle, etc. Our only action is to accept this man of God’s ministry. However, these are not the impressions of men of God that we are familiar with in our minds.
At this the Jews there began to grumble about him because he said, “I am the bread that came down from heaven.” They said, “Is this not Jesus, the son of Joseph, whose father and mother we know? How can he now say, ‘I came down from heaven’?” – John 6:41-42 NIV
We stop having a spiritual connection with men of God or our spiritual fathers once we become familiar with them. We become unaware that they are even anointed, therefore all we observe are natural phenomena. If we solely focus on the natural, we will only perceive corruption occasionally, as well as weakness and dishonor. Additionally, a lot more people can remain close by and yet value the anointing. Men of God could be surrounded by people who have witnessed their human frailty for a long time, yet they nevertheless exhibit wonder, fascination, and respect for God’s presence in their lives.
Let us, therefore, as believers and servants of God be careful of the spirit of familiarity.