Don’t Fight Fire with Fire!
On my morning hike, Father, I heard all kinds of birds. I recognized very few and only saw one that I can recall. As I sat here reflecting, it made me think of You and the ways You work in my life. Sometimes I recognize Your presence. I know You are there, but so often I have to just trust by faith, believing that You are there. Thank You for always being with me.
Mark 5:21-43 (<<click to read the passage)
In the second portion of this passage, Jesus’ mission is to bring life back to a 12-year-old girl. When He arrived, the “professional” mourners were already doing their thing. (This was a culturally accepted practice.) He proclaimed, “Why all this commotion and weeping? The child isn’t dead; she’s only asleep.” v39
The crowd laughed at what they believed to be His foolishness. My Life Application Study Bible brings to mind some interesting thoughts.
“Jesus tolerated the crowd’s abuse in order to teach an important lesson about maintaining hope and trust in him. Today, most of the world laughs at Christ’s claims. When you are belittled for expressing faith in Jesus and hope for eternal life, remember that unbelievers don’t see from God’s perspective.”
In today’s society, followers of Christ seem to be outnumbered. I believe that there are far more of us than we realize to some degree. Unbelievers are just more vocal and have a readily accessible platform to broadcast their unbelief – media, movies, television, the music industry, etc.
Unfortunately, there are some believers who are vocal as well, that do not reflect Christ in His fullness when they retaliate. Hatred and contempt are the attitudes that are loudly projected.
There is a fine line between standing up for what we believe to be true and attacking others because they don’t believe as we do. Fighting fire with fire, in this case, is counterproductive.
In this passage in particular, is Jesus verbally abusive? Do we see him retaliating with a voracious vengeance? No. He made them all leave but he very clearly understood that they did not see from His perspective.
Lord Jesus, may we stand strong in the truth. But may we also always be about pointing others to You, by responding like You, instead of driving others from You, by responding as humanity does. Fill us with Your love. Fill us with Your wisdom. Guide and direct us, I pray, for truly they do not see from Your perspective. Amen.
“Fighting fire with fire only gets you ashes!” ~ Abigail Van Buren (Dear Abby)
Mar 18th, 2019, Mon, 11:31 am
Unworthy…but Chosen
Red amongst the brown tells me life is still out there. A cardinal perched in the brush along the property line, Father, tells me that though much of what is in my view it lies dormant, that life still thrives. The intricacies of my world enthrall me!
Mark 5:21-43 (<<click to read the passage)
In these verses, we have a two for one special! Jesus is heading to the home of Jairus to aid his dying daughter and in the middle of it all someone else is healed!
This poor woman had been suffering from a bleeding disorder for as long as Jairus’ daughter had been alive – 12 years! (That’s a long time to suffer but a short time to live!) The woman had done absolutely everything possible to find a cure for her problem, spending all she had and even with that effort, she was worse off than when it had begun.
The Law labeled her as ritually unclean (Leviticus 15:25-27). She would have had limited social interaction because of it but her last ray of hope was Jesus. Her faith was such that though she may have been hesitant to speak with Him, she thought to herself, “If I can just touch his robe, I will be healed.” v28 And she was!
Lord Jesus, how many are hesitant to make contact with You? I know of an individual who thinks that they are unworthy to even step into a house of worship. They feel they have crossed the uncrossable line one too many times. But, Lord, You keep no record of wrongs! Your blood covers all sin! Yes, we may be unworthy – but we are chosen!
My mind goes to Psalm 103:12 but as I looked it up, I couldn’t help but note the verses around it!
8 The Lord is compassionate and merciful,
slow to get angry and filled with unfailing love.
9 He will not constantly accuse us,
nor remain angry forever.
10 He does not punish us for all our sins;
he does not deal harshly with us, as we deserve.
11 For his unfailing love toward those who fear him
is as great as the height of the heavens above the earth.
12 He has removed our sins as far from us
as the east is from the west.
13 The Lord is like a father to his children,
tender and compassionate to those who fear him.
14 For he knows how weak we are;
he remembers we are only dust.
Lord, Your deepest longing is for us to reach out and touch You! You want to heal! You want to forgive! You want to love! May our lives be a constant communication of these, Your passions! May we be ambassadors of healing, forgiveness, and love – all in Your mighty name! Amen!!!!
Mar 17th, 2019, Sun, 5:53 pm
The Rest of the Story
Today is going to be a long one, Father. Karen will be busy at school through early evening. May I be a good steward of the time You have given me. Amen.
Mark 5:18-20 (<<click to read the passage)
Wouldn’t it be great if we could pull a “Paul Harvey” and hear the “rest of the story”?
As He was stepping into the boat, the [Gentile] man who had been demon-possessed was begging with Him [asking] that he might go with Him [as a disciple]. Jesus did not let him [come], but [instead] He said to him, “Go home to your family and tell them all the great things that the Lord has done for you, and how He has had mercy on you.” So he [obeyed and] went away and began to publicly proclaim in Decapolis [the region of the ten Hellenistic cities] all the great things that Jesus had done for him; and all the people were astonished. vs18-20 AMP
What kind of impact did this man have? How many were touched by his testimony of what Jesus had done for him? One thing that is a bit astonishing is the fact that “he [obeyed and] went”. So many other times those Jesus had healed didn’t do what they were told, but this man did. Wouldn’t you think that his reputation proceeded him everywhere he went? His scars alone would have given him the opportunity to share his story and that would have given him a platform to share what Jesus did for him.
