Not Ashamed

And He summoned the crowd together with His disciples, and said to them, “If anyone wants to come after Me, he must deny himself, take up his cross, and follow Me.  For whoever wants to save his life will lose it, but whoever loses his life for My sake and the gospel’s will save it."  

"For what does it benefit a person to gain the whole world, and forfeit his soul?  For what could a person give in exchange for his soul?  For whoever is ashamed of Me and My words in this adulterous and sinful generation, the Son of Man will also be ashamed of him when He comes in the glory of His Father with the holy angels.” 

Mark 8:34-38 

It has been said that Christianity is a simple faith, but it is not easy.

When Jesus calls us, we are commanded to give up our old ways.  That is, to stop working only for our own benefit, and start working to further the Gospel.  For some people this is difficult because it may result in their friends and, sometimes, even their families turning against them because they do not like the person's changed life.

Jesus point this out when He says, "What does it benefit a person to gain the whole world and forfeit his soul?"  

Once we understand that choosing to live in a Christian manner has nothing to do with pleasing or not pleasing others, but serving God, it becomes easier to follow Jesus and to unashamedly proclaim Him as our Savior.   

 

Hope, Joy And Peace

Now may the God of hope fill you with all joy and peace in believing, so that you will abound in hope by the power of the Holy Spirit.

Romans 15:13

We have hope because we serve God who cares for us and wants what is best for us.  This hope extends to every inch of our lives.  When we pray, we pray believing God hears and will answer our prayers.  No matter what we face in life, God is on our side.

And, because of this we are filled hope, joy and peace. 

 

The Power Of God Packs A Punch

 

As Jesus passed by, He saw a man blind from birth. And His disciples asked Him, “Rabbi, who sinned, this man or his parents, that he would be born blind?”

Jesus answered, “It was neither that this man sinned, nor his parents; but it was so that the works of God might be displayed in him. We must work the works of Him who sent Me as long as it is day; night is coming when no one can work. While I am in the world, I am the Light of the world.”  When He said this, He spat on the ground, and made clay of the spittle, and applied the clay to his eyes, and said to him, “Go, wash in the pool of Siloam.” So he went away and washed, and came back seeing.

John 9:1-7

We can learn two things from this.

First, physical infirmities which we suffer have nothing to do with sin.

Second, it was not the spit that healed the blind man, but the power of God.

The power of God still packs a punch today. 

And, it is just a prayer away.

Free Food

 

During those days another large crowd gathered. Since they had nothing to eat, Jesus called his disciples to him and said,  “I have compassion for these people; they have already been with me three days and have nothing to eat.  If I send them home hungry, they will collapse on the way, because some of them have come a long distance.”

His disciples answered, “But where in this remote place can anyone get enough bread to feed them?”

“How many loaves do you have?” Jesus asked.

“Seven,” they replied.

He told the crowd to sit down on the ground. When he had taken the seven loaves and given thanks, he broke them and gave them to his disciples to distribute to the people, and they did so.  They had a few small fish as well; he gave thanks for them also and told the disciples to distribute them.  The people ate and were satisfied. Afterward the disciples picked up seven basketfuls of broken pieces that were left over. About four thousand were present....

Mark 8:1-8 

Jesus fed the hungry.  He did not criticize them for not packing a lunch or bringing money to buy food, He just fed them all.  

Today, in the United States free food pantries follow this example.  They require little from people who come for food.  Some have a few rules, but in general no one is turned away empty handed.  

There are critics that argue that some people do not look poor enough to need help.  They fail to understand that the purpose of food pantries is to feed hungry people just like Jesus did when he fed the 4000.

As Christians, one of our goals is to make people's lives better, and feeding the hungry does this.  So, when we are asked to donate to the local food pantry, we can do so knowing we are following Jesus' example.   

Degrees of Truth

Jesus said: 

 

“For what does it profit a man to gain the whole world, and lose his soul?  What will a man give in exchange for his soul?  For whoever is ashamed of Me and My words in this adulterous and sinful generation, the Son of Man will be ashamed of him when He comes in the glory of his Father with holy angels.”  

 

Mark 8:36-38.

One of the trends in business and politics and in general, is the tendency to cheapen the value of truth.  Ethics have been reduced to helping us decide when it is okay to lie and when it is necessary to tell the truth.  Hype and spin are rationalized by assigning degrees of truth to lies.

 

Cheapening the truth, cheapens us.  We are not called to make the easy decision, we are called to make the right decision and then standby that decision. 

With Jesus there are no degrees of truth; there is truth.  Jesus calls us to confront those who engage in sinful practices and to publicly acknowledge that we stand on our Christian faith.

Be brave.  Ask, “What would Jesus do?”  Then do it. 

 

Go Forth Graduates

 

…With God all things are possible….

Matthew 10:26

It is graduation season.  All over the world young people are graduating from high schools and colleges.  To them we say: 

Go forth graduates into the world.

May you go places and do things that will surprise even you!

Most of all, I pray that you will know the love of God and salvation through Jesus Christ.

Amen

The Eye Of The Needle

 

And Jesus, looking around, said to His disciples, “How hard it will be for those who are wealthy to enter the kingdom of God!”  It is easier for a camel to go through the eye of a needle than for a rich man to enter the kingdom of God.”   

 

They were even more astonished and said to Him, “Then who can be saved?”  

 

Looking at them, Jesus said, “With people it is impossible, but not with God; for all things are possible with God.”   

 

Mark 10:23-25

In ancient walled cities there were large gates which opened in the daytime to allow caravans to come in, but at night these gates were closed, and a much smaller door would be opened to allow people to enter the city.  The smaller door was called the eye of the needle.  If a person wanted to bring his camel into the city through the eye of the needle, the only way the camel could pass through was if it was unloaded of its cargo, its saddle was removed, and it got down on its knees and scooted through the opening. 

Jesus used this illustration to say that for the wealthy to enter the kingdom of God, they needed to humble themselves.  They could not rely on their wealth, their power or their authority to get into heaven.  They only could gain eternal life in the same way as everyone else: by humbling themselves before Jesus, and receiving Him as their Lord, Master and Savior.  

 

We, too, must humble ourselves to acknowledge the power of God and that we are all sinners and ask Jesus for forgiveness and claim Him as our Lord, Master and Savior, so that we can be saved.