MARK 10:42-45 – And Jesus called them to him and said to them, “You know that those who are considered rulers of the Gentiles lord it over them, and their great ones exercise authority over them. But it shall not be so among you. But whoever would be great among you must be your servant, and whoever would be first among you…
Pleasing God, Making Disciples of Jesus Christ
Pleasing God, Making Disciples of Jesus Christ
Mark
MARK 15:16-20 – And the soldiers led him away inside the palace (that is, the governor’s headquarters), and they called together the whole battalion. And they clothed him in a purple cloak, and twisting together a crown of thorns, they put it on him. And they began to salute him, “Hail, King of the Jews!” And they were striking his head with…
A couple of things happen in the Christian life as one grows older and deeper in the Lord. These things are signs of spiritual maturity. The first one is we grow humble and realize how little we know of the Christian life. A second sign of growing mature in the Lord is taken from Jesus’ example in responding to Pilate’s accusations and applied to the amount of talk we do. Take a journey back in our Christian lives. Did conversations occur when we should have listened more and talked less?
How would you answer today’s nugget theme? You may respond along these lines; “My greatest privilege in life is being a Christian” or “My greatest privilege in life is knowing God.” And those are great Biblical answers, but I want us to go a little deeper. We may easily say, “My greatest privilege in life is being a Christian” and actually not be exercising that privilege. That isn’t a critical judgment. It is an assessment based on what Jesus said concerning end times, “And because lawlessness (sin) will be increased the love of many will grow cold” (Matthew 24:12). All genuine Christians fight the battle to maintain first love for Jesus. There is a reason why the Christian life is called a “fight, a race, the narrow way, and difficult”.
All of us want at least two things in the Christian life; spiritual growth in Christ and fruitfulness for Christ. And I would say we all want it fast; like now, like instantaneous, like immediate, like no waiting time. Nothing wrong with these desires. In fact, something would be really wrong if these desires were lacking in our lives. But here is where we often struggle. When we are going through tough times in life and don’t understand what God is doing, we find great comfort in these familiar verses found in Isaiah 55:8-9. These verses also apply in the process of God refining us into the image of His Son or spiritually growing us.
Today’s scripture was my portion of reading in my yearly Bible reading plan. It is familiar to all of us, but today, it jumped off the page with newness and clarity in its application. And the lessons are many and apply to all of us who are seeking to live for Christ. All of these lessons are in the context of “storms”, not a literal one as the disciples were encountering, but in the ones we face every day of life – emotional storms, spiritual storms, situational storms, relational storms . . . you may add a “personal storm” to the list. So, since these are realities in all our lives, let’s consider some valuable truths behind all our storms.