My children still ask, with a twinkle in their eyes, why I didn’t let them watch “The Smurfs”. “The Smurfs” was a cartoon about characters with blue skin and Smufing language that drove me crazy. I just explained to them that I was trying to keep them from being polluted by the world. In retrospect I may have overdone it a bit.
As a mother I wanted to safeguard my children. I saw their innocence as something beautiful that I wanted to preserve and protect. In the book of James a pure and undefiled religion involves keeping yourself unspotted from the world. I wanted to do everything I could to keep my children unstained by the world around them. I was zealous in my refusal to let the world corrupt them, even if that meant not allowing them to watch “The Smurfs”!
We lived in a respectable neighborhood, so when Jessica’s family moved in, it caused a ripple in our placid atmosphere. Jessica was an outsider but desperately wanted to belong. She possessed something that none of the other children had, a working knowledge of “power words”. She happily shared that knowledge with all the other children hoping it would secure a place for her in their society. The children were excited about the new addition to their vocabulary! Their parents, however, were not.
These parents, like me, wanted to keep their children unstained from the world. They decided that Jessica would not be allowed to play with their children. And to be sure that their children weren’t corrupted by Jessica, no child allowed to play with her would be allowed to play with their children. I understood their vigilance; however, I could not stop thinking about how this would effect Jessica.
I invited Jessica into my home to talk with her. I asked her what she thought Jesus would say to her. She didn’t hesitate. She told me that Jesus would tell her to leave the good children alone. Although I didn’t allow my children to watch “The Smurfs” as long as Jessica lived in our neighborhood, she was welcomed in my home.
Children’s services came one day to ask about her. By then Jessica was eating almost all her meals at my house. I made the comment that she ate as if she was starving. At this the social worker put her pen down, looked me directly in the eyes, and said, “She is starving.” But she was not only starving for food. I gave her an interactive children’s Bible. Before two weeks were up she had completed every page. Pure and undefiled religion is more than just being unspotted by the world. It also involves looking out after bereaved and desolate children in their distress.
Saturday, July 27, 2019
Friday, July 19, 2019
The Outsider (Mark 7:1-16)
“They’re not one of us. We’re right, they’re wrong. We’re on the inside, they are outsiders.” This is what I hear in the accusatory questions that the Pharisees ask Jesus. “Why don’t your disciples obey the traditions of the elders? Why do they eat with unwashed hands?” There are two things to notice. First, they weren’t disobeying God’s laws, and their hands weren’t dirty, they just weren’t ceremonially clean.
I blush when I think about this, because I can identity with the Pharisees in that there have been times when I’ve wanted to be an insider. I’ve wanted to be right, and that involved following certain rules and regulations. The problem that I see in this passage is that Jesus was considered the outsider because His follows weren’t following the ceremonial washing prescribed by the traditions of the elders. Jesus and His followers are considered in the wrong and the Pharisees in the right. Jesus’ response shed a floodlight on the situation. In order to follow the traditions of the elders they had broken one of the 10 commandments of God!
As I have been thinking through this passage, my mind has gone again and again to Micah 6:8, “Mankind, He has told you what it is the Lord requires of you; to act justly, to love mercy, and to walk humbly with your God.” So God has shown us what the right way is: 1) act justly; 2) love mercy; 3) walk humbly with God. Where I get into trouble is when I’m trying to act justly, and all of the sudden I realize that I’m following a bunch of rules and regulations that have been given me by other people who are trying to walk justly. Following these rules sometimes overrides both mercy and humility.
Acting justly must be accompanied by loving mercy. The Hebrew word for mercy is hesed, a word that can also be translated loving kindness. What is being asked of us is that we treat others with the same kindness that God has shown us. Jesus is the personification of hesed.
Finally, we are told that mankind is to walk humbly with God. With my mind’s eye I look again at Jesus, Emmanuel, standing in the presence of the Pharisees and being condemned for not following their traditions. In their pride they have raised their throne of judgment above the throne of God. Even as I become aware of what I’m reading I whisper a prayer, “Lord, show me if I’ve made You an outsider.”
I blush when I think about this, because I can identity with the Pharisees in that there have been times when I’ve wanted to be an insider. I’ve wanted to be right, and that involved following certain rules and regulations. The problem that I see in this passage is that Jesus was considered the outsider because His follows weren’t following the ceremonial washing prescribed by the traditions of the elders. Jesus and His followers are considered in the wrong and the Pharisees in the right. Jesus’ response shed a floodlight on the situation. In order to follow the traditions of the elders they had broken one of the 10 commandments of God!
