While there are several items that I could write upon in this reading I want to share with you the text/story that my heart was most drawn to…
“‘Jesus went out from there and *came into His hometown; and His disciples *followed Him. 2 When the Sabbath came, He began to teach in the synagogue; and the many listeners were astonished, saying, “Where did this man get these things, and what is this wisdom given to Him, and such miracles as these performed by His hands? 3 Is not this the carpenter, the son of Mary, and brother of James and Joses and Judas and Simon? Are not His sisters here with us?” And they took offense at Him. 4 Jesus said to them, “A prophet is not without honor except in his hometown and among his own relatives and in his ownhousehold.” 5 And He could do no miracle there except that He laid His hands on a few sick people and healed them. 6 And He wondered at their unbelief.” -Mark 6:1-6a
The verse of this story that really struck me was verse 5 then explained in verse 6a.
“And He could do no miracle there except that He laid His hands on a few sick people and healed them.” Mk. 6:5
Now I don’t know about you but those sound like miracles…and not to shabby ones at that. No miracle other than just a ‘bit of healing.
Why would Mark sound so nonchalant about this? It is because we see in verse 6a what Mark and I am sure what Jesus saw as the true miracles of great note…
“And He wondered at their unbelief.” -Mk 6:6a
What is unbelief or rather belief related to most directly in the scriptures?
“He who has believed and has been baptized shall be saved; but he who has disbelieved shall be condemned.” -Mark 16:16
“But as many as received Him, to them He gave the right to become children of God, even to those who believe in His name,” -John 1:12
“so that whoever believes will in Him have eternal life.” -John 3:15
“For God so loved the world, that He gave His only begotten Son, that whoever believes in Him shall not perish, but have eternal life.” -John 3:16
“He who believes in the Son has eternal life; but he who does not obey the Son will not see life, but the wrath of God abides on him.” -John 3:36
“that if you confess with your mouth Jesus as Lord, and believein your heart that God raised Him from the dead, you will be saved;” -Romans 10:9
“In Him, you also, after listening to the message of truth, the gospel of your salvation—having also believed, you were sealed in Him with the Holy Spirit of promise,” -Ephesians 1:3
Belief in the examples above and many more in scripture directly tied to salvation.
So when I read in Mark 6 that “Jesus could do NO miracle there” but then I clearly read that Jesus did do some miracles there I have to ask myself then what is really the important miracles?
And the answer in verse 6a comes, “He wondered at their unbelief” and suddenly I realize the miracle that was lacking in this town which was the priority of Jesus and His disciples, was the miracle of true heart change. The miracle of salvation!
Now can I apply this at a level to us in our modern world. Jesus still served these people, He healed many after all. But He left disappointed and there is even a level of condemnation over this town for not having believed in Jesus.
We are still to serve the our communities no matter what their response is. We see that Jesus did that. But far too many churches celebrate doing good deeds of service like it was the pinnacle of our calling. The pinnacle of our calling is to bring salvation to our fellow man/woman. So we should serve, no matter what, but we should never celebrate or be satisfied, or pat ourselves on the back if it doesn’t help lead people to Jesus!
That is what the Holy Spirit has communicated to my heart in this story of Mark 6.
I pray you have a blessed week and let us all serve…but let us also work for the salvation…the true miracle…in others lives!
Tomorrow’s Reading: 1 Corinthians 11 & 12
There are some very powerful insights in this reading from the book of Jeremiah. It begins with a beautiful call upon Jeremiah’s life.
The best line in the calling is,
“Do not say, ‘I am a youth.’ -Jeremiah 1:7a
This line does not just apply to youth’s it applies to all people. Replace the word, “youth” with whatever your excuse is, my excuse is and it applies to us all…
It is a call for us all!
Chapter 2 and verse 5 is a powerful question!
“What injustice did your fathers find in Me,
That they went far from Me
And walked after emptiness and became empty? -Jer. 2:5
Israel has sinned and God through Jeremiah is asking them to give them evidence for what cause they had to pursue anything in life other than God.
What evidence do we have against God for our wanderings away?
I know I have none!
Several times throughout these 6 chapters we are reminded that the judgments that are coming upon Israel and Judah are a result of her own choosing. They have nothing to do with God’s choosing.
“Have you not done this to yourself
By your forsaking the Lord your God
When He led you in the way?” -Jer. 2:17
And it is not even just because they sinned. We are sinners, God understands that…listen to why the judgment is coming upon them…
“Behold, I will enter into judgment with you because you say, ‘I have not sinned.’ -Jeremiah 2:35b
We should all remember that the final judgment is not God saying “I can’t forgive sin,” it is God allowing the consequences of sin we have not asked Him to remove to destroy us.
Yes God was upset by their sin, but judgment came not because of sin, but their unwillingness to recognize they had sinned. We see this restated in chapter 3…
“‘Return, faithless Israel,’ declares the Lord;
‘I will not look upon you in anger.
For I am gracious,’ declares the Lord;
‘I will not be angry forever.
13 ‘Only acknowledge your iniquity,
That you have transgressed against the Lord your God
And have scattered your [j]favors to the strangers under every green tree,
And you have not obeyed My voice,’ declares the Lord.” -Jeremiah 3:12 & 13
“For I am gracious…ONLY acknowledge your iniquity…”
Why in part did the people not acknowledge their sin? The leaders of the people…
“They have lied about the Lord
And said, “Not He;
Misfortune will not come on us,
And we will not see sword or famine.” -Jeremiah 5:12“An appalling and horrible thing
Has happened in the land:
31 The prophets prophesy falsely,
And the priests rule on their own authority;
And My people love it so!
