Category Archives: Christian

Will you be that candle? (Mark 4:30-32) (July 21, 2016)

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Today’s Podcast

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Today’s Bible reading plan:

Read it in a year – Proverbs 11-12

see the whole year’s plan [here](http://www.bible-reading.com/bible-plan.pdf)

Today’s Devotional

Mark 4:30-32
Jesus: What else is the kingdom of God like? What earthly thing can we compare it to? The kingdom of God is like a mustard seed, the tiniest seed you can sow. But after that seed is planted, it grows into the largest plant in the garden, a plant so big that birds can build their nests in the shade of its branches.

What do Jesus’ words mean for us today?

Wikipedia tells us the candela is the International Standard base unit of luminous intensity; that is, luminous power per unit solid angle emitted by a point light source in a particular direction. Luminous intensity is analogous to radiant intensity, but instead of simply adding up the contributions of every wavelength of light in the source’s spectrum, the contribution of each wavelength is weighted by the standard luminosity function (a model of the sensitivity of the human eye to different wavelengths). A common candle emits light with a luminous intensity of roughly one candela. If emission in some directions is blocked by an opaque barrier, the emission would still be approximately one candela in the directions that are not obscured.

Like most other International Standard base units, the candela has an operational definition—it is defined by a description of a physical process that will produce one candela of luminous intensity. Since the 16th General Conference on Weights and Measures (CGPM) in 1979, the candela has been defined as:

The luminous intensity, in a given direction, of a source that emits monochromatic radiation of frequency 540×10(12) hertz and that has a radiant intensity in that direction of 1⁄683 watt per steradian.

The definition describes how to produce a light source that (by definition) emits one candela. Such a source could then be used to calibrate instruments designed to measure luminous intensity.

The candela is sometimes still called by the old name candle, such as in foot-candle and the modern definition of candlepower.

So why bring up the definition of the candela? Well, we don’t know much about mustard seeds like they did in Jesus’ day. But probably most of us have participated in a service or memorial or some event like the following.

The crowd is given an unlit candle as they come into the auditorium and asked to just hold it until they are told what to do with it later in the program or service. At the right time, maybe at an invitation or a commitment service, a call to missions, a light the world theme or some such event, the speaker has all the lights in the auditorium not just dimmed but extinguished. The auditorium goes black.

As the speaker continues, one candle is lit. It’s a small thing, barely visible from the cheap seats in the balcony at the far end away from the podium, but it is visible. That one candle gives out about one candela of radiant lux, about 12 1/2 lumens if you want to measure the luminous lux. That’s it. Not much to try and conquer the darkness that engulfed the auditorium just a few minutes earlier.

Then the speaker does something you probably expected by this point. That one candle touches the candle of a person nearby, then those two lit candles touch two more, then those four touch four more, and so it goes until every candle that each person holds has that same small flame burning in the hand of its holder. Suddenly, the auditorium is no longer dark, but instead is bathed in hundreds, maybe thousands of candela as each lighted candle adds 12 1/2 more lumens to the auditorium.

In just a few minutes, that one candle, barely visible from the back of the room, becomes the single flame that fans the flame of every candle in every hand that fills the whole room with light. The darkness has been dispelled, but it started with just that one candle.

That’s how God’s word spreads, too. Like the mustard seed that grows into a bush the size of a tree where birds build their nests or like that single candle used to light others that finally engulf the whole room with light, when we share God’s mercy and grace and love with those around us, something happens. His spirit works to spread that fire not only in us, but into those with whom we share. His spirit is always at work. He leads us to people who are ready to hear His word if we will listen to His guiding voice and share when He tells us to. He knows when the time is perfect.

Will we see the results of our labor? Maybe, maybe not. It’s not our responsibility to save people from their sins. We can’t do that. We can’t even win them to the kingdom. Not within our power. But what we can do is tell others what He has done and is doing in our lives. We can act as His witnesses and tell them about Jesus and the good news of His kingdom right here for those willing to give themselves to Him. God does all the rest.

You might feel like one candle in the darkness sometimes. But remember that single candle begins to lighten the whole room. That event or service or memorial you remember with all those candles lit and providing light in that auditorium started with one candle touching another. Are you willing to be that candle in a dark world? 

The Voice Bible Copyright © 2012 Thomas Nelson, Inc. The Voice™ translation © 2012 Ecclesia Bible Society All rights reserved.
In accordance with the requirements for FTC full disclosure, I may have affiliate relationships with some or all of the producers of the items mentioned in this post who may provide a small commission to me when purchased through this site.

God does the work (Mark 4:26-29) July 20, 2016

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Today’s Podcast

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Today’s Bible reading plan:

Read it in a year – Psalms 84-86

see the whole year’s plan [here](http://www.bible-reading.com/bible-plan.pdf)

Today’s Devotional

Mark 4:26-29
Jesus: Here is what the kingdom of God is like: a man who throws seeds onto the earth. Day and night, as he works and as he sleeps, the seeds sprout and climb out into the light, even though he doesn’t understand how it works. It’s as though the soil itself produced the grain somehow—from a sprouted stalk to ripened fruit. But however it happens, when he sees that the grain has grown and ripened, he gets his sickle and begins to cut it because the harvest has come.

What do Jesus’ words mean for us today?

