Following Jesus

Mark 1:35-39 says,

"And rising very early in the morning, while it was still dark, he departed and went out to a desolate place, and there he prayed. And Simon and those who were with him searched for him, and they found him and said to him, 'Everyone is looking for you.' And he said to them, 'Let us go on to the next towns, that I may preach there also, for that is why I came out.' And he went throughout all Galilee, preaching in their synagogues and casting out demons."

As I read this passage today in my quiet time, I thought it was interesting that Jesus went outside the town and waited for his disciples to find him. Once they did, he told them it was time for a road trip. He didn't instruct them to go back and pack their bags or kiss their wives good-bye. They just headed out.

Was this normal practice? Did the disciples' wives and families expect them not to come home when they started hanging out with Jesus? Maybe many of his disciples were not married, but they must have seemed irresponsible to leave their normal lives for this Jesus fellow. Who would feed the dog? Who would pay the rent?

Maybe the whole family followed. Maybe they were a whole family of disciples. Probably not, but this passage of Scripture reminds me of the way God brought my family to Louisville, KY in order to go to school. I had encountered some turmoil in my job and we decided it was time to test the waters. We put our house on the market in Knoxville, TN, and two weeks later we had a contract on the house. I remember thinking, "uhhh... God? This seems a bit sudden." I didn't have a job. We didn't have housing arranged in Louisville. What was God doing with us?

Well, God is good, and he provides for our every need. He provided a place to live and a job and we learned to trust God when he leads us. That doesn't mean we didn't wonder what was happening, but like the disciples in Mark 1, we must learn to follow Jesus, ready or not.

Will you follow him?

Todd

Dogs are Smarter than You Think

In recent study, dogs were show to make erratic, "dumb" choices because of the influences of their owners. If the dog's master expressed obvious interest in an object, even if another, normally more appealing choice was offered, the dog would often investigate first the object of his master's interest. Dogs are so tuned into the social cues that others exhibit that they may completely disregard their own interests.

The study showed that the same dogs would pick the object of their own interest regularly when outside influences were not exhibited.

Interesting. So maybe we need to be more like dogs.

As followers of Christ, we should be so tuned into the interests of our Lord that everything else would pale in comparison. Unfortunately, the opposite is the general rule. Paul talks about this in 2 Corinthians 4:4 when he says, "the god of this world has blinded the minds of the unbelievers, to keep them from seeing the light of the gospel of the glory of Christ, who is the image of God." So "brothers, whatever is true, whatever is honorable, whatever is just, whatever is pure, whatever is lovely, whatever is commendable, if there is any excellence, if there is anything worthy of praise, think about these things" (Philippians 4:8).

Let us focus on Christ!

Todd

Ezra on Repentance

After returning to the Promised Land from captivity in Babylon, Ezra lead the people in the restoration of the sacrificial system. Shortly after this, however, Ezra heard some disappointing news; some of the people, including priests and Levites, had taken wives from the pagan cultures that were living in the land. Even worse, many of the men responsible for governing the people were the ones falling to this temptation.

Here is Ezra's response to this disappointment:

"O my God, I am ashamed and blush to lift my face to you, my God, for our iniquities have risen higher than our heads, and our guilt has mounted up to the heavens. 7 From the days of our fathers to this day we have been in great guilt. And for our iniquities we, our kings, and our priests have been given into the hand of the kings of the lands, to the sword, to captivity, to plundering, and to utter shame, as it is today. 8 But now for a brief moment favor has been shown by the LORD our God, to leave us a remnant and to give us a secure hold within his holy place, that our God may brighten our eyes and grant us a little reviving in our slavery. 9 For we are slaves. Yet our God has not forsaken us in our slavery, but has extended to us his steadfast love before the kings of Persia, to grant us some reviving to set up the house of our God, to repair its ruins, and to give us protection in Judea and Jerusalem.

10 "And now, O our God, what shall we say after this? For we have forsaken your commandments, 11which you commanded by your servants the prophets, saying, 'The land that you are entering, to take possession of it, is a land impure with the impurity of the peoples of the lands, with their abominations that have filled it from end to end with their uncleanness. 12 Therefore do not give your daughters to their sons, neither take their daughters for your sons, and never seek their peace or prosperity, that you may be strong and eat the good of the land and leave it for an inheritance to your children forever.' 13 And after all that has come upon us for our evil deeds and for our great guilt, seeing that you, our God, have punished us less than our iniquities deserved and have given us such a remnant as this, 14 shall we break your commandments again and intermarry with the peoples who practice these abominations? Would you not be angry with us until you consumed us, so that there should be no remnant, nor any to escape? 15 O LORD, the God of Israel, you are just, for we are left a remnant that has escaped, as it is today. Behold, we are before you in our guilt, for none can stand before you because of this."

Not only did Ezra humble himself before the Lord, but he called his people to act upon this repentance! In Ezra 10, the people (except for a select few) all committed to divorce their pagan wives (and even sons) in order that they might be right with God.

Wow... so... in application... what are we ready to divorce ourselves from in order to obey God? What "pagan" influences are standing between us and the Lord? What difficulties are we experiencing in our lives that are a direct result of unresolved sin?

Forgive us, heavenly Father! "We are before you in our guilt, for none can stand before you..."

We all thank God for Jesus Christ because he has obeyed perfectly! He has paid for our sins, and now we CAN stand before God, because we no longer have guilt if we trust in Christ!

This is the gospel! This is the good news!

Todd

Ezra on Success

Ezra was the Hebrew scribe and priest whom Artaxerxes, king of Persia, sent back to Jerusalem to restore the sacrificial system and teaching of the Law of God. Interestingly, Ezra 7:6 states, "the king granted him [Ezra] all that he asked, for the hand of the Lord his God was on him." Further, in verses 9-10, we see why Ezra had success in Persia:

For on the first day of the first month he began to go up from Babylonia, and on the first day of the fifth month he came to Jerusalem, for the good hand of his God was on him. For Ezra had set his heart to study the Law of the Lord, and to do it and to teach his statutes and rules in Israel.

This applies so easily to the seminary students among us; we study--it is required of us to earn our degree. But do we set our hearts to study and do the Law of the Lord? Do we study and do it for a purpose? Do we study and do it so that we may teach faithfully?

Challenged to study and obey,

Todd