What a cruel foe is unbelief to the world in general and to God's people in particular! What great blessings it forfeits and what great miseries it fosters. Merely because of the parentage of Christ those of His own country were quick to conclude that there could be nothing extraordinary about Him. Simply because they knew His parents they assumed that He could be neither prophet, priest nor king, much less the eternal Son of God. Very truly was it said of Him that "He was in the world, and the world was made by him, and the world knew him not" (John 1:10). Those who had seen Him grow up in their midst viewed Him merely as the son of Joseph and Mary. Little did they know, and far they were from believing, that this lowly carpenter's son was none other than their promised Messiah, verily God manifest in the flesh. 

    Many a God-called minister of the gospel has found himself receiving little or no honor or respect in the area where he grew up and even among some of his own kin. They have sometimes found much truth in the old adage, "Familiarity breeds contempt." Many circumstances may contribute to this phenomenon, but much of it may be traced to a simple unwillingness on the part of the locals to believe that God would call one to the ministry whom they know from personal observation to be a man full of frailties and shortcomings. This is very unfair to the object of their disrespect, but it is often one of the distressing burdens a servant of God must endure. He often suffers because of his faithfulness to a calling for which he did not volunteer, and sometimes goes with heavy heart as he sees little evidence that his labors are either profitable to, or appreciated by, those to whom he essentially devotes his life. 

    Those in Christ's own country were great losers by their failure to acknowledge Him for who He was and what He was, for as a result of their unbelief, "He did not many mighty works there" (Matt. 13:58). How many others have suffered similar losses as a result of the way they have treated the servants that God sent them? Only He knows! 

    "A prophet is not without honour, save in his own country, and in his own house" (Matt. 13:57).