Thoughts From the Bible

Mark 8: 34- 3 5 -   ‘ When He  had called the people to Himself, with His disciples  also, He said to them, “Whoever  desires  to come after me, let him deny himself, and take up his cross, and follow me. (35) For whoever  desires  to save his life will lose it, but whoever loses his life for My sake and the go spel’s will save it.”’   Jesus is showing the disciples and the people listening to Him the level of dedication they should have to be considered a follower of Jesus. Jesus is telling the peo ple they need to live their entire lives according to the standards and principles Jesus taught. This commitment was not to be taken  lightly,  and it was not something that was compartmentalized in their lives.  Belief in Jesus must be the predominant part of their lives.  I need to realize the same thing. My person view of my life and the world around should always go through the lens of Jesus Christ and His principles.  This...

M ark 8: 31- 33-   Jesus was sharing with the disciples the events that would be unfolding in the next few days so they would be prepared. Doing this also showed the discip les Jesus knew what would happen before it happened. Jesus, as the Son of God of the universe, was giving the disciples precise instructions.  Verses  31 through 33 says,  ‘(31) And he began to teach them that the Son of Man must suffer many  things and  be rejected by the elders and chief priests and scribes, and be killed, and after three days rise again.  (32) He spoke this word openly. Then Peter took Him aside and began to rebuke Him. ( 33) But when He had turned around and looked at His disciples, He rebuked Peter saying, “Get behind Me, Satan! For you are not mindful of the things of God, but the things of men.”’   In the world we live in, I think I should be more ready to repeat the words of Jesus and quickly say, “Get thee behind me, Satan!” The temptations of this wor...

Mark 8: 27- 30-   ( 27)  ‘ And Jesus went on with His disciples to the  villages  of Caesarea Philippi. And on the way He asked His disciples, “Who do people say that I am?  (28) And they told Him, “John the Baptist; and others say Elijah; and others, one of the prophets.” (29 ) And He asked them, “but who do   you say that I am?” Peter answered Him,  “You are the Christ.” (30) And He strictly charged them to tell no one about Him. ’   Mark  made this exchange a short  passage,  but the impact was huge. Jesus wanted to make sure the disciples knew who He was. Why? Jesus knew the disciples would be key in the advancing of His message in the future.  Jesus knew the disciples would face many trials while preaching about the kingdom of God and Jesus wanted to hear from them what level of commitment they had in  their souls. I need to be ready at any time to be prepared to tell anyone that Jesus Christ was the Son of the living...

Read Mark 8: 22- 26- I looked at completeness previously and how Jesus met the complete needs of people. Jesus took the blind man in this passage of scripture a nd  gradually restored his sight. Verse 25 says this,  ‘Then Jesus laid His hands on his eyes again; and he opened his eyes, his sight was restored, and he saw everything clearly.’   When the man first opened his eyes, his focus was not  good,  but when he stayed with Jesus, Jesus brought back the man’s sight. My lesson from this short passage is that I need to stay close to Jesus  in order for  my spiritual eyes to be clear.  We see  so many people in society jump to conclusions and make assumptions about  situations,  but they do not stay close to the subject and learn the truth of the who l e subject.  If I am going to work on having a Biblical worldview, one that focuses on Jesus and His principles, I  have to  stay close to Him so my view of life will be ...

Mark 8: 14- 21-   Jesus had to remind the disciples to not be influenced by people who were not speaking the truths of God. Verses 14 through 17 show us how important Jesus thought it was to remember how He works in our lives,  ‘ (14) Now they had forgotten to bring bread, and they had only one loaf with them in the boat. (15) And He cautioned them, saying, “Watch out; beware of the leaven of the Pharisees and the leaven of Herod.”  (16) And they began discussing with one another the fact that they had no bread. (17) And Jesus, aware of this, said to them, “Why are you discussing the fact that you  have  no bread?   D o you not yet perceive or unde rstand? Are your hearts hardened? ’  As I go through my busy life, I need to remember how Jesus has worked in my life. I need to make sure I praise Him for His hand and know that He will continue to care for me regardless of the situation.  The disciples may have been a little dense in how Jesus is goin...

Mark 8: 11- 13-   (11)   The Pharisees came and began to argue with Him, seeking from Him a sign from heaven to test Him. (12) And He sighed deeply in His spirit and said, “Why does this generation seek a sign? Truly, I say to you, no sign will be given to this generation.” (13) And  He left them, got into the boat again, and went to the other side.   Wouldn’t  it be awesome if Jesus  walked into your church this Sunday morning and delivered the Sunday morning sermon. What if you prayed for  help with a problem at work and Jesus appeared and said this is what you should do ? Wouldn’t you simply love a physical, visible realization of Jesus? The Pharisees had this. They saw Jesus’ hand heal people. The Pharisees saw Jesus cast d emons out of people. They also saw Jesus be respectful of all the people regardless of their position of life. His  three-year  ministry did nothing but show them signs of who He was.  They did not acknowledge wha...

