What would it really be like to live on earth with Jesus

I was chatting with a friend today about how I would respond to Jesus if I was around when He was.

It's so easy to read about His life 2000 years ago and think - if I was Peter, there's no way I would deny Him, if I was Martha surely I would have grabbed the opportunity to sit at His feet and hang on His every word, if I was one of the disciples in the garden, I would have fought off the desire to sleep realising that Jesus was deeply distressed and troubled.

It's so easy for me to think that now, just reading frivolously over the words, 2000 years after it happened. But when I think deeply and realistically about it, I would have been just like them all. I am certain of it!

My friend and I talked about the many judgements, opinions, criticisms Jesus would have faced, from all sorts of people.

But, He didn't become man to please man, He came to save them and to do the will of His Father. I know that Jesus was sinless on this earth, but in the eyes of many, he surely would not have been perfect, He would have fallen short of many of the standards of that society, because they would have been looking at Him through their eyes and standards, not God's.

As I tried to put myself in the place of someone who lived with Jesus, I wondered whether I would have judged Him or criticised Him, I have certainly been guilty of doing that with many godly men and women I know.

In my eyes they may have been living or doing things that I don't agree with, or that I think may be ungodly, but I have no right to judge, to criticise. What they are doing may be totally godly and right in God's eyes.

God is the only one who can see our hearts, He knows our desires, our motives, He is the One we serve.

While I know I need to be sensitive to others around me and be careful not to be a stumbling block, I need to be far more concerned about what God thinks rather than what men think.

I am reminded of these wonderful, amazing verses from Hebrews 12:2-3 that constantly lift me up.

Let us fix our eyes on Jesus, the author and perfecter of our faith,

who for the joy set before him endured the cross,

scorning its shame, and sat down at the right hand of the throne of God.

Consider him who endured such opposition from sinful men,

so that you will not grow weary and lose heart.

When I fix my eyes on Jesus, I am reminded that He is the one I am living for, I may be judged, criticised, persecuted, or even neglected by men, but He is the One I want to bring glory to.