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Mark 13-14 (ESV) by Wordle*

Today’s reading is Mark 13:1-14:72.

“Peter said to him, ‘Even though they all fall away, I will not’” (Mark 14:29).

I believe Peter was absolutely sincere when he made this promise. He could not possibly imagine any future event that would make him fall away from Jesus. He was ready to die with Jesus. There was no way he would deny his Master. I’m certain that is true because the guy who pulls out his sword in Mark 14:47 and struck the high priest’s servant was Peter (cf. John 18:10). Peter was ready to fight. He was ready to die. But he was only ready to die on his terms. When Jesus told him to put his sword away, he was confused. He couldn’t understand. He was ready to die in a fight, but it never occurred to him that death might come without a fight. He fled.

How many times have I said, “I’ll never do that”? How many times have I thought that there was some line I would never cross? How many times have I told God, “No matter what, you can count on me to avoid such and such”? Or how many times have I said, “Alright, God, I’ve got this figured out. I’ll never do that again”? How incensed I would get if someone suggested I needed to be a bit more humble. “Oh no, no matter what anyone else does, I’ll never do that (again). How dare you think that of me.” How puffed up with pride. How much I have tried to stand on my own feet. And it was as if Satan was just waiting for that opportunity so he could kick my legs out from under me.

I’ve had to learn some humility. God is teaching me to turn away from rash promises and rather to say, “By God’s grace, I haven’t done that yet. I pray that God will keep me from it.” That reminds me that I have to rely on God and His strength if I will keep from whatever it is. If I ever start relying on me, I realize I will do whatever it is I’m committed to not doing (cf. Romans 7:14-24).

So, today, I’m not making God any promises. Rather, asking God to fulfill His promise to me and grant me the strength to overcome.

Keep the faith today and keep reading,

ELC

PS. What struck you in today’s reading? Click here to add your input.

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*Today’s illustration was generated by the creative tool at Wordle.net. You can find all my wordles here.

Today’s reading is Matthew 17:1-18:35.

“Truly, I say to you, unless you turn and become like children, you will never enter the kingdom of heaven. Whoever humbles himself like this child is the greatest in the kingdom of heaven” (Matthew 18:3-4).

Jesus turns my life on its head. I spend too much time in a competition. Somehow, I learned the idea that I’m only okay in life if I’m accepted and approved by others. But I will only be accepted and approved by others if I’m the best and the greatest. That only leads me to misery and depression. After all, I can’t possibly be the best and the greatest at everything. Further, it destroys relationships because instead of seeing team players, I see competitors.

Jesus is trying to help me. True greatness doesn’t come through competition. True greatness comes through giving up the competition. True greatness comes through humility. When I quit worrying about how great I am, then I can be truly great.

Keep the faith and keep reading,

ELC

PS. What struck you in today’s reading?

Today’s reading is Mark 3:1-4:41.

“‘If anyone has ears to hear, let him hear.’ And he said to them, ‘Pay attention to what you hear: with the measure you use, it will be measured to you, and still more will be added to you’” (Mark 4:23-24).

I have ears; I need to hear. This is great. Jesus didn’t say if I was just one of a specially chosen few I could get it. He didn’t say I could try and try and try and maybe someday He might bestow a gift of understanding on me. Rather, He said if I pay attention and give diligence to what He has to say, more will be added to me. What a relief. I’m not spinning my wheels spending time in His word. If I pay attention to what He says, Jesus will bless me. If I blow it off and only take a dip in it every now and then, I probably don’t need to expect much. But what confidence I can have that if I focus on Jesus’ word, I will be blessed by Him and more and more will be heaped on to me.

I’m glad I’m spending time in His word, paying attention to what He says today.

Keep the faith and keep reading,

ELC

PS. What struck you in today’s reading?

Today’s reading is Colossians 1:1-2:23.

“In him also you were circumcised with a circumcision made without hands, by putting off the body of the flesh, by the circumcision of Christ, having been buried with him in baptism, in which you were also raised with him through faith in the powerful working of God, who raised him from the dead. And you, who were dead in your trespasses and the uncircumcision of your flesh, God made alive together with him, having forgiven us all our trespasses, by canceling the record of debt that stood against us with its legal demands. Tis he set aside, nailing it to the cross” (Colossians 2:11-14).

Thank you, God, for putting me to death. Thank you, God, for bringing me to life. But the greatness of this is seen in the verses to come. Because of God’s powerful working through my baptism, I know longer have to submit to the judgments of others who would weigh me down with shoulds and oughts. I simply live for God. I can let Him direct my paths without concern for what others think about how I live. I don’t have to belittle and berate myself. I don’t have to ascetically deprive myself. I don’t have to listen to every Tom, Dick, and Harry who claim to have some kind of spiritual insight or vision. I have been set free from the burdens others would place on me. I only have to live to God.

