Mark 2 & 3 SOAKing the Bible

   
Mark 2 gave me lots to think about!

1️⃣ We must humbly recognize our need for Jesus.

2️⃣ We must accept and believe that Jesus died for us even though we know and feel our unworthiness.

3️⃣ When we feel we are doing “well,” we must never think we are “better” than anyone else. We are all sinners, sometimes we go through seasons of big time sinning and other times we go through seasons of small time sinning. No matter what, we are all sinners and should never feel superior to anyone.

4️⃣ Finally, it’s worth noting that Jesus and His disciples were not just chilling in the Temple interacting with only believers. They were out engaging their world. While fellowship with believers is crucial, we too must go out in the world and engage people. We need to love them as Jesus would until they ask us why. 

Mark 3 
❤️”If a kingdom is divided against itself, that kingdom cannot stand. If a house is divided against itself, that house cannot stand.” Mark 3:24-25❤️

Once again I suspected I would have many verses to choose from, especially when I opened my my Bible and saw a few already underlined or highlighted. Nevertheless, I read the chapter closely only to discover that I was drawn to 2 verses I had not marked in prior reads. I chose verses 24-25 where Jesus is explaining that He cannot possibly be possessed by a demon because that would mean Satan was driving out his own minions–which makes no sense! These verses struck a chord with me because of all the political posts that litter my Facebook newsfeed. What we must remember as we disagree over issues and candidates is that we all want the same thing: an improved nation. We simply cannot seem to agree how to achieve that. We also rank our priorities differently and cannot always see eye to eye. That does not make people who don’t agree with me evil or deserving of disrespect. That does not make me evil or deserving of disrespect. I love Jack ‘N The Box tacos. Many people don’t. Am I evil for liking them? Are others evil for not liking them? No! When we bring insults into an argument, we forfeit even if our original point was valid. Every person is created in the image of God. When we insult another person, we insult God. I feel personally convicted by this and remind myself daily when I feel hurt or offended. We must recognize that we are on the same team with different ideas of how we all can and will “win.”