Wednesday, August 23, 2023

Mark 4:10-13

Mark 4:10-13 
English Standard Version 

  I could never see the pictures in those Magic Eye books.  I tried -- I read the instructions and held the books at the right distance and tried to focus my eyes... but it never worked.  Not once.  It was right in front of my face, but I never could see through the picture to what was beyond.
  Sometimes, it seems like Jesus was painting pictures with words that were like the Magic Eye.  There was a story, but there was another story behind it, and you had to listen with your ears and with your heart to truly understand what Jesus was trying to say.  He was painting a picture of a God of grace and glory, but it was so easy to be focused on what we've always known and miss the new story Jesus was telling.  
  We're often in the same boat today.  We think we know everything, and so we listen with our ears, but our hearts and attention may be drifting elsewhere.  We're focused on the next thousand things we have to do, and we're not really expecting God to say anything new anyway, so we float along.  
  May the Holy Spirit wake each of us up, and may we spend our time wisely with God.  God wants us, body and soul, to be focused on the mercies of God, which are new every morning.  May we be amazed and delighted, refreshed and renewed, and discover that the more of God we receive, the more we want.  

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