As I have been thinking through this passage, my mind has gone again and again to Micah 6:8, “Mankind, He has told you what it is the Lord requires of you; to act justly, to love mercy, and to walk humbly with your God.” So God has shown us what the right way is: 1) act justly; 2) love mercy; 3) walk humbly with God. Where I get into trouble is when I’m trying to act justly, and all of the sudden I realize that I’m following a bunch of rules and regulations that have been given me by other people who are trying to walk justly. Following these rules sometimes overrides both mercy and humility.
Acting justly must be accompanied by loving mercy. The Hebrew word for mercy is hesed, a word that can also be translated loving kindness. What is being asked of us is that we treat others with the same kindness that God has shown us. Jesus is the personification of hesed.
Finally, we are told that mankind is to walk humbly with God. With my mind’s eye I look again at Jesus, Emmanuel, standing in the presence of the Pharisees and being condemned for not following their traditions. In their pride they have raised their throne of judgment above the throne of God. Even as I become aware of what I’m reading I whisper a prayer, “Lord, show me if I’ve made You an outsider.”
Monday, July 8, 2019
Beneath the Healing Wing of the Almighty (Mark 6:53-56)
“When they had crossed over, they came to land at Gennesaret and beached the boat. As they got out of the boat, people immediately recognized Him. They hurried throughout that vicinity and began to carry the sick on stretchers to wherever they heard He was” (Mark 6:53-54). I can feel their excitement even now as I type these words. For those who had so long been under the tyranny of the Devil there was hope. The gentle healer had come!
For long years they had waited for the promise spoken in Malachi to be fulfilled. They been told that, “the sun of righteousness will rise with healing in its wings” (Malachi 4:2). Four hundred years of silence followed this prophecy, and then in their lifetime John the Baptist had burst on the scene! He was a messenger from God, “One crying out in the wilderness; ‘Prepare the way for the Lord’” (Mark 1:3). Jesus had come. They recognized Him. And what was their response to His presence? “They hurried throughout that vicinity and began to carry the sick on stretchers to wherever they heard He was” (Mark 6:55). Every broken body on those stretchers represented a broken heart and broken dreams, not only of the sick person but of all who loved them.
Now at last there was hope that the tyranny and oppression under which they had suffered for so long was at last broken. “Wherever He would go, into villages, towns, or the country, they laid the sick in the marketplaces and begged Him that they might just touch the tassel of His robe. And everyone who touched it was made well” (Mark 6:56). What was represented by this tassel? This tassel would have been on the prayer shawl worn by Jewish men. The Hebrew word for the tassel was “Kanaph.” It can be translated “wing”. The first time this word is ever used is in Exodus 19:4: “You have seen what I did to the Egyptians, how I bore you on eagles’ wings (kanaph), and brought you unto
myself.”
Whoever touched it was made well. The Greek word for “to be made well” is sozo. It means “deliver out of danger and into safety; used principally of God rescuing believers from the penalty and power of sin - into His provisions (safety).”* As this story unfolds before me, my heart begins to beat faster. By faith I see Him. The sun of righteousness has come with healing in His wings, so I come by faith. I come and bring to Him in prayer the ones I love who cannot walk on their own. I seek shelter and healing for myself and those I love beneath the healing wing of the Almighty.
*HELPS Word-studies
For long years they had waited for the promise spoken in Malachi to be fulfilled. They been told that, “the sun of righteousness will rise with healing in its wings” (Malachi 4:2). Four hundred years of silence followed this prophecy, and then in their lifetime John the Baptist had burst on the scene! He was a messenger from God, “One crying out in the wilderness; ‘Prepare the way for the Lord’” (Mark 1:3). Jesus had come. They recognized Him. And what was their response to His presence? “They hurried throughout that vicinity and began to carry the sick on stretchers to wherever they heard He was” (Mark 6:55). Every broken body on those stretchers represented a broken heart and broken dreams, not only of the sick person but of all who loved them.
Now at last there was hope that the tyranny and oppression under which they had suffered for so long was at last broken. “Wherever He would go, into villages, towns, or the country, they laid the sick in the marketplaces and begged Him that they might just touch the tassel of His robe. And everyone who touched it was made well” (Mark 6:56). What was represented by this tassel? This tassel would have been on the prayer shawl worn by Jewish men. The Hebrew word for the tassel was “Kanaph.” It can be translated “wing”. The first time this word is ever used is in Exodus 19:4: “You have seen what I did to the Egyptians, how I bore you on eagles’ wings (kanaph), and brought you unto
myself.”
Whoever touched it was made well. The Greek word for “to be made well” is sozo. It means “deliver out of danger and into safety; used principally of God rescuing believers from the penalty and power of sin - into His provisions (safety).”* As this story unfolds before me, my heart begins to beat faster. By faith I see Him. The sun of righteousness has come with healing in His wings, so I come by faith. I come and bring to Him in prayer the ones I love who cannot walk on their own. I seek shelter and healing for myself and those I love beneath the healing wing of the Almighty.