But what will you do at the end of it?” -Jeremiah 5:30, 31“For from the least of them even to the greatest of them,
Everyone is greedy for gain,
And from the prophet even to the priest
Everyone deals falsely.
14 “They have healed the brokenness of My people superficially,
Saying, ‘Peace, peace,’
But there is no peace.” -Jeremiah 6:13, 14
Some may ask why are the people punished due to the wicked guides?
Notice in that middle passage…
“And My people love it so!”
The people were not without blame because they embraced the excuse for their sinful ways. They wanted a rationalization and their spiritual leaders gave it to them.
The last quote Jeremiah 6:13, 14 hits too close to home in our modern world. There is too much superficial healing going on in the spiritual world when disaster and great trial are just around the corner.
And we can see in our world as in the world of Jeremiah. We see it currently with those who are embracing candidates that should make us blush. We see it in the TV we watch that should make us blush. The war we hear about that should make us aghast. We are becoming a society like that in the day of Jeremiah…
“They were not even ashamed at all;
They did not even know how to blush.” -Jeremiah 6:15b
We’ve become so acculturated to sin we almost don’t even know “how to blush” anymore.
Jesus come soon!
Tomorrow’s Reading: Mark 5 & 6
What can I say about this reading other than the chapters were short? 🙂
There was one phrase that I loved after Job’s explanation of God’s works,
“Behold, these are the fringes of His ways;
And how faint a word we hear of Him!
But His mighty thunder, who can understand?” -Job 26:14
I love that first line,
“Behold, these are the fringes of His ways”
I think when I question what God is doing it would be good to go out look up at the stars (harder to do here in the DC area 🙂 ) and remember “these are the fringes of His ways” and then just trust!
Tomorrow’s Reading: Jeremiah 1-6
Oh that I could go back and advise my teenage self of this and he would listen,
“Be not envious toward wrongdoers…Trust in the Lord and do good;
Dwell in the land and cultivate faithfulness.
4 Delight yourself in the Lord;
And He will give you the desires of your heart.” -Psalm 37:1b, 3, 4
I know I did and many others are envious towards wrongdoers because they believe the wrong is what will ultimately give them the desires of their hearts. Oh how mistaken I was!
How true this is…
“Do not fret; it leads only to evildoing.” Psalm 37:8b
Psalm 38 has some interesting lines and it shows that yes the righteous, the saved, those that walk with God still struggle with sin…
“For I am ready to fall,
And my sorrow is continually before me.
18 For I confess my iniquity;
I am full of anxiety because of my sin.” -Psalm 38: 17, 18
But then…
“But my enemies are vigorous and strong,
And many are those who hate me wrongfully.
20 And those who repay evil for good,
They oppose me, because I follow what is good.” -Psalm 38:19, 20
So which is it?
Sinner or you follow what is good?
Maybe both.
And now a quick music video from my youth based on Psalm 36
Tomorrow’s Reading: Job 25 & 26
I wonder what the time frame was of the stories in 1 Samuel 11 to 1 Samuel 13 because Saul went from,
“But Saul said, “Not a man shall be put to death this day, for today the Lord has accomplished deliverance in Israel.” -1 Sam. 11:13
to this,
Samuel said to Saul, “You have acted foolishly; you have not kept the commandment of the Lordyour God, which He commanded you, for now the Lord would have established your kingdom over Israel forever. 14 But now your kingdom shall not endure. The Lord has sought out for Himself a man after His own heart, and the Lord has appointed him as ruler over His people, because you have not kept what the Lordcommanded you.” -1 Sam 13:13,14
Very quickly it seems by the narrative.
Saul illustrates how quickly power can corrupt. He went from a man that didn’t even want the position to a man that felt he could pick and choose which parts of God’s instruction were absolutely necessary…he went from a man giving God all the credit to a position of not even realizing when he was making himself god over God!
Tomorrow’s Reading: Psalms 36-38
We’ve come to the end of the wonderful book of Genesis. One of my favorite books in all of the Old Testament. All the great themes of love and redemption are found in this book along with many of the great struggles that we would see and do see repeat themselves in the history of humanity.
In this reading today two things really caught my attention:
The reaction of Joseph’s brothers after their father’s death. Joseph had long ago forgiven them, he had already shared with them that he believed God used their wrong to actually save lives, yet they still feared he would hold revenge against them. Their fear and misunderstanding of his character so hurt Joseph the Bible tells us,
“And Joseph wept when they spoke to him.” Genesis 50:17b
Joseph though did not get angry, he told them to not be afraid and “he comforted them and spoke kindly to them.” (50:21b)
I see in this a type of Christ. How many misunderstand the character of God and through Christ we see in fact the true character of love and forgiveness. Also just as we put Jesus on the cross with our sins, God used this act to save many lives…all that will accept the gift. Joseph is a pre-cursor to just such a truth,
“As for you, you meant evil against me, but God meant it for good in order to bring about this present result, to preserve many people alive.” -Gen. 50:20
The second thing that stuck-out to me in my reading was what Joseph asked of his family just prior to his death,
“Then Joseph made the sons of Israel swear, saying, “God will surely take care of you, and you shall carry my bones up from here.” -Gen. 50:25
No matter what success Joseph had in Israel which was just about the most human success a person could have. Joseph never forgot where his true home was. May we no matter our blessings and successes on this earth, never forget where our true home is…not this wicked world!
Tomorrow’s Reading: 1 Samuel 11-15