Wednesday, December 23, 2020

Mark 7:31-37

Mark 7:31-37 
The Message 

  Mark's Gospel is fascinating for many reasons, one of the many being the urging of people to keep quiet the miraculous things Jesus is doing.  Jesus is healing the deaf and mute -- there is no way word won't get out!  The people were thrilled with excitement, and so they told everyone about the miracles being performed -- the Pharisees must have been beyond frustrated with every additional story that was told.
  How do you tell the story about what Jesus has done for you?  Do you have a clear concept in your mind about how Jesus has intervened in your life?  Can you think of the ways you have been changed?  Sometimes I wonder if the decline of the church in America isn't partially due to the inability of Christians to talk about the things Jesus has done for them.  Maybe we're too fixated on salvation of the individual and have lost the focus on how the salvation of one impacts an entire community.  Maybe we've put too much emphasis on the benefits of faith after death and haven't focused enough on how faith should impact our day-to-day lives -- we're called to pick up our cross and die to ourselves daily.  Maybe we don't look at our resources through a sacrificial mindset, focused on how we can give what we have.  
  Just as Christ reaches out his hands to this man, Christ reaches out to you.  May we tell our story, for no matter if you have been in the church since birth or wandered every road and only recently found the Christian way, it is a dramatic story of Christ conquering sin to claim you as Christ's own forever.

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