Posted on March 5, 2014
#44: Knowing When to Walk Away
Some time ago, a friend confronted me. The uncomfortable exchange ended badly. I couldn’t persuade her that she’d misunderstood a situation. Hours, days, weeks later, I was still going over the conversation in my mind, wondering what more I could have said. I’d find myself thinking about her at odd moments, wishing the outcome had been better. Attempts to contact her were rebuffed. Sadly, I reached a point where I had to let it go, to walk away.
Did Jesus ever face that type of situation? What can we learn from His example? Welcome to Knowing Jesus, our study of Jesus’ life through Mark’s gospel.
Read Mark 8:11-13. Then read Matthew 16:1-4 for a different view. Read More
Posted on February 26, 2014
#43: When God Gives a Repeat Performance
Recently, a minister preached on a verse that caught my attention because I’d read it earlier that morning in my devotions. The next day, the same scripture was “Verse of the Day” on my favorite Christian radio station. Then a friend posted on Facebook a beautiful picture featuring—you guessed it!—the same verse.
Have you ever experienced one of God’s “repeat performances” when He brought a truth before you several times in rapid succession? That’s the time to say, “Lord, I recognize this. What are You trying to say to me?”
If you’ve been following this study Knowing Jesus, you’ll recognize today’s account as a “repeat performance.”
Pick up your Bible and read Mark 8:1-10.
A few weeks ago we read the “Feeding of the Five Thousand”—the only one of Jesus’ miracles found in all four gospels, an indication of its impact and importance. Today, we read about Jesus providing a second feeding for thousands, known as the “Feeding of the Four Thousand.” Why the repeat? What did He want His disciples to learn? What did He want the crowds to learn? What does He want us to learn?
There’s obviously more than one possible lesson, and your answer may differ from mine. But I can see at least three lessons.
Posted on February 19, 2014
#42: A Golden Exchange
Welcome to Knowing Jesus, our study of Jesus’ life viewed through the lens of Mark’s gospel. As the Word made flesh (Jn. 1:14), Jesus came to “speak” or express God in human terms—to demonstrate how God would live as a man, partly so we can see how to live like God and partly to cover our failure to do so with His own righteousness.
In Him, we learn
• God-like priorities
• God-like treatment of our fellow man
• God-like management of difficult issues like temptation, anger, and betrayal
• God-like use of our time
• God-like surrender to divine will in a timeless plan that benefits all, not just self
• and much, much more.
Jesus came to be a living model of perfect godliness, without a single sin or flaw. If we want to be godly, we can confidently follow His example. The better we know His life, the more we understand what ours should be.
Read Mark 7, then read its final verse a second time.
Posted on February 12, 2014
#41: Hearing-Impaired Disciples
A customer stepped up to my counter, and I greeted her with “Hi! Can I help you?” As soon as she began to speak, I recognized the distinctive guttural sounds of a hearing-impaired person. She struggled to make me understand what she needed, and I struggled to get her meaning. I wanted to be helpful and she knew it, but the barrier was great.
Finally, she pulled out a pad of paper and wrote several words of explanation. I pointed her in the right direction. As she walked away, I wondered how many times a day she navigated the frustrating process of life in a hearing world.
Her daily challenge helps us appreciate the difference Jesus made in the life of a man who needed to hear. Welcome to Knowing Jesus, our study through Mark’s gospel. Glad you’re here! Read More
Posted on January 29, 2014
#39: Living From the Heart
If I ask twelve Christians to give me a list of the ten most sinful things fellow Christians do, I will get a dozen different responses. Oh, there will be two or three common items. But one person’s idea of right-and-wrong will not be the same as another’s.
For instance, while one brother can with clear conscience have a glass of wine with dinner, another will find it completely unacceptable. One believer may consider Halloween taboo for Christians, while another happily creates costumes for her kids to trick-or-treat. One may have devoured every Harry Potter book while another thinks that’s dabbling in darkness. All are sure their position is the right one. We each have our own set of standards. We easily forget that only one set of standards really counts.
Welcome to Knowing Jesus, our Wednesdays In The Word study through the gospel of Mark. Today, we’re going to look at a group of people who promoted their way as the only right way and who held their followers in a spiritual strait-jacket for centuries. Then we’ll see Jesus’ opinion on the matter! Read More
Posted on January 22, 2014
#38: Creating Time
When our two oldest sons were small, on one exhausted day I’d slipped into the bathroom and locked the door. I sat down on the edge of the tub, wanting just a minute alone. Then I saw two sets of little fingers wiggling under the door and heard a giggled whisper, “We know you’re in there, Mommy!” It’s cute and funny now, but on that day it made me want to cry! Ever been there?
Welcome to Knowing Jesus, our study of Mark’s gospel. I’m glad you’re with me on this journey to learn all we can about the One we hope to be like.
Read Mark 6. Then, if possible, review it once more in a different version.*
In this chapter, we see Jesus at the height of His popularity. With it came heightened pressures. Everywhere He was, people came running with needs, requests, demands. No matter where He went or what solitary place He tried to find (vs. 32), the ever-present crowds clamored for His attention. Read More
Posted on January 15, 2014
#37: Crisis Faith or Constant Faith?
