READ: Mark 6:1-6
And he could there do no mighty work, save that he laid his hands upon a few sick folk, and healed them.:- Mark 6:5
To be “familiar” means “to know someone or something very well and in such a way as to cause you to lose your admiration, respect and sense of awe”. It also connotes a sense of becoming presumptuous, where a person is too confident in a way that shows a lack of respect.
One day, a young lady was having a problem in her marriage. Her husband said to her, “I am going to report you to the Bishop.” She retorted, “I don’t care. He also has problems.” I smiled when I heard this. I knew that it was only familiarity that was rearing its head. Perhaps I was wrong in allowing this person to spend a few nights in our home.
On another occasion, another relative who had spent a few days with our family was having some problems. After counselling with her, she thanked me and seemed to have been blessed. Unfortunately I later heard that she had said that I was a man of knowledge and not experience. What she was saying was that I had no experience in the kind of problem she had and therefore my advice was theoretical.
Sometimes it is better to know someone from afar so that you can continue to receive from his ministry. When you are too familiar with your pastor, you can mistakenly see him as a man of knowledge without experience. Assess your familiarity level. In your relationship to a man of God, are you becoming familiar? Remember that familiarity is neutralizes the power of God’s gift.