Did you ever do one of those experiments as a kid where you put a seed in something that would let you watch it grow throughout it’s whole cycle? Maybe you put it in a glass jar filled with water and all the right nutrients to allow it to grow. Maybe you put it in a similar jar, but put the seeds right next to the glass so that you could watch the process but not have too much water and perhaps rot the roots. Maybe you put the seeds between two glass plates and watched the growth. There are a lot of ways to watch the beginnings of life spring from a single seed, but no matter how you watch the process, it still seems miraculous.

Scientists tell us the total sum of matter doesn’t change, so chemical processes that happen in that tiny seed start to convert water and air nutrients around it into the spout and stalk and finally the mature plant that comes from that tiny seed. Whether talking about a tiny flower or a giant oak, the results are still pretty miraculous. We think we understand all the science behind that growth, but do we really? We find bits and pieces that lead us to yet another step in the process, but ultimately, every scientist comes back to a circular argument about how plant and animal life begins unless God, the creator, is introduced into the equation.

It’s like the Big Bang theory that so many atheists like to hang their hat on. They forget the theory came decades ago from a priest who tried to explain the expanding universe and said out of nothing God created all things from a single point of nothingness. And from that first point of nothingness, God spoke light, energy, into place. From that point using the math that Einstein used to develop his Energy = Mass x the Speed of Light squared, God changed that pure light that He created from nothing, that energy into mass and lots of it. The universe came into being and has expanded ever since. The Big Bang.

So why bring that up? Why talk about seeds and the expanding universe and theories that can’t really be proven but all ultimately lead back to an Almighty Creator and Designer of all things?

First, I mentioned several days ago that scripture isn’t a science book. It tells what God did for us, but not how He did it. If God used a Big Bang to create everything in the universe, that’s fine with me. I really don’t care how God put everything in place. I just know He did. If He molded each planet and star and galaxy with His own hands and carefully placed each one in its own orbit, I’m fine with that, too. The Hebrew words in Genesis are vague enough in the ancient language either sense is possible and either one is okay with me. God is still God and in charge of all things. How He choose to do His work is not within my authority to debate with Him. He is God, we are not. If that offends you, go back and read His word again. You’ll find scripture doesn’t tell us how God created all things other than He spoke and it happened. How it happened, not a clue. His word handed down to us is not a science book.

Second, the thought that when we are part of His kingdom building and do our small part, the simple tasks He asks us to do, He does the rest and we don’t need to know how He does it. If we will sow seeds of kindness, He can use them to grow His grace in the hearts of those who receive it. If we sow His love, He multiplies it and it spreads not just to the ones we love, but well beyond them to touch many who see and hear of that love through the stories of those we touch. If we share the story of Jesus, God’s spirit helps it mature in fertile ground.

We don’t need to worry and fret about what happens to the gifts we share with others, prophecy, teaching, healing, hospitality, or any number of other gifts. When we share them, God uses them the way He sees fit and they spread His love and mercy and grace into the hearts and lives of others. Isaiah records God’s message to us:
So it is when I declare something.
My word will go out and not return to Me empty,
But it will do what I wanted;
it will accomplish what I determined.

God just expects us to carry out the simple tasks He gives us to do. They’re not always easy, but they’re usually simple to understand. When we do, He does the rest.

The Voice Bible Copyright © 2012 Thomas Nelson, Inc. The Voice™ translation © 2012 Ecclesia Bible Society All rights reserved.
In accordance with the requirements for FTC full disclosure, I may have affiliate relationships with some or all of the producers of the items mentioned in this post who may provide a small commission to me when purchased through this site.

Learn more than a first grader (Mark 4:24-25)

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Today’s Podcast

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Today’s Bible reading plan:

Read it in a year – 2 Kings 11-15

see the whole year’s plan [here](http://www.bible-reading.com/bible-plan.pdf)

Today’s Devotional

Mark 4:24-25
Jesus: So consider carefully the things you’re hearing. If you put it to use, you’ll be given more to wrestle with—much more. Those who have listened will receive more, but those who don’t hear will forget even the little they’ve failed to understand.

What do Jesus’ words mean for us today?

I always enjoyed science and math in high school and so made chemistry my major in college. I admit, by the time I finished college, I wasn’t so enamored with chemistry anymore and knew I didn’t want to be a chemist the rest of my life, but during those school years, I really did enjoy the classes. I enjoyed learning about the fundamentals of how atoms and molecules were put together and why one compound interacted with another to make something entirely different. I enjoyed learning about the different orbitals electrons occupy and how you could manipulate those electrons to do some incredible things with a variety of substances by adding or subtracting energy or by using some other catalyst to nudge those electrons toward another element’s orbital structure to make those atomic bonds do what you want them to do.

Each year, as I progressed further into the science, I learned more about the intricacies of how elements and molecules and energy worked together to create new compounds that can be either useful to us or detrimental to us. Each year the science built on the year before. I could never have understood pharmaceutical chemistry if I hadn’t taken and understood organic chemistry first. After getting into pharmaceutical chemistry, I understood why all the prerequisites were necessary. I needed everyone of them to understand what was going on when you introduced a chemical into the bloodstream and how it might affect the blood/brain barrier, the cell walls, how it attached to some particular receptacle in the body and so forth. Every time I learned some new piece of knowledge, two or three more pieces of knowledge became available, but not before.

