An old story tells of a desert nomad who awakened in the middle of the night. He lit a candle and began eating dates from a bowl beside his bed. He took a bite from one and saw a worm in it; so he threw it out of the tent. He picked up a second date, took a bite out of it, and found another worm. He threw that date out of the tent too. Then he picked up a third date, took a bite out of it, and found another worm. He threw that one away also. He was very hungry, and reasoning that he wouldn't have any dates left to eat if he continued, he blew out the candle and quickly ate the rest of the dates. Many of us are like that. We prefer the darkness and denial to the light of reality.
As I read the New Testament passage today I was reminded and amazed how we can be so stubborn. How can we refuse to follow Christ when His love and authority are so apparent? In the book of Mark chapter 15, we see four very basic traits of our human nature that hinder us; cowardice, fear, ridicule and opposition.
Cowardice (Mark 15:1) - "they bound Jesus, led Him away" The Jewish leaders had not only made false accusations about Jesus but they were afraid to kill him themselves and decided to hand him over to Pilate. His popularity had grown so fast and with so much evidence of power they felt the only way to silence Him was to kill Him. Has God ever intruded into your life with so much evidence that you begin to deny his presence?
Fear (Mark 12:12-15) - "Crucify Him" Pilate and many of the crowd were honestly curious and even convinced that Jesus was the savior but feared the leaders and crowds. Do the cares of this world sometimes grow loud in your life, shouting around your life questions? Will we succumb to the fear and shout with them?
Ridicule (Mark 12:29-30) - "Those who passed by hurled insults at Him" We may not see Jesus hanging on a cross and shout at Him every day but have we ever doubted the testimony of others? Have you ever seen or heard someone share what God has done or is doing in their life and walked away shaking your head in disbelief?
Opposition (Mark 12:32) - "He saved others," they said, "but He can't save Himself!" Many times we oppose the work Jesus is doing because He is not doing it the way we want Him to do it in our lives! We can acknowledge He is the Christ, that He has the power to save or move in our lives, but He just doesn't know HOW!!! If He would just listen to US!!! He might have done a good job in that other person's life, but we know what's best for our life.
Can I share the good news? The mistakes that we and the people in this passage made did not stop Jesus from doing anything He wanted to do! Jesus still died on that cross. Jesus was buried and rose again on the third day. Jesus loves all of us in spite of our faults and failures.
Let us come before a merciful God today with a thankful heart and grace filled eyes. May any mistakes we make today be forgiven and washed away. Guess what? You may be involved in a miracle today!Blessings,
Pastor David
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