Mark 10 -- We Believers Do WHAT???

The world tries to inject its own logic oftentimes rather than encouraging us to obey God.  The Pharisees asked Jesus a question about divorce that was designed to anger some faction no matter HOW He answered it.  But rather than entering the current debates, He directed them back to the creation account, my commentary said.  "God Himself had established marriage and He has the right to make the rules ... Mark 10:9 warns us that man cannot separate those who have been united in marriage, but GOD can ... A divorce may be legal according to our laws and yet NOT be right in the eyes of God.

He expects married people to practice COMMITMENT to each other and to remain true to each other."

 

Another crazy episode followed.  The disciples told parents to STOP bringing their kids to Jesus!  What were they THINKING??  It's much the same as parents today grounding their kids from coming to YOUTH!

 

Jesus then told His disciples that He would die in Jerusalem, where they were headed.  What do His disciples do?  James and John ask for a FAVOR -- they wanted THRONES on each side of Him!

 

Again it happened -- They were walking towards Jerusalem and the crowd warned a blind man to be quiet and not bother Jesus!  Instead, He called for Bartimaeus and healed him.  What had they been THINKING??

 

Followers of Jesus doing the unthinkable, firmly believing that they were SINCERE in their duties, but they were SINCERELY WRONG!

 

Father, I pray that You will intervene if I am ever in such a position.

Don't allow me to find myself doing what these people were doing -- hindering Your work.  Open my eyes and my heart and change my thinking.

 

Your Brother In Christ,

 

Gary Ford

Mark 9 -- All Together In One Boat

One of the greatest revelations of the New Testament occurred here, when Moses & Elijah appeared with Jesus and Jesus' glory was unveiled to Peter, James, and John.  They heard God say, "This is My Son, whom I love.  Listen to Him!"  Yet right after that, several unfortunate things happened.

 

When they returned to the other disciples, they found a great crowd gathered and the teachers of the law picking a verbal fight with the other disciples because they hadn't been able to cast out a demon from a boy.  Jesus stepped in and ordered the demon out.  When the disciples asked why they had been unable to do so, Jesus replied that this type of spirit can only be forced out by prayer.  Since Jesus hadn't prayed before forcing out the spirit, my commentary indicated that they had been careless in their own personal spiritual walk and had neglected prayer and fasting.  That certainly makes me want to improve my prayer life!

 

As they walked to another place, Jesus noticed the disciples were arguing about something, and He later asked what was going on, but they DIDN'T answer Him!  (They had to have known that He knew!  Why hide it?)  They were arguing about who among them was the greatest.  So Jesus told them that whoever wants to be the most important must be last of all and servant of all.

 

Wanting to be the most important sounds like pride is an issue, and if so, it needs to be dealt with.  So perhaps the best way Jesus knew to do so was to tell them to become like a servant, putting yourself last.

 

Finally, I noticed the disciples telling someone "not in their group" to stop casting out demons in Jesus' name.  Jesus' answer was, "Don't stop him ... whoever is not against us is with us."  "He went on to explain the danger of causing others to stumble and therefore STOP serving The Lord.... The disciples did not get along with each other, nor did they get along with other believers!" my commentary said.

 

Jesus knew their hearts.  He knows OUR hearts, too.  It is vitally important in His kingdom today to make sure, first, that we know our own hearts the way He does.  We also need to make certain that we operate on a servant basis as He taught them.  And we also need to remember that their IS danger in causing others to STOP serving The Lord because of our own actions.

 

Father, help all of us to examine these things in our hearts and lives.  Remind us that we all are part of one kingdom, and there is only one King.

 

Your Brother in Christ,

 

Gary Ford

Mark 8 -- Losing Your Soul

Jesus asked the disciples who people thought He was.  It’s apparent from the answers He received that “they had opinions instead of convictions,” my commentary said.  Peter rightly said Jesus was the Christ – Messiah.  But because Jewish tradition focused on the reign of Messiah, Peter then told Jesus to stop talking about His death on the cross!  My commentary said, “They were following Satan’s philosophy (glory without suffering) instead of God’s philosophy (suffering transformed into glory).”

 

When Jesus talked about giving up their lives to have true life, He was talking to His disciples, “men who had already confessed Him as the Son of God.  He was not telling them how to be saved and go to heaven, but how to save their lives and make the most of their opportunities on earth.  Losing your soul is the equivalent of wasting your life, missing the great opportunities God gives you to make your life count,” my commentary added.

 

Father, thank You for showing me that, and for giving me incredible opportunities to show You to others!  Don’t let me waste a single opportunity!

 

Your Brother In Christ,

 

Gary Ford

Mark 7 -- The Complainers And The Hopeful

The interactions Jesus had with the Pharisees remind me all too much of the nagging complaints I often hear from older church members about traditions not being maintained at church.  What I read in my commentary just about covered them:  “True worship must come from the heart and it must be directed by God’s truth, not man’s personal ideas.”  It also contrasted man’s traditions with God’s truth:

 

Man’s Traditions                                                              God’s Truth

Outward forms – bondage                                          Inward faith – liberty

Trifling rules                                                                       Foundational principles

Outward piety                                                                   True inward holiness

Neglect and replace the Word                                   Exalts the Word of God

 

I really liked what my commentary had to say about the Syrophoenician woman.  Jesus had mentioned that He was to be spiritually feeding the children (Israel) first and not throwing their food to the little pet puppies.  She replied that puppies do on occasion get to eat crumbs.  “It must have rejoiced His heart when she took His very words and used them as the basis for her plea!  She accepted her place, she believed His Word, and she persisted in her plea, and Jesus not only met her need but commended her for her faith … Great faith is faith that takes God at His Word and will not let go until God meets the need.  Great faith can lay hold of even the slightest encouragement and turn it into a fulfilled promise.”