Boy, that makes today so much easier. Thank you, God.

Keep the faith and keep reading.

ELC

PS. What struck you in today’s reading?

PPS. Here is something that is a little fun. Thanks to Jason Hardin for bringing this to my attention.

Today’s reading is Philippians 1:1-2:30.

“…for it is God who works in you, both to will and to work for his good pleasure” (Philippians 2:13).

I can relax today. I don’t have to give myself ulcers worrying about how I’m ever going to be pleasing to God. I don’t have to fret that I’m just not ever going to be good enough for Him. He’s working on that. He is working in me both to will and to work for His good pleasure.

Part of me wants to rebel against that. Part of me wants to say, “NO! I will do this.” But a very real part of me has come face to face with exactly how badly it goes when I am trying to do this. I have failed again and again and again. Today, instead of failing, I can just give up. That’s right. I can quit. I can surrender. I can admit I am powerless and only botch things myself, so I’ll just have to surrender my life to God and let Him be in control, simply doing what He says.

No, this doesn’t mean I sit on my backside and wait for the cosmic puppet master to pull my strings. It means I can have confidence to work out my salvation with fear and trembling. Why? Because God is working in me. It means all I have to do is learn God’s will and surrender to that. My job is simply to do the next right thing. God is working in me. I can trust that He will get me where I need to go if I simply surrender to Him today.

Keep the faith and keep reading,

ELC

PS. What struck you in today’s reading?

Today’s reading is 1 Corinthians 8:1-9:27.

I was trucking right along through today’s reading. It was one of those days where I was in a “yeah, I’ve read that before” kind of mood (not a good Bible reading mood to be in). But the very last verse smacked me down.

“But I discipline my body and keep it under control, lest after preaching to others I myself should be disqualified.”

In the past, my big preaching problem has been thinking about how everything applies to my audience. I would seek out what their problems were and swoop in like a spiritual super hero trying to fix everyone else. How easy it is to preach and teach in the second person: you need to do this, you must stop that, you need to change. How easy it is to spend all my time trying to fix others. How easy it is to spend all my time trying to lead others.

There are two problems with that.

1.I can’t give what I don’t have.

This probably hit me because of the Bible class lesson I taught yesterday from Max Dawson’s excellent class book on Kingdom Leaders. We studied the life of Josiah who became king at 8, sought the Lord at 16, but didn’t start impacting change in Judah until 20. The whole point behind the lesson was before we can be an influence for good in anyone else’s life, we must first work on ourselves. We might think, “What was wrong with Josiah? Why didn’t he jump on it and get busy right away? Why wait four years?” Those four years were probably the most important part of Josiah’s life. If he hadn’t spent those four years seeking the Lord, he probably would not have been able to impact the change in Judah, squashing idolatry and renewing their covenant with God.

I can give what I don’t have. If I don’t work on me, then my second person teaching will be empty, hollow, impotent. I need to work on me first.

2. If I’m not maintaining me, I’ll be disqualified.

How easy it is to reach a certain level and think, “Alright, I’ve done my four years of seeking the Lord, I’ve got me under control. Now its time to start helping others.” This is a noble motivation and desire, but if I quit working on me, then I’ll end up disqualified. When I start thinking that I’m standing, that is when I’ll fall. If I don’t sharpen the spiritual saw each day, I’ll become dull and ineffective. It is so easy to think we’ve finally arrived and then quit really working on ourselves.

I’ve been told and I believe that we are like trees. If we quit growing, that means we’re dead. We may still be walking around. I may still be teaching in second person, but I’m not accomplishing anything and I’m rotting from the inside out. All it will take is one big, deadly gust of wind and storm to knock me over for all to see the rot.

I’m thankful for today’s reminder. I need to spend today working on me. If I do, God may use me to help someone else, but at the very least, He’ll be strengthening me to glorify Him and surrender to His Son. That’s what I want. I want to run the race. I want to win the prize. That means I have to start with me.

Keep the faith and keep reading,

ELC

P.S. What struck you in today’s reading?

Today’s reading is Romans 5:1-6:23.

What a great reminder I received today:

“Let not sin therefore reign in your mortal body, to make you obey its passions. Do not present your members to sin as instruments for unrighteousness but present yourselves to God as those who have been brought from death to life, and your members to God as instruments for righteousness. For sin will have no dominion over you, since you are not under law but under grace” (Romans 6:12-14). 

Paul goes on to ask if we should sin because we are under grace and the answer is “By no means.” 

Paul gives a great reminder. I’m under grace now, but that doesn’t mean I can keep submitting myself to sin. Sadly, some become Christians and act as if that means any sins we commit are just wiped clean. They forget the power of sin. Sin destroys and dominates. If we have been set free from sin by Jesus Christ, let us not willingly surrender ourselves to sin again. If we think we can control and enjoy sin now that we are Christians, we are very much mistaken.