*HELPS Word-studies
Friday, July 5, 2019
Cure For the Hardened Heart (Mark 6:51,52)
There is prayer I often pray, a request that I present to the Great Physician. “Please remove my spiritual blindness so that I can truly see. Please take away my spiritual deafness so that I can understand what You are saying. Take away the hardness of my heart so that I can fully enter into the story of the Kingdom of God that is being revealed around me.” I pray this prayer because I want to live my life fully embracing the mystery that surrounds me and because Jesus promised that if I asked anything according to His will I would receive what I asked for. So, I ask with great anticipation.
As I study the Gospel of Mark, I am more and more aware of the miracles within the miracles. There is a prophecy in Isaiah that is quoted in the Gospels, “He has blinded their eyes and hardened their hearts, lest they see with their eyes, and understand with their heart, and turn, and I would heal them” (John 12:40). I don’t fully understand this prophecy, but I do recognize that when people asked for physical healing they often received more than they asked for. But what about the healing of a hard heart?
My grandmother suffered from hardening of the arteries. [Hardening of the arteries happens when the blood vessels that carry blood from the heart to the other parts of the body become narrowed because fat is deposited on the inside walls of the arteries, then becomes hardened by fibrous tissue and calcification. When this occurs there is a reduction of both the oxygen and blood supply to the affected organ (like the heart, eyes, kidneys, legs, gut, or the brain).*] In Mark, when the disciples saw Jesus walking on the water, it says, “And they were utterly astounded, for they did not understand about the loaves but their hearts were hardened” (Mark 6:51,52). The Greek word used here for hardened mean to render callous, “like a formed callus which petrifies.”**
The disciples had been battling in the darkness against the winds of adversity. Since they were keenly aware of the spiritual forces of darkness, when they saw Jesus walking on the water they were terrified because they thought that He was a ghost. But when Jesus spoke to them and told them not to be afraid, and then got into the boat causing the wind to cease, they were flabbergasted!
Why? Why were they so overcome with amazement? It was because they hadn’t put the whole story together. They didn’t understand the significance of the miracle that they had participated in. “They didn’t understand about the loaves” (Mark 6:52). Instead, there was calcification that prevented the life-giving flow of the Spirit. The free flow of the Spirit that opens our understanding of the Kingdom of God is the cure for fear.
For a year now I have been working on memorizing the book of Revelation. Many have asked why I chose Revelation to memorize. My reason is very simple. I want the blessing that is promised twice in the first chapter. I am discovering in the process that there is a softening of my heart that is taking place. By heart I don’t mean the physical pump that drives my blood, but instead, my mind and inner self that the Greek word heart refers to. As I look through John’s eyes at the visions given to him and through him to me, I am gaining understanding. The more spiritual sight I’m given, the greater the peace I experience. And day after day I pray, “Touch my eyes, that I might see. Touch my ears so that I can hear you. Touch my heart, take away its hardness so that I can understand.” This blessing is available for anyone who wants to experience the mystery of God’s Kingdom. The healing of a hardened heart is a blessing that God wants to give, it’s there for the asking.
*emedicinehealth
**HELPS word-studies
As I study the Gospel of Mark, I am more and more aware of the miracles within the miracles. There is a prophecy in Isaiah that is quoted in the Gospels, “He has blinded their eyes and hardened their hearts, lest they see with their eyes, and understand with their heart, and turn, and I would heal them” (John 12:40). I don’t fully understand this prophecy, but I do recognize that when people asked for physical healing they often received more than they asked for. But what about the healing of a hard heart?
My grandmother suffered from hardening of the arteries. [Hardening of the arteries happens when the blood vessels that carry blood from the heart to the other parts of the body become narrowed because fat is deposited on the inside walls of the arteries, then becomes hardened by fibrous tissue and calcification. When this occurs there is a reduction of both the oxygen and blood supply to the affected organ (like the heart, eyes, kidneys, legs, gut, or the brain).*] In Mark, when the disciples saw Jesus walking on the water, it says, “And they were utterly astounded, for they did not understand about the loaves but their hearts were hardened” (Mark 6:51,52). The Greek word used here for hardened mean to render callous, “like a formed callus which petrifies.”**
The disciples had been battling in the darkness against the winds of adversity. Since they were keenly aware of the spiritual forces of darkness, when they saw Jesus walking on the water they were terrified because they thought that He was a ghost. But when Jesus spoke to them and told them not to be afraid, and then got into the boat causing the wind to cease, they were flabbergasted!