 

Father, help me to remember that Your promises are Your enablements, and help me to lay hold of them and not let go.

 

Your Brother In Christ,

 

 

Gary Ford

Mark 6 -- A Little Too Familiar

Jesus had returned to His hometown of Nazareth, where He’d spoken once before.  Again He entered the synagogue and began to teach.  About His words they said, “Where did this man get these teachings?  What is this wisdom that has been given to Him?”  What He said stirred their hearts, but what they saw didn’t:  “He is just a carpenter, the son of Mary and the brother of James, Joseph, Judas, and Simon.  And His sisters are here with us.”  Mark adds,  “So the people were upset with Jesus.”

 

They’d watched Him grow up.  They knew His family (and we often forget that He had quite a large one).  They felt that He was being “uppity” with them, knowing that He’d never had formal religious training.  So they scorned Him, not for His words, but because they felt He was too much like them.  That meant that they were in actuality scorning themselves, feeling themselves unworthy of a visit from God Himself.

 

Mark then says, “So Jesus was not able to work any miracles there except to heal a few sick people by putting His hands on them.  He was amazed at how many people had no faith.”

 

What caused this failure?  Certainly Jesus’ power from God had not diminished.  It was the lack of faith exhibited by people who knew Him well.  So faith must play a huge part in the miracle business.  If we do not expect, then it’s not likely to happen.

 

I think we also must be careful not to let familiarity cause us to get too cozy in our relationship with him.  Yes, He is our dearest friend, but He is also the Holy Son of God – our Savior.  And we must always keep that at the forefront of our thinking.

 

Father, I thank You for giving me a Savior who is closer than a brother.  But keep reminding me that He is also the One who created all things.  Let me never presume upon His friendship or His grace.

 

Your Brother In Christ,

 

Gary Ford

Mark 5 -- Are They Still Really Out There?

“When Jesus got out of the boat, instantly a man with an evil spirit … ran to Him, and fell down before Him.”  It’s amazing that a possessed man would run to Jesus when the demons inside him were saying, “What do You WANT with me, Jesus?”  They had been controlling the man, but somehow, deep down inside, the tortured man’s soul caused him to run to the only One who could help.  Immediately Jesus granted him release from the demons who had controlled him and he was instantly back in his right mind.  His natural inclination was to follow the One who’d set him free, but Jesus wouldn’t let him.  He said, “Go home to your family and tell them how much the Lord has done for you and how He has had mercy on you.”  He wanted the man to start to bear fruit for the kingdom rather than just basking at the feet of the Savior.

 

I think we tend to dismiss the thought of evil spirits today, but God’s word has not told us that they’ve all been banished from human bodies.  After reading This Present Darkness, I began to understand that they could be the cause of our besetting sins, sent to cause just enough trouble to keep a Christian knocked off-center.

 

Father, help us to know.  Just as You did in that day, make it clear if we’re fighting Satan or simply unwilling to give up an old part of our lives.  Help Your children to see the true enemy so that he can be defeated.

 

Your Brother In Christ,

 

Gary Ford

Mark 4 -- Now Who Am I In This Story?

I have an etched stone outside of my window that says, “We sow the seed.  God produces the harvest.”  That’s important to remember while reading Jesus’ parable about the four types of soil.  Otherwise, we might find ourselves (as I once did) caught up in just why God would plant seed on a road!

 

Our job is to plant seed wherever we can.  God is the One who prepares and conditions the soil of each heart, enabling the seed to grow if it is meant to.  We don’t decide where to do the planting.  Our job is solely to scatter the seed, which is the Word of God.

 

I think it’s also important to remember that at some point someone else was scattering seed that landed on our hearts – seed that led us to where we are with God today.  If our hearts are the fertile soil, then perhaps we have a question to ask ourselves – are we the 30-times-more, the 60-times-more, or the 100-times-more field?  We have some responsibility in that, and Jesus addressed it in verses 24-25:  “The way you give to others is the way God will give to you, but God will give you EVEN MORE.  Those who have understanding will be given more.”

 

Jesus then gave them “a practical test to see how much they had really learned,” my commentary said.  These experienced fishermen headed across the lake in a boat, yet soon found themselves in fear for their lives in the middle of a storm.  They were in the storm because of their obedience to God, my commentary made sure to note.  Despite the fact that Jesus had promised they were going to the other side, the fact that Jesus was with them, and the fact that Jesus was perfectly at peace in the storm, the disciples were disturbed.  “Jesus slept because He was truly secure in God’s will … The greatest danger was not the wind or the waves:  it was the unbelief in the hearts of the disciples.  Our greatest problems are within us, not around us … They’d seen Him perform miracles and yet they still had no faith.  It was their unbelief that caused their fear, and their fear made them question whether Jesus really cared.  We must beware of an evil heart of unbelief.”

 

Father, this parable was about us as sowers, but it was also just as much about the condition of our own hearts to determine our level of belief in Christ, for that level helps to determine how effective we can be in sowing Your word in the lives of others.  Help me in my moments of unbelief.

 

Your Brother In Christ,