Today, instead of presenting my members to sin to obey its lead, I must submit myself to righteousness to obey its command. Since I am under God’s grace, I can actually accomplish this. Apparently, if I’m just under law, presenting myself to righteousness doesn’t work quite as well. However, since I am under grace I can live in such a way that sin won’t have dominion over me. Thanks be to God through Jesus Christ who delivers me from the enslavement to sin that I so willingly walked into throughout my life.

But again, that freedom doesn’t mean sitting on my thumbs and just waiting for God to take my sins away. It means surrendering to His righteousness (that comes by faith in Jesus Christ). That’s what I’ll be working on today–surrendering to Jesus’ righteousness.

Keep the faith and keep reading,

ELC

P.S. What did you get from today’s reading?

Today’s reading is Revelation 1:1-2:29.

I’m going to branch out a bit and cover some things in Monday’s reading as well. Regrettably, the way the reading schedule falls it divides up the letters to the seven churches of Asia and today I simply have some questions and thoughts about those seven churches.

First, I can’t help but notice the contrast between the church in Ephesus and the church in Pergamum. The Ephesians hated the work of the Nicolaitans. The Pergamumites, Pergamumonians, whatever, allowed those who held to the teaching of the Nicolaitans to be members of the congregation. I wonder if the the Christians at Ephesus ever talked about the Christians at Pergamum. Of course, they might not talk about them directly, but in hushed undertones. They might talk about them in veiled allusions. They might talk about how pitiful the church at Pergamum was. After all, Ephesus must have committed, godly, faithful members. They were enduring patiently and bearing up for Jesus’ name’s sake. They most definitely had distinctive preaching and strong leaders who would not allow error to creep its way in. They even tested men who claimed to be apostles. They wouldn’t put up with false apostles.

I can easily see how the Ephesian church would look at Pergamum and see them as a weak and flailing congregation. Surely no one should be a member of that pathetic church when they could be part of a strong congregation like Ephesus. And yet, Ephesus had a problem. They had left their first love. They weren’t actually as great as they thought. In fact, they weren’t really any better than Pergamum. They had different problems, but they had problems nonetheless. Both were in danger of discipline from God. What both needed to do instead of looking out at other churches, was work on their own internal problems, correcting them.

What I learn from this is that I shouldn’t sit on my high horse about how much better my congregation is than other congregations. Maybe we aren’t the dead church or the lukewarm church or the left its first love church or the in fellowship with error church (then again, maybe we are). But we have our problems. We need to look inside and work on us.

Now to the questions. I don’t know how often I get asked by people, “When should I leave a church?” Perhaps you have been asked the same question. Surely if something is being taught or being practiced that is a sin, we should go. That seems like a no-brainer. And yet, I can’t help but notice both Thyatire and Sardis. Thyatira was in fellowship with Jezebel. That can’t be good. She was a false prophet. She was seducing Christians to practice sexual immorality and eat things offered to idols. I assume that means they were doing this in a way to serve idols. Surely I should leave any church that is in fellowship with a false prophet seducing Christians to commit sexual immorality. And yet, what did Jesus say to those who didn’t hold her teaching? “I do not lay on you any other burden. Only hold fast what you have until I come.” What’s up with that?

Then there is Sardis. This is a dead church. They have a reputation for life, but they are deader than a coffin nail. Their works were incomplete and they were about to die. However, there were a few who had not soiled their garments. What did Jesus say to them? Did he advise them to leave and find a church like Smyrna or Philadelphia? Actually, he didn’t say anything to them other than that they would walk with him in white for they were worthy. What’s up with that?

So, here’s my question. Are we asking the wrong question when we ask when we should leave? Maybe the right question is how do we stay and help strengthen the church we’re in. What do you think?

***Question: What do you do to help strengthen the church you are in?

Keep the faith and keep reading,

ELC

Today’s reading is Mark 13:1-14:72.

I find Mark 14:8 very comforting. Jesus said about the woman who anointed His head with costly ointment, “She has done what she could.” That is a real key for me in serving God. God doesn’t expect more of me than I can do. I may not be able to do what others can. I don’t have to. I only need to offer God who and what I am, offering what I can. 

When I understand this, I can quit comparing myself to everyone else. I can quit beating myself up for not having the talents and accomplishments of others. I am where I am right now by the grace of God and all I need to do today is offer to God what I am today. Most definitely, He’ll make more out of me and my ability will increase and I will be able to increasingly give more to God. But all I have to do right now is what I can do right now.

Certainly, I need to be honest. There are days when I like to deceive myself into believing I can’t do more than I’m doing. I cannot take comfort in that. However, when I am honest with myself I can take comfort that God is not going to hold me up next to you and say, “Edwin, why didn’t you do what ___________ did?” 

That is comforting.

***Question: What other scriptural principles comfort you in your service to God?

Keep the faith and keep reading,

ELC