Father, what a day of blessings! Thank You for the opportunities given. Thank You for the ability and the strength to do what needed to be done. Thank You for Your sustaining grace. Amen.

Mark 12:35-37 (<<click to read the passage)

I have read or listened to passages of Scripture many times and it never ceases to amaze me how something that has been there all along will come to the forefront of my comprehension for the very first time in my recollection!

In today’s passage, Jesus once again is driving home the fact of Who He is. Once again, He is pointing out that those who should be in the know are out in left field and once again, they are so bound and determined to stick to their point of view! It is really sinking in how hard Jesus worked at driving home the truth and how stubborn and resolute those around Him were to not believe that truth. I guess I have just sort of passed it off as ignorance on their part – they just didn’t understand. But the problem was they had no desire whatsoever to understand! Their minds were made up and, you better believe it, they were not going to change them!

A couple allowed the truth to permeate their hard heads and hard hearts – but maybe those two – Nicodemus and Joseph of Arimathea – maybe their minds were open to the truth and the soil of their hearts were eager to welcome the multitudinous seeds of truth being planted by Jesus – who was the Messiah, who was who He said He was, in exactly the way He said He was.

So, Lord Jesus, I would earnestly pray that I am on the side of open minds and welcoming hearts to Your truth. Today so much that has been held as truth for…well for millennia, is being questioned. It is being cast aside as old and out of date per our enlightened mindsets of today! May I see through the charades that sound so convincing. May I avoid getting on the wagon just because everyone else seems to be getting on. But I would also plead for the courage to stand for the truth and I ask for the love and patience that must accompany it. Daily draw me close to You, that I may follow Your ways…that I may hear clearly when You call. Amen.

July 8th, 2019, Mon, 9:11 pm