The same thing happens in math if you think about it. Before you can multiple, you need to know how to add. Before you can do algebra, you need to have multiplication mastered. Before you tackle calculus, algebra, trigonometry, and geometry should be in your repertoire. And as you begin to master each of those skills, new horizons of learning open up for you so that you can solve problems with ever increasing difficulty that as a grade schooler learning to add, you would never have a clue how to begin to solve if your life depended on it.

That’s the way it is with spiritual things. Too many times, people think they should be able to open the Bible and know all the answers about life by reading the book. It doesn’t work that way. We forget that regardless of our physical age, when we are born again, by the Spirit of God, we are spiritual infants. We know just enough about spiritual things to have our sins forgiven and begin to follow God’s leading.

As we continue to read His word, pray about it, follow the teaching He gives us, we begin to learn more each day. We figure out what it really means to let Jesus be Lord of our life. But we can’t learn that until after we’ve had our sins forgiven and committed ourselves to Him. Only then do we begin to gain the additional knowledge about His guidance and leadership in our life, because until then, it’s like that second grader reading a calculus book.

By the same token, God doesn’t expect us to stay infants or toddlers or first graders forever. He expects us to learn and grow in Him. He expects us to read and study His word. He expects us to ask Him about it. He wants to teach us and guide us through life. But until we decide we will expend some effort and learn from Him, we will stay stuck in first grade, content with just knowing how to add and nothing else. We will miss so much of what He has available for us.

We live in a society that really doesn’t think much about learning when you consider that most Americans read less than one book a year after graduating from high school. By our behavior, we demonstrate we don’t have much desire to learn more. I cringe when I compare the literacy skills of a Civil War private with those of our college graduates. The privates 150 years ago conveyed their thoughts much more articulately than our graduates today.

That means we must break the mold to study God’s word. We must be different from the crowd in two distinct ways if we expect to learn about spiritual things. First, we must actually be willing to study. That in itself is a rarity in today’s society, but a necessity if we are to learn what God wants. Second, we must let God into our life as Savior and Lord. Until we give Him mastery of our life, we will only see the words in His book with as much understanding as that first grader trying to read.

The Voice Bible Copyright © 2012 Thomas Nelson, Inc. The Voice™ translation © 2012 Ecclesia Bible Society All rights reserved.
In accordance with the requirements for FTC full disclosure, I may have affiliate relationships with some or all of the producers of the items mentioned in this post who may provide a small commission to me when purchased through this site.

Playing hide-and-seek (Mark 4:21-23) July 18, 2016

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Today’s Podcast

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Today’s Bible reading plan:

Read it in a year – Leviticus 16-18

see the whole year’s plan [here](http://www.bible-reading.com/bible-plan.pdf)

Today’s Devotional

Mark 4:21-23
Jesus: When you bring a lamp into the house, do you put it under a box or stuff it under your bed? Or do you set it on top of a table or chest? Those things that are hidden are meant to be revealed, and what is concealed is meant to be brought out where its light can shine.
All who have ears to hear, let them listen.

What do Jesus’ words mean for us today?

Do you play hide-and-seek as a kid? I think it’s a popular game for most kids in almost every society. And I think we can get pretty good at it the older we get. As toddlers, we think that covering our eyes so that we can’t see anyone else means they can’t see us, but as we mature, we learn to hide in closets, find spaces in the cabinets, discover those hidden holes behind boxes in the garage. We find all kinds of places that others forget to look in and can stay hidden for a long time before anyone finds us. We can get pretty good at hiding.

I’m afraid too many of us have taken that hide-and-seek mentality and applied it to our faith. Are you that good at hiding your faith? I’ll have to admit, that’s one thing Muslim women do not do well. You can tell when they wear their burka what religion they practice. It’s hard for someone in a burka to hide their religion. But what about you? Do others know what you believe? Christians often look a lot like the crowd around them, or do they, or should they? Christians often are found the same place as everyone else, or are they, or should they? Christians often sound the same as everyone around them, or do they, or should they?

Do we hide in plain sight? Are we individually and collectively guilty of doing what Jesus implied when He talked about the covering up the lamp? Do we try to hide the light God puts in us when He saves us from our sins? Are we afraid to let His light shine through us so the world can see what He has done in us? Those are implications we have from Jesus’ words and the observations we see in the world around us.

Christians have become invisible. We look and sound like everyone else. Co-workers are surprised at the announcement of our faith. Neighbors are shocked if we suddenly say we won’t do something because we say we are Christian. They look at our behavior, our speech, our lifestyle and ask, “So what’s different about you?” What do we answer? What is different about us? How do people know that we are Christian? Can they see God’s light shining through us without us telling them?

I guess to know whether others can see that light we first have to have that light. It comes only by giving ourselves wholly to God. Body, soul, and spirit. Everything. Making Him Lord, Director, Guide, for everything we do. When we do that, God will begin to change us. He first forgives our sins and takes away the guilt we carry because of past sins. When that guilt is gone, it changes our countenance. That burden disappears and we begin to look different. We exude a peace and joy that is inexplicable to those around us because it doesn’t depend on the circumstances in which we find ourselves.

Next God begins to transform us from the inside out. As Paul tells us in Romans, He renews our mind, He changes the way we think. We begin to think like He thinks because when we let Him begin to direct our thoughts. We begin to see others the way He sees them. We see others through His eyes of love and compassion and mercy and grace. We long to see others freed from the weight of sin and adopted into His family as we have been.

