Mk14

Silence is a subtle form of denial. It's easy to say "I follow Jesus" at church, but what is my life and mouth saying outside of "church"? For most, the answer is nothing. We simple say nothing.

I often fault the disciples for being weak cowards! They were "big talkers" when talking with Jesus, but became weak and scared when questioned by a little girl! Their words and their actions were complete opposite. The very thing they said they would never do, became the first thing they did in the very next moment.

Unfortunately, this is not the exception, it is the rule. Most "christians" are reticent to identify with Jesus outside of a christian gathering. Jesus is rarely the topic of conversation or discussion. What He taught and practiced is rarely brought into everyday discussions. We care more about "how we feel" than "what Jesus said".

Silence is a form of denial. Don't be silent about what Jesus says today. Let's bring His words into our daily discussions.

Mk13

A fool waits until it is too late to start preparing for Jesus return! He is coming back. He said to "be ready".

I have two grandchildren coming in less than two weeks. I am growing more and more eager to meet them with each passing day. I know that they are definitely coming! I just don't know exactly when. The signs of their arrivals are getting more and more apparent to us all. My daughters and sons have their bags packed, the rooms ready, and all the appropriate preparations made. My wife has even booked her flights to France! We are definitely ready, even eager, for them to come. Maybe it will be today.

As surely as my grandkids are coming, so is Jesus' return. Each day brings His return one day closer. The first disciples who heard Him speak of His second coming, eagerly anticipated that He would return "soon". They were convinced that it would be in their lifetimes. How much more so should we live with expectation? How much more so should we, "ready ourselves"?

Jesus is coming back. Don't be a fool. Live ready.

Mk12

Do we give to God out of our "excess" or do we give to Him out of our gratefulness. Is our giving out of duty or is it out of delight or desperation?

I am always amazed to read that Jesus was actually watching people giving their gifts at the treasury. Apparently, he was using this time as a lesson in giving to His disciples. They were watching others give and He was making observations and giving them lessons. What were his disciples thinking? How would that make you feel? Both to be watching others or for others to be watching you.

In Jesus day, money was a big deal! It remains a big deal today. Jesus was questioned a lot about money and he taught more about money than almost any other subject. In this chapter we see two critical things about Jesus' view on money. First, money is to be used in the manner for which it was created. (i.e. paying taxes to Caesar) And second, giving to God should is a reflection of our relationship with Him.

Are we a person who constantly complains about paying taxes? Are we more grateful or bitter towards the government that God has placed in our lives? Are we generous towards God with all He has given to us? Do we only give out of our excess or is giving such a priority that we would give even if it was our last two pennies?

Money reveals our hearts. Let's don't fool ourselves.

MK11

If we don't forgive those who have hurt us, our prayers will be hindered! Jesus said, "if you don't forgive, neither will your Father in heaven forgive your wrongdoing."

The one thing I need more than anything from God is forgiveness. I needed it from birth. I needed it yesterday. I need it today. I will need it tomorrow! There has never been a day that I was not in need of Christ's forgiveness. I am so grateful that I have it. I am forever indebted.

Jesus teaches that understanding our need for forgiveness is the key to opening up our hearts to forgive. Multiple times he repeats this truth, "forgive and you will be forgiven". He also says, "don't forgive and you will NOT be forgiven." Is the bitterness we hold on to worth not receiving God's forgiveness? I think not.

Today's chapter talks about prayer. What are we praying that we still don't have? Is it something that God also wants us to have? Could it be that our prayers are being hindered because of our lack of forgiveness? Jesus taught His disciples to deal first with their bitterness and then seek God in prayer. 

Be a forgiver. It will make your prayer life more powerful.

Mk10

Selective hearing results from a hardened heart, not disfunctional ears! Jesus clearly told the disciples that He would suffer and die, yet they "could not understand" what He meant by these clear statements. There was nothing wrong with their ears. They misunderstood because of the hardness of their hearts.

What has Jesus clearly said to us that we still do not hear? Why do we continue to hear only what we want to hear when Jesus has made things perfectly clear?

