Soaring with Eagles; Dancing with Penguins

Mark 9
Once again, we see a study in contrasts. At the beginning of chapter 9 Jesus stands on the mountain two of the most notable figures from the Old Testament: Moses - the great giver of the law, & Elijah - the greatest of the prophets and "forerunner" of the Messiah. We could spend pages talking about this scene. The two figures from Hebrew Scriptures that stood before unbelieving kings declaring the Word of God standing with the very Word Himself. Jesus, who would complete the Law with His sacrifice standing side-by-side with the one who presented the Law to the people. Jesus, the one who would later ascend into Heaven standing with the one who was wisked away by a chariot of fire. What a scene! No wonder Peter was so scared he babbled about building shelters (my favorite verse! v. 6).

From there Jesus comes down to see His disciples stumped by a stubborn demon. I can sense His utter frustration as He asks, "How long shall I stay with you? How long shall I put up with you?"

After healing the boy and teaching His disciples the importance of prayer, Jesus gets serious about teaching them regarding His impending death and resurrection. Only to have them argue about who would be the greatest. I love how He takes a child and tells them that those who welcome even the little ones, welcome Him.

My second favorite verse is verses 39-41. In essence, Jesus tells His disciples that there are people on His team that might not have the same uniform as them, so don't worry about it! If His name is being lifted up, even if it is in a different way than you would, praise God and move on.

I guess there was a lot in this chapter, but the thing that stuck out to me was that I am more often than not like the disciples who couldn't handle the stubborn demon, yet I am also one Jesus has called to be His child. I live in that tension.

Under the Mercy,
Jason

"Sometimes I Feel Like a Nut; Sometimes I Don't"

Mark 8
I remember that old TV commercial for Almond Joy & Mounds candy bars. "Sometimes I feel like a nut; sometimes I don't." This chapter made me think of this passage. The disciples were amazed then they didn't get it; were amazed then they said something stupid; were amazed and then didn't get it.

More often than I would like to admit this describes my walk of faith. I see God doing amazing things but I fail to recognize it. Or I see God do something and then when I am faced with some difficult issue, I forget what God has done in the past. Worse still, there are times when I can have more faith than I ever imagined (like when Peter declares that Jesus is the Messiah) and then turn around and act as though God was even around. To quote Paul, "Oh what a wretched man I am."

Yet reading this chapter was a bit encouraging. Even the disciples who literally walked with Jesus struggled to understand who and what He was. Why should I be surprised when I struggle to understand the implications of the Kingdom of God in today's world? But that is no excuse for laziness.

My favorite verse of this chapter has to be verse 34. It reminds me that if I want to follow Jesus I have to die to myself and allow Him to live through me. No small task.

Each day (and many times throughout the day) I have continuously give my life to Christ because gaining the whole world would be nice, but losing my soul is not worth it.

Maybe I should take a lesson from Peter. He was willing to speak his mind and simply be who he was - warts and all. I need to be that passionate and in so doing allow Jesus to shape that passion into what He needs it to be.

Under the Mercy,
Jason

Dying to Self

I was sitting in the Delaware County Ministerial Association yesterday. I looked around the room and started thinking about what I needed to do to really be a spiritual mentor/shepherd in this community. The men and women sitting around the table were all great people. As far as I know they are all amazing pastors for their communities. I started wondering what was different between them and me.

After a few minutes of pondering this, a verse came to mind:

Whoever wants to be my disciple must deny themselves and take up their cross daily and follow me. For whoever wnats to save their life must lose it, but whoever loses their life for me will save it. What good is it for you to gain the whole world, and yet lose or forfeit your very soul. If any of you are ashamed of me and my words, the Son of Man will be ashamed of you when he comes in his glory and in the glory of the Father and of the holy angels. (Luke 9:23-27 TNIV)

I realized that I still needed to die to my self if I was going to become what God was calling me to become. If I was going to truly be a prophetic voice in this community, I needed to let go of my own identity and truly allow God to start shaping my identity. I have held on much too tightly to my vision of who I want to be.

There is so much more that I want to say, but you won't read much more and I don't really have the words to express what the Spirit is trying to teach me (maybe I haven't learned it yet).

The bottom line is this...I am starting to dive a little deeper into what Jesus meant by these words in Luke 9. As I understand more and can express it, I will.

Under the Mercy,
Jason