Then as we continue to listen to God and obey His will in our lives, we begin to bear His fruit in our lives. Those things Paul talks about in Galatians. We begin to show evidence of all of those fruit growing in us – unconditional love, joy, peace, patience, kindheartedness, goodness, faithfulness, gentleness, and self-control. These characteristics cannot be hidden. They come out in our relationships with others. These traits are so seldom seen in the world today that they jump out and flash in front of those around us like a strobe light.

Those who have given themselves fully to God and are living obediently to Him cannot hide. They are like a light on a hill, shining so everyone can see them. Everyone who looks in their direction sees their character, the fruit of the spirit shining through them. The love, joy, peace, patience, kindheartedness, goodness, faithfulness, gentleness, and self-control that can only come from a life guided and directed by God radiates from their innermost being touching everyone who comes in contact with them.

Real Christians lose at playing hide-and-seek with their faith every single time. How well do you play? 

The Voice Bible Copyright © 2012 Thomas Nelson, Inc. The Voice™ translation © 2012 Ecclesia Bible Society All rights reserved.
In accordance with the requirements for FTC full disclosure, I may have affiliate relationships with some or all of the producers of the items mentioned in this post who may provide a small commission to me when purchased through this site.

–

We are brothers and sisters (Mark 3:33-35) July 17, 2016

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Today’s Podcast

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Today’s Bible reading plan:

Read it in a year – Colossians 3-4

see the whole year’s plan [here](http://www.bible-reading.com/bible-plan.pdf)

Today’s Devotional

Mark 3:33-35
Jesus looked around.
Jesus (answering them): Who are My mother and brothers?
He called into the silence. No one spoke.
At last His gaze swept across those gathered close, and Jesus smiled.
Jesus: You, here, are My mother and My brothers! Whoever does the will of God is My true family.

What do Jesus’ words mean for us today?

Have you ever thought about why we call each other brothers and sisters in the Christian community? Perhaps Jesus started it with His announcement this day when His siblings tried to drag Him back home from His ministry. From all appearances, it seems His earthly father died sometime during Jesus’ teen years and Jesus became the bread-winner for the family. Now at age 30, He sets out to begin His ministry sharing the good news that the kingdom of heaven is at hand.

In this day and time, 30 was the magic age to be counted as an adult, wise enough to share your opinion and be heard. I’m pretty sure Jesus didn’t wait until now to share His thoughts with His family and friends. I’m sure He shaped His ministry and what He was going to do well before His 30th birthday. But to be heard by the masses, He needed to follow the rules of the temple and He did. He needed to follow most of the civil laws and He did. He needed to obey most of the temple laws and He broke only a few and only when a greater good was at stake.

I think He leaned on His mother and brothers and sisters to listen to His sermons and hone His speaking skills, shape His messages, help Him navigate some of the questions people would have for Him. I think He took all of that time in His formative years and studied, learned all He could of the scriptures and how His real Father wanted Him to share them with the world. And I’m sure He shared those thoughts with his brothers and sisters. The probably thought of Him like Joseph’s brothers did. Ready to throw Him in the loony bin or in the cistern to die at times.

But Jesus was their brother and they came to rescue Him from the stories they heard from their friends about the ridicule He received from the Pharisees. They wanted to make sure the priests didn’t carry out the rumors they heard about arresting Him, stopping His message any way possible, even imprisoning or killing Him if necessary. His brothers and sisters tried to protect Him from the mob forming on the opposite side of the crowds that followed Him.

But when Jesus heard they came to take Him home to protect Him, He looked into the eyes of those gathered around Him and said, “You are My mother and brothers and sisters.”

I think when He began to teach about the kingdom of heaven and helped those around Him understand God adopts us into His family, we become brothers and sisters, God’s children, in a very real sense. God wants us to understand how close a relationship we should have with each other as we join this communion of saints, those whose sins have been washed away by the blood of Jesus, the Lamb of God, the perfect sacrifice for us.

When I hear about another denomination growing out of a church because of some doctrinal issue or something that caused the congregation to split, I grieve. I don’t think God intended for us to grow apart with all our petty differences that make up all our denominations. Today a quick search on Google will tell you there are almost 40,000 different denominations, each thinking their individual practices are “The Way” to salvation.

I think the Apostles would be appalled if they saw the state of the church today. Instead of brothers and sisters, we have become at best distant cousins that don’t recognize each other and don’t acknowledge the other exists because we have so little contact and so little in common. We certainly don’t feel like those other folks are brothers and sisters if they are so far afield in their doctrinal thinking, right?

Jesus wants us to think differently. He wants us to recognize that if we carry His name, we are brothers and sisters. We should love each other, not like cousins, but like brothers and sisters. We should care for all those people who have come to Him in repentance and been adopted into His family the same way we would our flesh and blood brothers and sisters.

Jesus wants all of us to remember the few words Christendom agrees on found in the Apostles’ Creed that has come down to us from the very early days of “The Way” as it was called then. I believe in God, the Father almighty,
creator of heaven and earth.

I believe in Jesus Christ, his only Son, our Lord,
who was conceived by the Holy Spirit,
born of the Virgin Mary,
suffered under Pontius Pilate,
was crucified, died, and was buried;
On the third day he rose again;
he ascended into heaven,
he is seated at the right hand of the Father,
and he will come to judge the living and the dead.

I believe in the Holy Spirit,
the holy catholic* Church,
the communion of saints,
the forgiveness of sins,
the resurrection of the body,
and the life everlasting.