In this chapter alone we see that:

1. God hates divorce, yet we continue to look for a way "out".
2. Jesus loves children, yet we often see them as a burden and annoyance.
3. Jesus call us to "give up everything" and follow Him, yet we want even greater wealth because we follow Him.
4. Jesus promises persecution for His followers, yet we are surprised when anything bad happens.
5. Jesus calls us to hard things without recognition, we want praise and recognition for doing small things.
6. Jesus modeled greatness in serving others, we think we are so great that Jesus should serve us!

God help us to "hear" what You are saying to us. Soften our hardened hearts so that we can follow You.

Mk10

To embrace Jesus as a truth speaker is to embrace the reality of hell. Yes, heaven is for real. But so is hell.

Jesus was not unclear in His instructions to His disciples. His desire was to "teach them" plainly that He was about to suffer, be murdered, and rise again from the dead. He was teaching clearly. They "did not understand" what He was saying. It wasn't because Jesus was not making it clear. It was because they could imagine this even being a possibility.

Today, few people actually believe in hell. We scoff at the disciples not understanding what Jesus was clearly teaching about his suffering, death and resurrection, yet WE reject His clear teaching on Hell. Jesus taught more on hell than heaven. He believed people would actually go there forever after they died. He taught that anyone who sins will suffer an eternal hell apart from faith in Him.

Don't just believe what you want! Believe what is true. Hell is for real. Everyone does NOT go to heaven.

Mk8

Many of us need a second touch from Jesus before we can see clearly! Ask Jesus to further the healing He has begun in our lives.

I love the story of the blind man that Jesus healed in this chapter. Jesus restored his sight, but he could still not see clearly. He was able to now see people but he said they "look like trees". Jesus touched him again and he was able to see "everything clearly."

Many of us are the same way. We know that Jesus has touched our lives and that he is the only One who can bring help and healing. We also continue to live in a way that is full of uncertainty and ambiquity when it come to actually seeing clearly and following obediently Jesus' desires.

I am praying that all of us would receive a clarifying touch from Jesus. We need more than one touch from Him in our lives. We need to see "distinctly" what He is calling us to and choose to fully follow Him. 

Mk7

"You completely invalidate God's command in order to keep your tradition!" -Jesus  

What religious thing or things are we currently doing that Jesus would frankly want us to stop? Are the religious activities in our life causing us to become more like Jesus? Are we growing in our knowledge of God? Are these activities increasing our desire to obey Jesus? What is the result of our "spiritual" endeavors?

The religious hypocrites of Jesus' day were experts in religious activity! In fact, they made these activities their job. Not only did those activities enable them to not have to think about God, they actually caused them to sit in judgement on God Himself! Eventually they would have Him crucified. That is messed up.

Are our external spiritual activities causing real change? If not, we are no different than these hypocrites. Just a newer version of the same old song. If the diet we are on is not helping us to lose weight, but actually makes us fatter, I suggest we change our diet.

 

Mk6

Does Jesus marvel at my faith or is He more amazed by my unbelief? I pray it is my belief that excites Him and not my lack of faith!

This passage always causes me to pause. Jesus was "not able to do miracles there,…because of their unbelief." Jesus was actually "amazed" by their unbelief! Imagine God being amazed at the lack of faith in the lives of people around Him. This is unthinkable. When we look at these passages we think, "how could they do that?!"

Yet, I wonder if God's amazement with me is more often with my lack of faith than my actual faith. I am more crippled by what I believe He won't do than I am motivated by what I believe He will do.

God give me faith that would cause you to be amazed! I are tired of You having to be amazed at my lack of faith!!! Forgive me.

Mk5

Jesus is Lord over every aspect of life: demonic power, sickness and death. In this one chapter we see His power manifested over all of these aspects of life.

Satan is a work in our world today. We might not experience his work to the same degree in which Jesus did (after all Satan knew who Jesus was and was determined to destroy Him), but certainly all of us has encountered someone or something in our lives that is pure evil. It seems as though Satan is continuing to gain ground in our culture.

We also seem to be overrun by sickness! The woman in this chapter exhausted the doctor's knowledge and her personal resources. Then she "touched" Jesus and was healed. Jesus still heals sickness. We should go to Him first!

As certainly as Jesus can cast out demons and heal the sick, He can still raise the dead! His concern is primarily with our spiritual death, not our physical death. Every day He is still raising people from the dead! He brings life where death had previously ruled.