Why? Why were they so overcome with amazement? It was because they hadn’t put the whole story together. They didn’t understand the significance of the miracle that they had participated in. “They didn’t understand about the loaves” (Mark 6:52). Instead, there was calcification that prevented the life-giving flow of the Spirit. The free flow of the Spirit that opens our understanding of the Kingdom of God is the cure for fear.
For a year now I have been working on memorizing the book of Revelation. Many have asked why I chose Revelation to memorize. My reason is very simple. I want the blessing that is promised twice in the first chapter. I am discovering in the process that there is a softening of my heart that is taking place. By heart I don’t mean the physical pump that drives my blood, but instead, my mind and inner self that the Greek word heart refers to. As I look through John’s eyes at the visions given to him and through him to me, I am gaining understanding. The more spiritual sight I’m given, the greater the peace I experience. And day after day I pray, “Touch my eyes, that I might see. Touch my ears so that I can hear you. Touch my heart, take away its hardness so that I can understand.” This blessing is available for anyone who wants to experience the mystery of God’s Kingdom. The healing of a hardened heart is a blessing that God wants to give, it’s there for the asking.
*emedicinehealth
**HELPS word-studies
Wednesday, July 3, 2019
He Didn’t Pass Me By (Mark 9:17-24)
My heart was aching. The setting was a church service filled with the sounds of worship. Everyone had thronged to the front where hearts were tender. I could hear the notes of praise and the whispered prayers. I could see eyes shining, having been washed clean by tears; life touching life in sweet harmony. Yes, everyone had thronged to the front of the church except those who were closest to me. They were untouched, unmoved, disconnected. As I watched what was happening, I was reminded of a song I’d learned as a child:
Pass me not, oh gentle Savior
Hear my humble cry
While on others Thou art calling
Do not pass me by.
As I sat there I felt His presence. The one who had written the song that had come to my mind was blind. Her name was Fanny Crosby. God never took away her physical blindness, but instead gave her great spiritual sight. What I heard whispered to my spirit was that I was to worship God in the circumstances where I had been placed. I was invited to see the throne of mercy through the eyes of the blind songwriter. There I was able to find sweet relief knowing that I was loved and understood. The deep longing of my heart was that those I loved would come to the spring of all comfort and drink the living waters Jesus offered.
My cry was heard. I had not been passed by, nor had those that I brought with me to Jesus. In the profound comfort of His presence I again heard His words, “Everything is possible to the one who believes” (Mark 9:23). This had been Jesus’ response to the father who had said, “If You can do anything, have compassion on us and help us” (Mark 9:22). My prayer had echoed that father’s prayer. At the center of my prayer was this question, “Jesus, are You truly able to save the ones I have brought to You? Do You really care?”
In the front of the building there was worship and sounds of praise. In the back of the building I humbly brought to Jesus my wounded, broken spirit. I worshiped in prayer by giving to Jesus both my belief and my unbelief, it was all that I had to offer Him. Sweet peace bathed my being as I looked at my Savior with eyes of faith. In that moment I abandoned my heart to the One who had given His all for me. Once more I surrender my soul to Him and anchored my faith in His promises. That night I experienced the sweet relief of knowing that the Savior had not passed by me nor the ones that I loved. He had heard my humble cry.
Pass me not, oh gentle Savior
Hear my humble cry
While on others Thou art calling
Do not pass me by.
As I sat there I felt His presence. The one who had written the song that had come to my mind was blind. Her name was Fanny Crosby. God never took away her physical blindness, but instead gave her great spiritual sight. What I heard whispered to my spirit was that I was to worship God in the circumstances where I had been placed. I was invited to see the throne of mercy through the eyes of the blind songwriter. There I was able to find sweet relief knowing that I was loved and understood. The deep longing of my heart was that those I loved would come to the spring of all comfort and drink the living waters Jesus offered.
My cry was heard. I had not been passed by, nor had those that I brought with me to Jesus. In the profound comfort of His presence I again heard His words, “Everything is possible to the one who believes” (Mark 9:23). This had been Jesus’ response to the father who had said, “If You can do anything, have compassion on us and help us” (Mark 9:22). My prayer had echoed that father’s prayer. At the center of my prayer was this question, “Jesus, are You truly able to save the ones I have brought to You? Do You really care?”
In the front of the building there was worship and sounds of praise. In the back of the building I humbly brought to Jesus my wounded, broken spirit. I worshiped in prayer by giving to Jesus both my belief and my unbelief, it was all that I had to offer Him. Sweet peace bathed my being as I looked at my Savior with eyes of faith. In that moment I abandoned my heart to the One who had given His all for me. Once more I surrender my soul to Him and anchored my faith in His promises. That night I experienced the sweet relief of knowing that the Savior had not passed by me nor the ones that I loved. He had heard my humble cry.
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