Amen.
When we share those words together, we are brothers and sisters. Members of God’s great family.

The Voice Bible Copyright © 2012 Thomas Nelson, Inc. The Voice™ translation © 2012 Ecclesia Bible Society All rights reserved.
In accordance with the requirements for FTC full disclosure, I may have affiliate relationships with some or all of the producers of the items mentioned in this post who may provide a small commission to me when purchased through this site.

It’s time to unite (Mark 3:23-29) July 16, 2016

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Today’s Podcast

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Today’s Bible reading plan:

Read it in a year – Luke 15-16

see the whole year’s plan [here](http://www.bible-reading.com/bible-plan.pdf)

Today’s Devotional

Mark 3:23-29
Jesus: Listen. How can Satan drive out Satan? A kingdom that makes war against itself will collapse. A household divided against itself cannot stand. If Satan opposes himself, he cannot stand and is finished.
If you want to break into the house of a strong man and plunder it, you have to bind him first. Then you can do whatever you want with his possessions. Listen, the truth is that people can be forgiven of almost anything. God has been known to forgive many things, even blasphemy. But speaking evil of the Spirit of God is an unforgivable sin that will follow you into eternity.

What do Jesus’ words mean for us today?

Jesus wants us united as His church. He wants us to come together to carry out the mission He gave us before He ascended into heaven on a cloud. He wants us to have that single aim, to go and make disciple, teaching them the things He taught His first disciples. So how have we gotten to where we are today with the divide between all those denominations and branches and Catholic and Protestant and everything in between.

Somewhere along the line, we let that thing called selfishness slip in again. I want my way. Even in building the kingdom. I want to believe the way I want. I want to interpret what Jesus said the way I want. I want to live the commandments the way I think they should be lived. I want to hear sermons that touch me the way I want them to. We get into this selfish mode even in our religions. We pick and choose and establish our faith around our desires and our will and our wants even while trying to seek God’s will.

One of the things that slapped me in the face several years ago as I was trying to find God’s will for my life was the selfishness of that very thought. God’s will for my life. I started thinking about that and discovered I kept looking the wrong direction for what I should do next. I was looking for God to point at my life instead of me running toward His.

It sounds like a simple change in thought, but it is a tremendous revolution in your pattern of thinking, really. It’s the renewing of your mind, Paul talks about in Romans 12, because the tables turn. Instead of asking where I’m going next to find favor with Him, I instead ask God where He is going and I will follow. When we begin to change the thought from what is Your will for me, to just what is Your will, things begin to change. It’s just a little thing, but taking me out of the equation changes your focus and brings others into your thoughts clearer and brighter than ever before.

I think it’s this process Jesus taught us in the garden when He prayed “not My will, but Your will be done.” I think it helps us live in the spirit seeking God’s will always. I think it means listening for His voice wherever we are and looking for those opportunities to share His love whenever we have the chance. I think it changes our whole outlook if we just change that single way we ask about God’s will for life. Not my will, not even His will for me, just His will and I’ll go there.

If we would all begin to change our thought process to follow God explicitly in this way, I think the division in churches would disappear. If we would sincerely ask what God’s will was and stop there and then follow, I think the violence in the streets would be curbed significantly. I think we would find revivals sparked around the world. I think we would see healing taking place. I think the church and the world would be very different if we just asked God about His will and followed.

But instead, we forget to ask and go our own way. We want what we want and so we fight each other. We can’t agree on the simplest things and so disrupt the work of the kingdom with our selfishness. We forget the real task at hand, sharing the good news that Jesus came to give His life that we might have abundant, everlasting life. We forget He came to fulfill our lives and bring joy through forgiveness of our sins and we bicker and fight with each other instead of standing together against the real enemy – sin.

Jesus told those that thought He cast out demons by the power of Satan that Satan would lose his strength and power if his minions fought against each other. Isn’t the same true of the church? If we war against each other, don’t we lose the strength and power we could experience if we worked together in unity. Jesus continually called us to unity. It’s about time, the church rose up together against the evil of this world instead of bickering with each other. 

The Voice Bible Copyright © 2012 Thomas Nelson, Inc. The Voice™ translation © 2012 Ecclesia Bible Society All rights reserved.
In accordance with the requirements for FTC full disclosure, I may have affiliate relationships with some or all of the producers of the items mentioned in this post who may provide a small commission to me when purchased through this site.

He will grieve for you (Mark 3:4-5) July 15, 2016

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Today’s Podcast

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Today’s Bible reading plan:

Read it in a year – Ezekiel 31-36

see the whole year’s plan [here](http://www.bible-reading.com/bible-plan.pdf)

Today’s Devotional

Mark 3:4-5
Jesus: Do our laws tell us to do good or evil on the Sabbath? To save life, or to snuff it out?
They remained silent.
Jesus was furious as He looked out over the crowd, and He was grieved by their hard hearts.
Jesus (to the man with the withered hand): So be it. Stretch out your hand.

What do Jesus’ words mean for us today?

I wonder how often God gets furious with our silence. As we’ve watched the violence around the world and in our own country the last several days and weeks, I can’t imagine the pain and anger He feels at just how evil His greatest creation has become. How could we stoop so low as to kill each other over the color of our skin or the way we talk or the place we live? How could we get to the point that life means so little that we would kill innocent people because some idiot killed another person? When did it become okay to take vengeance on the innocents because of the guilt of wrongdoers?