We should lean into Jesus' power today for whatever situation we face. 

Mk4

Jesus' power was terrifying to His disciples! He often made them feel more fear than anything else.

When Jesus calmed the storm his disciples were fearful. It is exactly what they wanted Him to do, yet the power He demonstrated was terrifying to them. They knew He was amazing. They did not know just how amazing He was. They were often "in fear" of the things they saw Him do.

I wonder if we are ever "fearful enough" of Who Jesus is. How often do we feel afraid? Even when we are behaving in ways that we know He would hate, we rarely feel any fear. We fear others knowing what we really do. Jesus knows. I think our caviler attitude toward sin is rooted in a total misunderstanding of Who Jesus really is.

I don't think the disciples would have ever sought Jesus' grace over willful choices to sin! I think knowing Him kept them from sin. I believe knowing Him should keep all of us from sinning!

Mk3

An appropriate response to the reality of our culture should be both ANGER and SORROW. Anger because of the pervasive sin that continues to erode our morality and character, and sorrow because that is not what God intends.

Jesus was both angry and sorrowful at the cultural abuse of the Sabbath. It was intended to be a specific day set aside to rest and enjoy God. A day to honor Him fully and do good. But it became an opportunity for judgement and harshness! A religious set of rules that was completely were void of God Himself. 

In the religious leaders minds it was Jesus' violation of this "holy day" that caused them to want to destroy Him. His actions, though always loving and beneficial to others and honoring to God, were deemed as repulsive and damnable. How could He violate their religious traditions!

Today the "Sabbath" is honored by almost no one. Religious leaders or "christians". No one in our culture seems to believe that any day or any particular day should be set aside to honor and worship God. We should do the "God thing" only when it is convenient or when it benefits us personally. AND what we do for God should be as passive as possible!

Hmm. Maybe the Pharisees totally missed it! We know they did. Maybe we, as a culture, are missing it even worse! God help us stop worshiping ourselves and to start truly worshiping Him.

Mk2

The best thing you can do for a friend is to bring them to Jesus! We don't all have friends who are paralyzed physically, but we all have friends who are crippled by their sins and in desperate need of Jesus' healing touch.

Jesus' compassion on the paralyzed man was rooted in the faith of his friends. The text says, "When Jesus saw THEIR faith", He healed the paralyzed man. And notice how that healing came. Jesus said, "Son, your sins are forgiven." I don't know the connection between this man's handicap and his sin, but I do know the brokenness that always comes to my life through my own sin.

Two major points from this little story. First, God loves it when we bring our friends to Him. Who do we know and love that needs to be forgiven by Jesus? Are we doing what we can to bring them to Him? Secondly, sin always brings brokenness. Only Jesus can forgive sins and remove the devastation that it inflicts on our lives.

Look to Jesus today.

Mk1

Do we pursue Jesus to serve Him OR to be served by Him? Jesus is always popular when He is doing what we want Him to do for us, but how popular is He when He asks us to do things for Him?

Our culture is full of "conditional christians". That is the term I use for anyone who follows Jesus as long as it is good for them. Mostly they are looking to Jesus to meet their needs and to make their life easier. They get excited when Jesus teaches and acts in a manner that benefits them! They applaud Him in mass.

On the other hand, we see "true christians". These are the ones who have actually chosen to follow Jesus regardless of temporal reward. Don't get me wrong. Following Jesus is ALWAYS rewarded. Generally, the greatest rewards are not experienced until our life is finished. This is the pattern of scripture. This is the pattern of faith.

Do we follow Jesus for ourselves? Or are we following Jesus because He is who He says He is.

I believe. Therefore, I choose to follow. Period.

Mt28

Hear God's voice saying, "Good morning!" Respond like the first women who heard Him saying this, "They bowed down and worshiped Him."

In Matthew, Jesus' first resurrected words were, "Good morning!" Wouldn't it be awesome if every believer could invasion the voice of God each morning as they woke up. His second words were, "Do not be afraid. Go and tell My brothers…" 

All of us should wake up each day hearing the voice of Jesus. We should make our response to His voice an act of worship and obedience. Wouldn't it be awesome if every believer would make this the habit of their life? Wouldn't it be awesome if this was the pattern of our lives?