We will not know until eternity what exactly became of him and his obedience but nothing done in Jesus’ name and with a heart given over to Him will return void. It bore fruit of some sort, we just don’t know exactly what…yet!
Lord Jesus, may we all be willingly enthusiastic as this man was to fulfill Your calling upon of lives. May we be about Your work at every moment of every day. Use the gifts we have, multiply their impact, may our scars and the stories they tell bring You glory. And may they bring people to You, as we share who You are and what You mean to us! Amen.
Mar 14th, 2019, Thurs, 9:43 am
Scars
Father, I love when You give me inspiration. I love when Your Word inspires me. I love when life inspires me. I am so blessed by You! May I always use the gifts You’ve given me to bring You glory!
Mark 5:1-20 (<<click to read the passage)
What do we look like spiritually? If we are forgiven, we are clean but we all have scars, I would think. It would be very unusual for us to get through our physical life without a few scars. I have my fair share – nothing big or in any way dramatic but I have them. So why wouldn’t I have scars spiritually?
Many scars are from poor choices. On my right index finger, I have a scar that is roughly a half inch by a quarter inch in size. Shortly after we moved into our home, in attempting to cut a plastic bucket in half I shaved a dime-sized part of my finger off. It needed stitches. I have a scar. And it was because of a poor choice.
In today’s passage, Jesus came upon a man possessed by an evil – or unclean – spirit. “…and the man lived in the tombs, and no one could bind him anymore, not even with chains.” v4 Every time they tried to bind them, he just broke the chains and shackles.
“Night and day he was constantly screaming and shrieking among the tombs and on the mountains, and cutting himself with [sharp] stones.” v5
Can you imagine his scars? How long had this been going on? Over and over again… Jesus rid him of his legion of demons and he returned him to his right mind. He was clean and clothed and sane but what about the scars? I’m sure both physical and spiritual scars remained but he was whole once more.
And just as we have stories to go with our physical scars, we have stories to go with our spiritual ones as well.
For those who have read my blog, you are familiar with my story. In short, I struggled to live a victorious spiritual life – and I have the scars to prove it. But, praise the Lord, He finally got through to me and I started journaling and out of that journaling came More the Useless.
I share my story. I expose my scars so that others may know that we serve a mighty God who loves us and empowers us to, each and every day, serve him faithfully with all of our might.
We all stumble. We all fall. There is not one of us who doesn’t. Let us encourage one another with our scars and the stories that go with them. We can be victorious!
“Little children (believers, dear ones), you are of God and you belong to Him and have [already] overcome them [the agents of the antichrist]; because He who is in you is greater than he (Satan) who is in the world [of sinful mankind].” 1 John 4:4 AMP
(If you would like to read the story about the young lady in my picture, click on this link. https://www.vogue.it/en/photography/photostories/2018/04/05/behind-the-scars-by-sophie-mayanne/
Of all places, it is from a photography campaign in Vogue Magazine entitled Behind the Scars by Sophie Mayanne. This young lady’s story is found on slide 16.)
Mar 13th, 2019, Wed, 10:10 am
Dangers of Neglect
What a beautiful late winter morning! Just a few things starting to pop up with an inch or two of green and the sun is shining brightly. Thank You, Father, for Your caring touch in every season and in between!
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This is a picture of a structure on County Road 194 on my bus route. I don’t call it a home because obviously it has not been inhabited for a long time – except for maybe mice, raccoons, squirrels, spiders and the like. In fact, I would guess that it has been many years since people lived here.
At one point, it probably provided shelter for a growing family or an elderly couple – many meals were had, many dreams were dreamt, many a tear was shed and many a smile could be found…but no more.
It now shows years of neglect – gaping holes, missing windows, crumbling foundation. Beyond maybe some weathered wood, there would probably not be much salvageable.
So, the home we live in, we have inhabited now for almost 30 years. But it is not the same building in which we moved in. We have invested a fair amount of time and resources into it. In that time, we have replaced windows, the roof, the furnace, carpeting, cabinetry, some plumbing and electrical. We have cleared more land around the house. We have planted. We have uprooted. We have dug. We have filled. We have done quite a bit with it and to it.
Many years ago, I invited Jesus to take up residence with me in life. I am not the same person I was so many years ago. I was young and malleable at the time but honestly many of the things that I chose to do with my life, things that were a part of the original “structure” have been improved upon, they’ve been replaced. Jesus accepted me where I was but has enabled me to be what I am – He knew from the very beginning the potential I had.
But I have to be constantly alert to His direction. Yes, I can ignore it but there could be dire consequences. A faulty outlet or burst pipe in a home could be quite disastrous, as can be a detrimental habit or unhealthy relationship in my life.
If I am not diligent in maintaining my relationship with Jesus, my life will eventually start to show signs of neglect. I don’t dare let my foundation crumble.
Lord Jesus, continue to be the Great Architect of my life. You are truly the Master Builder and You know what is best for me, to be all that I can possibly be. For I am surely more than useless!
Consequently, you are no longer foreigners and strangers, but fellow citizens with God’s people and also members of his household, built on the foundation of the apostles and prophets, with Christ Jesus himself as the chief cornerstone. In him the whole building is joined together and rises to become a holy temple in the Lord. And in him you too are being built together to become a dwelling in which God lives by his Spirit. Ephesians 2:19-22 NIV
Mar 12th, 2019, Tues, 9:39 am