God must be furious with us, don’t you think? We were created to love each other and worship Him. He is a God of love and peace and joy. We, in our drive to fill our selfish desires, have turned this world into one of hate and war and sorrow. How can we do that in light of all God does for us?

The answer is found in that word selfish. From the very beginning, Satan tempted Adam and Eve to satisfy instead of God. Everything else stemmed from that first fall. We want what we want at any cost and the cost has been high. Just look around and you see the price we pay every day. Broken homes, racial divide, nations warring against each other over 10 miles of land, civil war, war in the name of God. Would He approve of any of this? No. He is a God of love and peace and joy. But in our selfishness we want our way, not His and so we continue to see others the way we want to see them, instead of the way He sees them.

What do our religions do? They stand silent on the sidelines while all this is going on. All of us do it. Christian, Muslim, Hindu, all of them. We stand aside and let the faithful destroy the infidels because we want our way, not God’s. You see, God never told us to go and destroy those that don’t agree with us. He told us to go and make disciples.

But you don’t make disciples by coercion. You can’t turn someone into a follower by putting a gun to their head and forcing them to recite a creed. That’s not how it works. God doesn’t coerce people to come to Him. He only accepts volunteers. He only adopts those that come to Him with contrite hearts and are ready to turn from their selfishness and accept His way as the direction for their life.

Jesus was furious at their silence.

And He was grieved at their hard hearts. Why grieved? Because until we stop trying to justify our selfishness as just human or the way we are or the natural order of things, we will never come to repentance. We close our eyes to the truth God lays out in front of us and stubbornly hang on to what we want. That’s what those in the temple did that day in front of Jesus.

The Pharisees wanted their way. They wanted Jesus to obey their rules, not His. They wanted the people around Him to concede to the law as they interpreted it, not the way this man who some said came from God said it should be interpreted. The people gathered there didn’t want to disrupt the way things had always been. They were comfortable in their rituals and rules. They wanted their way.

So you can just see in your mind’s eye as they straightened their back, stiffened their necks, lowered their eyelids and glared at Jesus. Would He dare to cross them? Jesus grieved because He knew they could not find forgiveness until they allowed their hearts to feel the pain of their sin and understand the selfishness that must be turned toward God if they were to find peace.

Jesus grieved at their lack of understanding. He grieved at their failure to see that they could be freed from the guilt and pain if they would just repent. But instead they stood silent. How many today just stand on the side silent. Trying to ride the fence with one foot in the world and one foot in the church. It doesn’t work. We are either on God’s side or not. And when we are on His side, we can not stand silent. We must do His work to make disciples.

The silent majority helped get us into the mess we’re in today. The silent Christian is an oxymoron. There really is no such thing. When you really find Christ, you can not keep silent. Just listen to the man with the withered hand, the leper, those who chose to follow Him. None were silent despite the persecution, ridicule, humiliation, and even death they faced. No, if you are on His side, you won’t be silent. If you are, Jesus will grieve for you.

The Voice Bible Copyright © 2012 Thomas Nelson, Inc. The Voice™ translation © 2012 Ecclesia Bible Society All rights reserved.
In accordance with the requirements for FTC full disclosure, I may have affiliate relationships with some or all of the producers of the items mentioned in this post who may provide a small commission to me when purchased through this site.

Come to me (Mark 3:3) July 14, 2016

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Today’s Bible reading plan:

Read it in a year – Proverbs 10

see the whole year’s plan [here](http://www.bible-reading.com/bible-plan.pdf)

Today’s Devotional

Mark 3:3
Jesus: Come to Me.

What do Jesus’ words mean for us today?

As usual with eye witnesses, Mark gives us a slightly different account of the encounter in the temple with the man with the withered hand. The Pharisees want to see what He will do since it’s the Sabbath. He’s already scorched them with His answer about His disciples eating a handful of grain as they walked through the field on their way to the temple. But now here is this man with what is described as a withered hand. We don’t know what kind of disease, illness, deformity, or accident caused his hand to be withered, but we know he had little use of it and wanted relief from his malady.

We also know crowds already knew Jesus could heal sicknesses, injuries, deformities, and maladies no one else could heal. Jesus was a miracle worker and this man needed a miracle if his hand were to return to normal. But healing on the Sabbath. Talk about taboo. That would break all the rules. Doctors didn’t practice on the Sabbath. They just didn’t. So what would Jesus do? The stage was set. The Pharisees gaped from one side of the courtyard. The man with the withered hand looked pleadingly from the other side of the courtyard. Jesus stood between them. The crowd line both sides watching the standoff.

Jesus knows what the Pharisees are thinking. “Will He dare to break the law again and heal this man on the Sabbath? Let’s see if His compassion overtakes His sense of their Sabbath Law in the temple.”

Jesus says, “Come to me.”

I can see the man staring across the courtyard seeing the eyes of those Pharisees burning into him with raw hatred. He wouldn’t be taking more steps than allowed on this holy day. He was careful to measure his steps so he would have plenty left to cross the courtyard and even go to the pool of Siloam if Jesus asked him to. He planned this day well because he heard Jesus might be here today. His friends had seen Him coming to Jerusalem and so this man hoped beyond hope he would find Jesus here today.

He looked at the Pharisees again. Then he looked at Jesus and into His warm, compassionate eyes. He saw the love He had for all humankind in those eyes. He saw something in His countenance He just couldn’t resist. The Pharisees might ban him from the temple the rest of his days, but he would listen to this gentle man with the power of God resting on Him.