Read Mark 7: 31-37-   Jesus healed another man. Verses 33, 34 and 35 say this, “And taking him aside from the crowd privately, he put his fingers into his ears, and after spitting touched his tongue. And looking up to heaven, he sighed and said to him, “Ephphatha,” that is, “Be opened.” And his ears were opened, his tongue was released, and he spoke plainly.”   We have read about another person who Jesus healed. We see in scripture many people healed by Jesus. What we don’t see is Jesus healing the people the same way each time. Jesus does not not work in our lives the same way all the time. Jesus knows what is right for us in our situations. I know I want to prescribe how things can be fixed in my life but Jesus knows better what is best in our individual lives. We have to learn to trust Jesus for the best ways to work in our lives. Proverbs 7: 1-3 - My son, keep my words and treasure up my commandments with you; keep my commandments and live; keep my teaching as the apple o...

Read Mark 8: 1- 10-   Jesus was concerned about the people who were following them. He knew they needed to eat before  they  began trips back to where they lived . When Jesus prayed and was able to feed all the people verse 8 tells us of His completeness,  ‘And they ate  and were satisfied. And they took up the broken pieces  left over  seven baskets full.’   My lesson for today is that I need to be more like Jesus when I am working to help someone.  I need to make sure I am looking beyond just what is  apparent  and see if there are any other associated needs  and find ways to help with those needs also. Jesus worked to  provide  complete answers for the people, and I need to make sure I am not tunnel visioned and look to help others completely.    Proverbs  7: 4-5-   (4)   Say to wisdom, “You are my sister,” and call insight  your intimate friend,  (5)  to keep you from the fo...

  Mark 7:24-30 -  This mother was desperate. Her desperation was for a very good reason. Fighting Satan in a loved one can be nothing but terrifying. This mother knew where she could get the help her daughter really needed. Verses 27, 28, 29 say, this, “ And he said to her, “Let the children be fed first, for it is not right to take the children’s bread and throw it to the dogs.” But she answered him, “Yes, Lord; yet even the dogs under the table eat the children’s crumbs.” And he said to her, “For this statement you may go your way; the demon has left your daughter.” The key lesson in this short passage for me is the humility the mother showed when she would accept the least of Jesus’ grace. Jesus honored the mother’s humility. I want to make sure I stay close to humility and know Jesus honors a humble heart. Proverbs 6: 34-35- For jealousy makes a man furious, and he will not spare when he takes revenge. He will accept no compensation; he will refuse though you multiply gi...

  Mark 7:17-23 - Jesus became very clear when He spoke with the disciples. Verses 20 through 23 says, “ And he said, “What comes out of a person is what defiles him. For from within, out of the heart of man, come evil thoughts, sexual immorality, theft, murder, adultery, coveting, wickedness, deceit, sensuality, envy, slander, pride, foolishness. All these evil things come from within, and they defile a person.” This is quite a list of bad behaviors. We need to be careful. There are some people who are working to change the definitions of some of these behaviors, but we need to make sure we look at this list through the lens of scripture. Changing societal acceptance of behaviors does not change their context in scripture. Proverbs 6: 32-33 - He who commits adultery lacks sense; he who does it destroys himself. He will get wounds and dishonor, and his disgrace will not be wiped away.”

  Mark 7: 14-15- ‘ And He called to Him again and said to them,”Hear me, all of you, and understand; there is nothing outside a person that by going into him can defile him, but the things that come out of a person are what defile him.”’   The religious leaders of the time had extensive lists of things the people could do and things the people could not do. Part of that list focused on what food could be eaten and what food was considered unclean. Jesus pointed out to the people listening what was important was how a person behaved and how they treated other people. This had to be a lesson Jesus thought was very important because he mentioned several times about God’s principles and our behavior was what was important, not all the man created rules and regulations. We need to pay attention in scripture when Jesus repeats lessons. Proverbs 6:30-31 - People do not despise a thief if he steals to satisfy his appetite when he is hungry, (31) but if he is caught, he will pay seven...

Read M ark 7: 9- 13-   This section of the chapter is a continuation of the first part of the  chapter,  and it again shows the religious leaders placing too much emphasis on tradition rather than the established principles of God.  Verses  11, 12, and 13 say,  ‘But you say, “If a man tells his father or his mother, “Whatever you would have gained from me is Corban”’ (that is, given to God), then you no longer permit him to do anything for his father or mother, thus making void the word of  God by your tradition that you have handed down. And many such things you do.” ’   Some traditions develop for good reasons but can become more important to some people than the principles of God and Jesus is cautioning us to not lose sight of  His principles. I need to make sure I am examining what I am doing in my life and what I am emphasizing in my life.  Am I doing things that those in my sphere think is important or am I doing things that Jesus ...