THE STORY OF JESUS: Mark 4:21-25 “Whoever has will be given more…” (Mark 4:25) In this context, Jesus is still talking about the result of God’s message in our lives. God wants to bring His goodness out into the open through us. To shine like a light in a dark world, to flourish like a bumper crop…
Category: daily meditations
Closed to God?
THE STORY OF JESUS: Mark 4:9-12 “Otherwise they might turn and be forgiven!” (Mark 4:12; quoting Isaiah 6:9-10) Why does Jesus want to hide His message in simple stories? He is quoting from Isaiah 6, when God calls Isaiah to be His messenger. But Isaiah’s message was a warning to a stubborn and rebellious people. They pretended to be…
What kind of soil am I?
THE STORY OF JESUS: Mark 4:1-20 “Others like seed sown on good soil hear the word and produce a crop.” (Mark 4:20) In this story Jesus shows how God’s message can fail to produce a good crop. Some people reject it right away, but many people receive it. But of those who receive it, not all of…
Holding on!
THE STORY OF JESUS: Psalm 124 “If the Lord had not been on our side, they would have swallowed us alive.” (Psalm 124:1,3) As a Jesus follower, I look for ways that He is at work in my life. The fingerprints of God, signs that God and Jesus are nearby. The psalmist thinks about all the times…
Wisdom is calling!
THE STORY OF JESUS: Proverbs 8 “To you, O people, I call out; I raise my voice to all mankind.” (Proverbs 8:4) Wisdom is accessible and available to all people. It is written into the very fabric of nature… God built it that way. If we take time to reflect on things, wisdom will reveal itself. But…
Cling to what is good!
THE STORY OF JESUS: Proverbs 7 “Bind them on your fingers; write them on the tablet of your heart.” (Proverbs 7:3) This passage is a warning about the seductive power of temptation. Although the temptation here is sexual, any form of temptation fits in. What is your weakness, what is the ‘bait’ that Satan uses in my…
Jesus’s missionary family!
THE STORY OF JESUS: Mark 3:31-35 “Whoever does God’s will is my brother and sister and mother.” (Mark 3:35) Jesus loves all people, but he loves in a special way those who obey God’s will. But who actually does this… we all fail to fulfill God’s will for our lives. But Jesus is announcing good news, that…
Open or closed to the Spirit?
THE STORY OF JESUS: Mark 3:20-30 “He is out of His mind!”… “He is controlled by Beelzebub!” (Mark 3:21-22) Jesus is warning those who reject what the Spirit is saying through Him. Their critical, closed-minded response to Jesus is closing them to God’s Spirit. What they see as crazy and wrong, what they reject as demonic… is…
Jesus picks me too!
THE STORY OF JESUS: Mark 3:13-19 “Jesus called to him those He wanted.” (Mark 3:13) Do you remember picking teams as a kid? I never got to be the one picking, and was usually one of the last picked. As captain, Jesus makes some odd picks, at least from a human viewpoint. Peter the big mouth, James…
When the church needs to be silenced!
THE STORY OF JESUS: Mark 3:7-12 “But he gave them strict orders not to tell others about him.” (Mark 3:12) Jesus silences the impure spirits, even though what they say is true. He knows that they are not good press, that they cause more harm than good. They want to whip up the crowds into rebellious frenzy,…