He heard the Jesus’ command ringing in his ears. Looked one more time at that band of Pharisees and compared their religion and lack of joy with the faith of this man who spoke like no other and the joy that radiate from Him. He stepped forward and followed Jesus’ command to come. He saw no other way to find the healing He knew this man could provide. The Pharisees wanted revenge. This man wanted healing and peace.

I expect half the crowd sided with the Pharisees that day. They needed their rules. They needed the regimentation the law gave them. They needed someone to intervene for them because they could not or did not want to live up to the law. So they needed the priests. But Jesus wanted them to have a personal relationship with God. He wanted them to talk to God as if He were their father. That’s what He did and He wanted them to do that too.

Jesus wanted them to look beyond the routine and see the possibilities when you let God take charge and do things out of the ordinary and do God-like things instead of just the things man can do. So part of the crowd stood on the side with the man wanting healing. They needed freedom. They needed healing. They needed peace. They needed real relationship with God instead of just their religion.

So what does that tell us today?

I think it says there will always be those, even within our organized religions that want to keep us trapped in rules and regulations. Even if there are good things that should be done that disrupt the ordinary, those will cry out against those good things because of the rules they live by. And they will consequently lose great blessings and the joy of following Jesus.

I think it says we will occasionally have opportunities to hear Jesus tell us to come to Him, but we will have to overcome the glare and ridicule of some tough opposition. The opposition might be fierce and even do everything in its power to destroy us, but if we will stand faithful and follow Jesus’ command, the reward will be well worth it in the end.

I think it says we have two choices, we can cower to the influence of those who want to rule our lives with the way things have always been whether right or wrong and find their favor, or we can follow God and find His favor. There are but two choices. Like the man with the withered hand, make the right one. 

The Voice Bible Copyright © 2012 Thomas Nelson, Inc. The Voice™ translation © 2012 Ecclesia Bible Society All rights reserved.
In accordance with the requirements for FTC full disclosure, I may have affiliate relationships with some or all of the producers of the items mentioned in this post who may provide a small commission to me when purchased through this site.

We need the Sabbath (Mark 2:25-28) July 13, 2016

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Today’s Podcast

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Today’s Bible reading plan:

Read it in a year – Psalms 81-83

see the whole year’s plan [here](http://www.bible-reading.com/bible-plan.pdf)

Today’s Devotional

Mark 2:25-28
Jesus (turning toward the Pharisees): Do you remember the story about what King David and his followers did when they were hungry and had nothing to eat?
They said nothing, so He continued.
Jesus: David went into the house of God, when Abiathar was the high priest, and ate the bread that was consecrated to God. Now our laws say no one but the priests can eat that holy bread; but when David was hungry, he ate and also shared the bread with those who followed him.
The Sabbath was made for the needs of human beings, and not the other way around. So the Son of Man is Lord even over the Sabbath.

What do Jesus’ words mean for us today?

I wonder how many of our religious rules and regulations we get wrong. The Pharisees, the priests, the scribes, those in positions of authority within the constructs of the religious order of the day built their whole existence on upholding and enforcing their understanding of those rules. If people didn’t believe in those rules or live by them at least most of the time, then their livelihood disappeared.

The Mosaic law described how the priests and the tribe of Levi would gain its wealth. They would get a portion of most of the sacrifices the people made to God. That was their pay as the intermediaries for God. It was their wages for caring for the tabernacle and then the temple and the synagogues after the desporia. If those rules and regulations fell apart, how would the priests and scribes make a living? They might have to figure out some other kind of work to feed their families.

It wasn’t that the work of the priesthood was easy. They often started their day at two or three in the morning to begin preparing the fires for the altar, sharpening the knives, cleaning the utinsels used for the various rituals of the day. The traffic in and out of the temple every day was pretty significant. It was much more than the town hall or the city court house or even the nation’s supreme court. This place was the center of everything for the Jews. So things were busy and the priests and their families were responsible for keeping it running smoothly.

So we might understand a little about why the Pharisees came down so hard on Jesus and His disciples. They were breaking the rules. God said not to work on the Sabbath and they grabbed a handful of grain as they walked through the field because they were hungry. The Pharisees considered taking that handful of grain off the stalk harvesting so they were breaking the Sabbath.

But the Pharisees forgot why the Sabbath came about in the first place. God didn’t get tired and need rest after He brought everything into creation on those first six days. He set aside the seventh day for humankind to rest. God has infinite energy and power. He doesn’t sleep. He doesn’t rest. He doesn’t take a day off. But He knows that we need to stop from our labors and remember who brought all of this into being in the first place.

Part of our problem today is we somehow forgot about taking time off to remember God and His goodness to us. I don’t think it really matters what day of the week it is, we just need to stop and spend time remembering Him. And that hour and a half on Sunday morning doesn’t cut it if that’s all the time we give to Him. We need to stop, slow down, quit our busy-ness, set aside time to meditate on God and the blessings He gives us. We need to remember the Sabbath, not as a day on which we must follow a bunch of dos and don’ts, but as a time to worship and praise our Redeemer.