Where were you on 9/11? Most people recall with crystal clarity where they were when the first hijacked plane hit the World Trade Center. Most also know where they were on the first Sunday after 9/11. Churches all over America posted record attendances on September 16th. People who hadn’t attended for years had a sudden urge to be in church. They were scared, and they instinctively sought God.
I’m told, by those old enough to remember, that the same feeling came over America following Pearl Harbor. Funny how crisis—whether shared by millions or our own personal trauma— awakens us to our need for God. In our most hopeless moments, we run toward hope. Otherwise we so easily doze spiritually, though we need Him just as desperately on an ordinary day as on a 9/11 day.
Jesus’ coming brought a sense of hope to the hopeless. Everywhere Jesus went, people ran to Him. Sometimes they ran ahead of Him, so they’d be there when He arrived (Mk. 6:33).
Pause for a moment to read Mark 6:53-56. Also read Luke 6:17-19. Then, check out Jesus’ disappointed words in Matthew 11:20-24.
Notice in Mark 6:53-56 why people came running; they came bringing their sick. Personal crises in the form of infirmity (whether illness or demon-possession or chronic disability—being blind, deaf, or lame) drove them to Jesus because they’d heard He could heal them. (Some may also have heard that they might get a free fish dinner!) But what happened, according to Luke 6:17-19, when crisis wasn’t an issue?
Matthew Henry wrote, “We do not see that they were desirous to be taught by Him, only to be healed. If ministers could cure people’s bodily diseases, what multitudes would attend them! But it is sad to think how much more concerned most of men are about their bodies than about their souls.” (Proof comes with one look at a church’s prayer list, full of physical needs but empty of spiritual ones.)
Desire Born of Desperation
When was the last time we really prayed, really dug in to the Word, really ached for Him to speak? For most of us, the answer would be connected to some dilemma: when a child was sick, when a cancer diagnosis loomed, when a job was lost, when plans fell apart, when a marriage was crumbling, when a teen rebelled.
But when life is peaceful, when the pressure’s off, what happens? Do we still pray, still dig in to the Word? Do we still hunger for His presence? On a post-9/11 Sunday, we may have been on high alert, spiritually. But on a normal Sunday if He walked into our church services, we’d say, “Nice to meet you,” yawn, and go back to reading the bulletin! We pray for Him to be among us when He already is. If by chance our eyes were opened and we could suddenly see Him, I guarantee most of us would run to Him with our most pressing physical needs.
True Desire
How does He want us to come to Him? With undivided hearts that seek Him all the time, not just in frantic moments. He yearns for people who have constant faith, not crisis faith, for people who understand what their deepest need is. Listen to the longing of God: “I will give them an undivided heart and put a new spirit in them; I will remove from them their heart of stone and give them a heart of flesh. . . . They will be my people, and I will be their God.” (Ezek. 11:19-20) Not just in crisis. All the time, forever.
Our prayer should match the Psalmist’s. “Give me an undivided heart, that I may fear your name. I will praise you, O Lord my God, with all my heart; I will glorify your name forever. For great is your love toward me; you have delivered me from the depths of the grave.” (Ps. 86:11b-13) Lord, give us undivided hearts!
© Diane McLoud 2013
Posted on January 8, 2014
#36: 100% Power!
Many years ago, I was asked to sing at a Christmas Eve service. For weeks in advance I practiced a song I loved, excited at a chance to sing it. Then on the Sunday before Christmas, that song was sung by someone else. Disappointed, I began searching for a different song. I remembered an arrangement I’d learned the previous year and pulled it out, thinking, “It’s an unusual take on Christmas, but it might have to do.”
On Christmas Eve I sang my song, then took a seat as our minister began to speak to the large crowd packed into our building. Within seconds I understood: God had chosen the song He wanted me to sing. It fit the sermon like a glove, giving the service a cohesive message about Christ. I sat there in chills, knowing that God had been in the details, directing my choice. This may seem like a small thing to you, but I still feel the thrill of knowing God had used me.
Have you seen God move in an extremely personal way to show you His power, His involvement in your life, His desire to use you?
Take a few minutes to read Mark 6:45-52. Also check out the companion passages in Matthew 14:22-33 and John 6:16-21.
Jesus had just fed a huge crowd in a very public miracle witnessed by thousands. His next miracle would be quite different—a private miracle that would take place in the middle of the night, seen by only His twelve disciples. Read More
Posted on January 1, 2014
#35: Trust Without Borders
How far do I trust God? Have I ever had one single moment of true faith that had no boundaries? That’s the challenging issue raised in Oceans, a wonderful song by Hillsong United that’s based on Peter’s walk across the water toward Jesus.
We’re very comfortable with natural laws and physical limitations, so much so that we never think outside them. Therefore, our “trust” is usually grounded in what we know is conceivable. But the real thrill of faith (and its true nature) is when the inconceivable happens. For a brief moment, Peter left behind the possible—and he walked on water. Do we get that? He walked on water.
In today’s study, we’ll see the disciples faced with a moment that required trust without borders, trust that left behind the possible. Pick up your Bible! Read More