We are not prepared to fulfill the "Great Commission" of Matthew 28 until we have a pattern of hearing and obeying Jesus every morning. Get up and worship today.

Mt27

Being sorry is not the same as repentance! Judas was "filled with remorse" for what he had done, but he never repented! Instead, his sorrow drove him to more sin…suicide.

Paul taught the Corinthians, "Godly sorry brings repentance which leads to salvation with no regret, but worldly sorrow leads to death." Judas had betrayed innocent blood. His greed, pride and selfishness had driven him to commit an awful sin! He truly felt bad. Yet, his bad feelings, which were intended to bring repentance, led only to more sin! And death! Eternal death.

God has put a conscience in all of us to help us know when we have sinned. Sometimes we don't feel the weight or sorrow of the sin until after we have done it. The question is, "What do we do with the sorrow we feel"? Do we turn to God in repentance and faith or do we compound the sin with even more sin?

Don't be like Judas. When we sin, we should turn to God in repentance and faith. 

Mt26

Extravagance towards this world is wasteful. Extravagance towards God reflects true worship. What are we NOT doing for ourselves so that we can do more for God's kingdom. If we are being "wasteful", is it toward ourselves or God? Where we spend our treasure, reveals our hearts.

This chapter is packed with many events that capture our attention, but rarely do we ponder the life lesson in the first event mentioned in verses 1-16. It is the story of a woman who's life had been changed by Jesus. She gave Him a valuable gift in an extravagant way! The disciples were indignant! Jesus commended her act. Apparently, it was the final act of Jesus that put Judas over the top. He left from that event to cut the deal to betray Jesus!

Immediately after the disciples "talk" about how much they love Jesus and how loyal they will be even unto death. We all know how that worked out. Every one of them fled. Every one of them denied Jesus. They had the right words, but their actions betrayed them.

Once again, the side story is the story! The woman evidenced "true faith". She was the one who actually demonstrated that her faith was real. She was the one who was "doing for one of the least of these". It actually was Jesus in need. She gave her very best. Her gift was an act of worship.

Mt25

Are we being faithful with what God has entrusted to us? Are we giving anything to others because of Jesus?

The kingdom of heaven is about stewardship and generosity. We can't control the amount we have been given. We can control what we do with what we have been given. We have been given much and this chapter is about accounting! God will someday ask all of us to account for what we did with what we were given.

I want to be a faithful steward today. I want to invest my life in what matters. I want to be a generous man today. I want to give to any need that presents itself throughout the day. Who knows? Maybe today I will give a cup of water to "Jesus". Maybe today we will all give an account for what we were given.

Mt24

"Be alert, since you do not know what day your Lord is coming." Jesus is coming back. The table is set. Are we behaving in a way that would indicate that we are ready, waiting and wanting Him to return?

There is a television show, "caught on camera". I have never watched the show, but I believe it is about people doing stupid stuff that is caught on video. I can't imagine a show that people would actually watch if "being caught" meant doing acts of kindness! Why? Mostly because our secrets are not generally connected to righteousness, but rather to sinfulness.

Jesus said, "be alert", "be ready", I am coming back at a time that you least expect it! Faithfulness is reflected in the expectation that Jesus could return today. Do something today that would indicate we actually believe that. 

Live with expectation.

Mt23

Do we practice what we preach? If our kids turn out to be "just like us", will we be proud of who they become? Or, are we trying to teach them to become someone different than who we are?

The religious leaders of Jesus' day were masters at telling others what to do, while ignoring their own instruction. They followed carefully the letter of the law, but completely ignored the heart of God behind the law! With their words they honored God, but their lives were far from Him.

We all know people who are total hypocrites. We all struggle with hypocrisy from time to time. It is difficult to be the person we know we should be. We all want to do and be better. But what separates us from the average Pharisee? What makes our faith authentic and theirs fake? I would suggest two things; honesty and humility.

We need to encourage others and, at the same time, be honest about our own failures. We need to not take credit for any successes we experience, but rather, give glory to God. If it wasn't for Jesus, we would all be really messed up.