I wonder what would happen if we started remembering the Sabbath again? I’m not too sure we know how anymore. What if we spent one whoe day in worship and fellowship with our brothers and sisters in Christ relaxing in the company of each other, hopefully safe from the evils of the world as we share in that one day together each week? What if we stopped doing all our household chores and our shopping and our sports and other activities we didn’t have time for during the other six days of the week and spent that whole day on things related to our salvation instead of on things related to ourselves? Would that make a difference in our spiritual lives? Would it change the dynamics of our families? Would it change our churches?

The Sabbath isn’t about making or breaking rules and regulations. Jesus made that clear when He spoke to the Pharisees that day. But have we gone too far by just forgetting it all together? Maybe it’s time we pull out that Exodus verse and see what it’s all about again. Maybe it’s time we remember God set aside a day for us to focus on Him instead of doing the things we usually do every day. Jesus said the Sabbath was made for the needs of human beings. It’s about time we start realizing just how much we need to use that day.

The Voice Bible Copyright © 2012 Thomas Nelson, Inc. The Voice™ translation © 2012 Ecclesia Bible Society All rights reserved.
In accordance with the requirements for FTC full disclosure, I may have affiliate relationships with some or all of the producers of the items mentioned in this post who may provide a small commission to me when purchased through this site.

It’s just common sense (Mark 2:19-22) July 12, 2016

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Today’s Podcast

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Today’s Bible reading plan:

Read it in a year – 2 Kings 6-10

see the whole year’s plan [here](http://www.bible-reading.com/bible-plan.pdf)

Today’s Devotional

Mark 2:19-22
Jesus: Guests at the wedding can’t fast when the bridegroom is with them. It would be wrong to do anything but feast. When the bridegroom is snatched away from them, then the time will come to fast and mourn.
These are new things I’m teaching, and they can’t be reconciled with old habits. Nobody would ever use a piece of new cloth to patch an old garment because when the patch shrinks, it pulls away and makes the tear even worse. And nobody puts new, unfermented wine into old wineskins because if he does, the wine will burst the skins; they would lose both the wineskins and the wine. No, the only appropriate thing is to put new wine into new wineskins.

What do Jesus’ words mean for us today?

Today we do some strange things to accommodate people’s diets, don’t we? I remember growing up, if someone invited you to dinner, you ate what was on the table and you at least pretended to like it no matter what it was or how it tasted. Consequently, as a preacher’s kid, my siblings and I sometimes ate some pretty bad food in our formative years, but learned to swallow it down, smile, and say thank you. Maybe that’s why I’m a bit overweight, now. I learned to like everything.

Now, we seem to accommodate everyone we invite to a party or a dinner. I can understand making sure we account for allergies that might send someone into an anaphylactic shock, but all the other stuff we do? This person doesn’t eat chicken, that one doesn’t eat meat, this one stopped eating anything with gluten, that one is on the Atkin’s diet and needs a special menu. And the crazy thing is that we sometimes go to great lengths to meet everyone’s needs at those parties or dinners.

I’m not saying it’s completely wrong to do so, but…

Maybe sometimes the best thing to do when we go to a feast is to feast. At least in Jesus day, those events didn’t happen every day and when they did, the host worked pretty hard to get everything ready for his guests. It wasn’t just a matter of going to the store and getting a bunch of pre-made appetizers and pre-cut meats and vegetables, or calling the caterer to cook up everything and get it on the table in time. In Jesus day, it meant killing and butchering the animals you were planning to eat. Harvesting and preparing the vegetables you planned to eat. Cooking for sometimes days ahead, then finishing the preparation for hours on the day of the feast. It was a difficult thing to do even with a small menu.

It’s not quite as hard today to throw a party with all the service industries that have sprung up to accommodate our needs, but I think it’s still pretty impolite to complain about the food, demand different menus, require accommodations for personal requests other than for life threatening allergies. But we are a pretty spoiled bunch of people today. Our selfishness gets the best of us because we don’t let Jesus help get rid of that selfish streak in us.

So being polite and enjoying yourself at someone’s party is the right thing to do. At least pretending the food is good and accepting it without complaint is the common sense action the Golden Rule teaches us. I think that’s part of what Jesus was telling the scribes that day.

Use some common sense. You don’t put new wine in old wineskins or they will burst. You don’t use unwashed cloth to patch a garment, it will tear. And you don’t mourn at a wedding because it’s a time for joy. Just because the scribes acting like Gloomy Gus in their synagogues as they read scripture doesn’t mean they were right. God didn’t create us to live in sorrow all the time. He created us to experience all the emotions within our framework and joy is the one He wants us to experience most. But that joy doesn’t come from happy situations, it comes from following the maker of all things.

While the maker of all things is with us, we should not be sorrowful. When we are in His presence, if our sins are forgiven, we can experience incredible, inexplicable joy. That’s what He wants for us and that’s what He gives us. It’s just common sense to follow Him. It’s just common sense to follow His advice about parties and patches and wineskins. It just common sense to ask for His forgiveness of our sins. It’s just common sense to enjoy the peace and freedom from guilt He brings when we follow His commands. It’s just common sense to listen to the Maker of the universe and do what He says to do.

That’s what Jesus is telling the scribes and us today. Just use a little common sense. When we do, the only answer we will find is to follow and obey Him for the rest of our lives.

The Voice Bible Copyright © 2012 Thomas Nelson, Inc. The Voice™ translation © 2012 Ecclesia Bible Society All rights reserved.
In accordance with the requirements for FTC full disclosure, I may have affiliate relationships with some or all of the producers of the items mentioned in this post who may provide a small commission to me when purchased through this site.