Today’s Podcast
Today’s Bible reading plan:
Read it in a year – Psalms 102-104
see the whole year’s plan [here](http://www.bible-reading.com/bible-plan.pdf)
Today’s Devotional
Mark 11:29-33
Jesus: I will answer your question, if you will answer one for Me. Only then will I tell you who gives Me authority to do these things. Tell Me, when John was ritually cleansing through baptism for the forgiveness of sins, was his authority from heaven or was it merely human?
The priests, scribes, and elders huddled together to think through an answer.
Leaders (to themselves): If we say, “It must have been from heaven,” then Jesus will have us. He’ll ask, “Then why didn’t you listen to him and follow him?” But if we say, “John’s cleansing was only human,” the people will be up in arms because they think John was a prophet sent by God. (responding to Jesus) We don’t know what to tell You.
Jesus: All right, then don’t expect Me to tell you where I get the authority to say and do these things.
What do Jesus’ words mean for us today?
How many times do you get into one of those kinds of arguments with your non-believer friends? “Well, if God made everything in six days, what happened to the dinosaurs?” “If God is real, why can’t I see Him?” “If the story of Noah is true, then why hasn’t anyone found the ark after all these years?” “If God really cares about us, why doesn’t He stop all these bad things from happening to innocent people?” “If God only makes good things, then did He make evil? Does that mean evil is good?”
If you haven’t heard any of those, then you probably have your head stuck in the sand and just aren’t witnessing to anyone at all. You probably aren’t telling anyone you believe in God and the truth of His word. See, there are a lot of people who think they have the corner on the market on intelligence and will try to spin up all kinds of arguments that are pretty meaningless. There will usually be one person who thinks himself super intelligent leading the charge with spectators sitting on the sidelines to see what happens.
What happened to the dinosaurs? Don’t know. Don’t really care. The Bible doesn’t tell us because it’s not a science book. It’s the story of God’s redemptive plan for our salvation. Did God create everything in six 24 hour days? Don’t know. Don’t really care. The word we have translated day in most of our Bibles can be translated as day or time period. So is it the time it take for the earth to spin on it’s axis or the time it takes the earth the travel around the sun or the time it takes the sun to travel around the center of our galaxy? Don’t know. Don’t care. God spoke everything into place from nothing. That’s all the science we’re given because His word isn’t a science book. It’s the story of His redemptive plan for our salvation.
Can you see God? Well, can you see a black hole? Do you believe they exist? Why? No one has ever really seen one up close and personal. So how can anyone really say they exist? Can you see an electron? Do you believe they exist? No one has ever seen one of those, either, but quantum physics is based on the theory of their existence and behavior as negatively charged particles in atoms.
We pick and choose what we want to believe sometimes and those who choose not to believe in God have a lot more faith than I do. It’s a lot easier to believe God created all that we see around us and as an intelligent-designer put all the laws of physics and gravity and all things necessary to hold everything in place, than it is to believe it all just happened. That’s like believing I can put all the parts to a watch in a bag and by shaking it, eventually a running watch will fall out.
It doesn’t work that way. After you shake the bag long enough, it’s not a watch that falls out of the bag, but dust from all those parts banging against each other. Random coincidence can’t put together the universe. But God speaking into nothingness can.
So what do you say to those who want to start one of those stupid arguments with you? What do you do when the ones who think they are so super intelligent start spouting numbers and theories and scientific mumbo-jumbo to tell you there is no God and you must be crazy to believe that stuff.
First, pray for them. They need it. Second, if you feel you really must argue a point (which you don’t, by the way, Jesus didn’t), ask where everything came from originally? Then just keep pushing back, and where did that come from? And where did that come from? And where did that come from? Finally, you’ll probably get them to talk about the Big Bang. Everything started from a spark at the center of the universe. Ok. And where did that Big Bang come from? The Bible says, God spoke. Any better explanation? Squinty eyes, tight lips, gritting teeth. Argument over. Spectators on the sideline laugh at the smart guy.
Third, and this is the one I like best, don’t argue. Just remind them. One of us is wrong. If I’m wrong, no harm done. We’ll both die and there is no judgment, no accountability for our actions, no heaven or hell. We’ll both rot in a grave and turn to dust. If you’re wrong, there’s a pretty terrible price to pay for snubbing your nose at the God you say doesn’t exist. Spectators on the sideline get deadly quiet.
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